"Phenomenal!" That's the word Dr. B used to describe Eli when he say him on Tuesday. Once agin Eli's platelet count almost doubled in one week, all the way up to 240,000. All of his other numbers are either in the normal range or extremely close. His energy level has risen and he even took the boys to baseball practice this week! I don't really know what else to say. It is truly amazing. We'll go back to the doctor's office on Tuesday to discuss his long term goals and then we won't go back for several weeks. Please continue to pray for him because we want this cancer to be in complete remission for a very long time.

Thank you so much! I'll be back soon, I promise!
Kimberly

1 Month Post-Transplant!

It has been four weeks since Eli's stem cell transplant. Today he attended Evan's first baseball game of the season. L'il man didn't disappoint either, he was 3 for 3 at bat, made one out and had some RBI's. Big Eli was on cloud nine watching the little man get his ball on. L'il Eli and Evan love baseball and now that he's feeling better daddy can get back in to the swing of things by coaching them.

What more can I say. God is good.

Thank you for your prayers, you know what I'm going to say next... KEEP 'EM COMIN'!

Love to you all, Kimberly Alexander

Thank you GOD! I have to give credit when credit is due and after Tuesday's visit, I am truly grateful. Dr. B came in to give Eli his numbers and told him that for his blood numbers to be as high as they are right now is truly remarkable. Eli's platlet count jumped from 70,000 last week to 132,000 this week. To almost double in a week is almost unheard of. The doc said that under most circumstances a doctor would release a patient to do whatever he wanted, but he still wants to keep an eye on hime. We'll see him again once next week and if all looks well we'll start seeing him about once every 3 weeks. Elijah is still feeling great. He's still working out and I let him attend a business meeting yesterday so he's getting back into the swing of things. I even gave him his car keys back. Since he's not on any pain medication there was really no need to keep them hidden, I can slowly loosen the reins. It's reflective in his test numbers that his immune system is rebuilding itself and we are just pleased as punch.

My dad will be leaving this Saturday (boo-hoo). He has been so helpful. I actually had to apologize to him for having stay two weeks post transplant since there wasn't much that needed to be done after Elijah's positive response. We all spent some quality time together though, something that we will treasure and appreciate so much more now.

I'm not going to keep you too much longer because I'm sleepy. I just ask that you still continue to pray for Elijah's progress and speedy recovery, but also please pray for Cecilia Romanski (the wife of Eli's trainer from the Raiders) who underwent her stem cell transplant a few days after Elijah. Please pray that she rebounds from her transplant and that her numbers rise and for her family's strength.

Thank you so much for your support family!
Love ya and I'll be in touch soon!
Kimberly

Hi folks! Sorry for the delay. This is truly a case of no news, is good news. Eli saw the doc twice this week, on Tuesday and Thursday, and everything is looking well. It's so nice to have the nurse sit down and run through a list of symptoms and hear him say no to experiencing them. No pain, no nausea, no problems sleeping, no problems with eating certain foods, nothing. Elijah has been feeling so well lately that he told me he sometimes forget he has cancer. As glad as I am to hear that I still worry about him. He has one more week of being "homebound" and then I'll start to loosen the reins. Don't let the word "homebound" fool ya. You know he couldn't sit still in the house for two weeks. He's gotten out of the house almost daily, I just won't let him go into crowded places. He tried to go to the grocery store once, but I gave him that look and he didn't even bother trying to fight me on it.

He'll get his catheter taken out next week and go down to seeing the doc once weekly. In a couple of weeks they'll start doing tests to gauge how successful the transplant was. Of course I'll keep you informed on that.

Oh yeah, while I have your attention, in the near future, with the assistance of our financial advisor and friend, we plan on setting up a foundation to raise money for multiple myeloma research. We don't want anyone else's family to have to go through this. If bringing attention to this disease helps ensure that, the Alexander family will always be involved.

Continue to pray for Elijah's speedy recovery, for the myeloma to be in deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep remission and for a cure.

Good night.

HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone! As you can see Elijah has come home, about 4 days early, I might add! On Saturday morning his WBC count came in at 10,500 (well within the normal range) so the doc sent him home! My husband is a strong man. When I got to the hospital he was already packed and ready to go. We had to wait for a nurse to escort us out. She asked if we needed a wheel chair and of course he said he wanted to walk out on his own. Before we even made it off the floor he asked her to cut his medical bracelets off of his wrist (he was quite anxious to get anything reminding him of that hospital away from him). She told him she couldn't cut them off unless he was out of the hospital, but just for him she'd carry the scissors down with us. As soon as we stepped out of the hospital he held his wrist up so that she cut the band. I told him I'd go get the truck while he waited with her and his belongings and he informed me that he'd rather leave the belongings and walk with me to the truck. This was the first time he'd been outside since the afternoon of February 22. He was so happy to be breathing in fresh air and hearing the cars and birds. After we loaded the truck up we headed home. My dad had taken Evan to baseball practice so I asked Eli if he'd like to go watch Evan's practice for a few minutes before we went home. We got to the field and parked way out since he can't be around a lot of people right now. A few minutes after we got there it was Evan's turn at bat and with his first swing he hit the ball and ran to 3rd base! PERFECT TIMING! At that point Big Eli was ready to head home. He got inside, sat on the couch and just looked around. He was so happy to be back in his own space. Needless to say, the past couple of days have been quite emotional. He's glad to be home and me and the boys are glad to have him home. Oh yeah, I KNOW you didn't think he was going to come home and simply rest. After relaxing a full 4 hours Mr. Alexander was on the treadmill for a 1/2 mile walk. The pic here was taken today (Sunday) during his afternoon workout. We go to the doctor's tomorrow for a check up. We thank you so much for your prayers and support. We know that we were able to get to this point because of all the family, friends and perfect strangers who are supporting us and praying for us from near and far. I dedicate this blog to you.

Please keep the prayers coming and you know I will keep you posted. Oh yeah Wildcat family, coach will be ready to go this fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love ya, Kimberly

Hello!!!! Doesn't Eli look great (you can click on the pic to make it bigger)!? His white blood cell count took a major jump over night. The number shot up from 800 to 2300 overnight so he'll definitely be home this weekend! I made it my business to get to the hospital early enough to catch Dr. B so that I could talk to him about what Eli can and cannot do during his recovery. First and foremost, Dr. B said that he could not have asked for a better recovery for Elijah. All of the nurses are amazed at how he has rebounded. He's back to eating three meals a day, still continuing to go for his walks and praising God for feeling normal. The doc is cutting back most of his medications because he simply doesn't need them. Of course, he has already talked about working out, playing golf, and giving his testimony (not in that order though). Dr. B said he'll need to sit tight for a couple of weeks and then, after that, wear a mask when in large groups, just to be on the safe side. I took this pic of him before I left today so that you all can see him for yourself! Surprisingly, the chemo didn't make his hair come out (well, that's not a major stretch when you shave yourself bald anyway). I thought he'd at least lose something, but as you can see, he's actually in need of a shave.

After I bring him home we'll just have to go to the doc's a couple of times a week to make sure his numbers are headed in the right direction. As time progresses our trips to the doc's will decrease. Have I mentioned how ready we both are for him to get to that point. It's coming, we can tell!

Keep the prayers coming, you can see for yourself that they are working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!
Kimberly

Hi there! I have a message from the big man today. He wanted me to let everyone know that he's getting better. Mr. Man walked 16 laps (22 laps = 1 mile) today, took his shower unassisted and had 3 meals without a problem! His white blood cell count has risen to 800 too! That's quite a big deal considering the day before he could barely walk 3 laps and was still needing food through the IV. There is one problem though. I can already tell we're going to bump heads on how much he should be doing once he comes home. He's already feeling so well that I'm afraid he'll try to do too much. Now that I think about it I think I'll go hide all of his car keys before he comes home. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'll do. Anything to make sure we have no setbacks.

Aside from that good news, there is no other news. I'll keep you posted on his count rise and when he's scheduled to come home.

We're officially over the hump.

Thank you for the prayers, and like always, i ask that you keep 'em comin'!

Kimberly

Nowhere to go from here but up. Whew, we will be glad when this process is over. Elijah's white blood cell count continues to be in the "bottomed out" stage, where it should be. With the next couple of days it will start to rise again. So far the worse thing he's dealing with is nausea. He can't keep food down, but that should change as his WBC count starts to rise. He feels weak, but he's hanging in there. I know several of you have called asking if you can go see him. Right now, since he literally has no immune system, we have to careful about visitors. For about 3-4 months he's going to need to avoid crowds and be very diligent about washing his hands. I am so ready to get to that point. I still find myself shaking my head in disbelief that this is happening to him, a prime example of a bad thing happening to a good person. There has to be a reason for it, I just need to stop questioning it. I'm sure that once we get through these next few days then the past 6 months will become a distant memory. Have I mentioned how ready I am for that? I can't even begin to tell you how ready he is. Until then, he's in good hands. The nurses are taking good care of him and trying to keep him as comfortable as possible. I truly have major respect for nurses. I'm going to run now. I'm sleepy.

Hi there! It's me again coming at ya from room 1210 with an update. Mr. Man is sitting next to me, as I type, playing his favorite video game, Galaga. Thank God for those plug and play systems. For $40 he can play all the Pac-Man, Galaga, and Pole Position (and some other games) all night (or at least when he's sick of ESPN). He's been complaining about being bored. Now that they have backed off of the medications they were giving him that made groggy he's now realzing how much time he's spending in the hospital.

Today his counts continued drop, as we want them too. His white blood cell count is down to 600. Once they zero out, they'll start to regenerate themselves. He's actually right on schedule. The doc said that at about 5 days post transplant his counts should be very low (he hits the 5 day mark tomorrow). He's now considered to be neutropenic which means he has to watch what he eats, no fresh fruits or veggies and his meat has to be prepared well done. The doc doesn't want him to get an infection while his immune system is weak and eating uncooked produce can expose him to bad things. He can still eat candy though. On Sunday I was on the phone with my friend Holly as I went from store to store, in the rain, trying to hunt down his special request, pastel colored candy corn (the kind that come out around Easter). Well since Easter candy has been on the shelves since before Valentine's Day I didn't think finding them would be an issue. WRONG! They were nowhere to be found so Eli had to settle for Skittles and fruit sours. A couple of days later Holly told me to be expecting a package. To my surprise she had not only found the candy corn Eli wanted, but she ordered them and had them overnighted. There was one drawback. She could only find them in bulk so we now have 10 lbs of pastel colored candy corn! When Eli opened the box and saw the 50,000,000 little pink, yellow, white, and lavendar candy all he could say is, "Wow!" The candy corn was right on time too. One of the medications that they give him has distorted his taste buds so his desire to eat certain foods just isn't there. But of course, the candy corn didn't disappoint, so he now keeps a cup full beside his bed to munch on during the day. Since there are a few extra pieces we decided to share with the nurses and visitors on his floor. Now whenever anyone enters 12 south they will find a huge container filled with spring colored candy corn, compliments of the Alexander and Campbell families, to enjoy. The jar was completely full. That's a note on top to let folks know to help themselves, looks like it's working.




Let me run. He's done playing now and I'm going to order his food. I'll be back soon with another update. Thank you so much for your prayers, positive thoughts and meals. They are truly helping us get by.

Love ya!
Kimberly