Mixed Emotion Day

Fran has had a good day. The kids and grandson left for Africa this afternoon, and yes it was sad but that was expected. It wasn't as bad or as difficult as we had expected. Emily called from Dulles and said Ben had been an angel and had stayed buckled in his seat all the way to Washington. It will be interesting to hear how the 17 hour flight to Jburg went. After seeing them off at the airport Fran and Natalie came home and napped and I worked in the yard. Then the three of us went to Applebees for dinner. Will had a previous school engagement. We are back home and ready for bed. Thanks for all the prayers regarding today. I will post again on Sat. unless something comes up. Thanks for checking in. Charlie

Another busy day

I don't know how Fran is doing it but she spent most of the day at Grandin Court with her girls preparing Wed. night supper. Needless to say it was a big success. Now we just need to get through tomorrow. It will be tough - Natalie is coming in, Will is taking off from school. We're all going to meet at Robert's for breakfast and then take them to the airport. Lots of tears but we will make it.

Till next time. Charlie

Great Dr.'s report

Fran has had a very busy day today. It all started by going to Kroger to finish shopping for the church's Wed. night dinner that her team is fixing. She then went on to church to start cooking. At 1:30 Samia took Fran to see her Roanoke Dr. She had her blood work done and he is thrilled with her numbers. They all are coming up very fast. While this is great news she is still having difficulty eating, as in not being able to eat much at all. The Dr. said all this will wear off and she will start feeling better soon.

Following her Dr. appt. she then went back to church to work some more. She is supposed to go back tomorrow at 11:30 to work some more but we will see how she feels.

On another note, we were hoping to be able to see Ben tomorrow. He has been running a fever for the past several days and we were hoping that it would stop. We had our hopes up this morning because he had not had a fever for 8 hours, but then Robert called again this evening and said it was up again tonight. Needless to say there were more tears, but God knows best, hopefully at least we will be able to see him Thursday when we take them to the airport here in Roanoke.

Thanks again for checking in.

Long, busy day

For Fran it all began at 4:30am. She got up to get ready to go to Charlottesville for Will's graduation. We left at 6 and got there before 8. We took a wheelchair which worked great, we were able to get wonderful seats to see everything. Following that ceremony at 10 we went to the arena for the Curry School of Education ceremony. This one only lasted about one and half hours and we were on the road back to Roanoke by 3. We were able to get home before our guests arrived and thanks to Natalie, Jordan and Robert they had everything just about ready, just a few final touches from Fran before our family arrived. Natalie came in Friday and was such a big help getting things ready for the party. Emily and Ben were not able to come because Ben had a temp of 102. They were missed but we had a great party.
Fran has now crashed in bed. She did great.

This will be another busy week getting Robert, Emily and Ben ready for Africa. Hopefully things will settle down next weekend after all the tears. Thanks for your concern and continued prayers.
Love the Krauses

Exponential Blessings

Fran has had a good day today. All of the children have been home and she and Natalie have cooked and cooked getting ready for our family coming over tomorrow night. We are having two celebrations in one, we are celebrating Will's graduation from UVA with a Masters degree, and (not celebrating) but having a good bye party for Robert, Emily and Ben who are leaving Thursday for Africa. Fran seems to be getting stronger everyday, naturally she still has to stop and lay down for a while but she doesn't stay in the bed like she did earlier.

Even though we are sad and hate to see Robert, Emily and Ben leave, we know they are doing what God wants them to do. We wanted to share something neat with you...

About 5 months ago Fran was lying in bed early in the morning praying as she always does. She prayed for our children and Robert's upcoming adventure that was in the making. It was then that the Lord gave her an incredible thought. He showed her that if each family could give $25 a month, or even quarterly, that would multiply into all they would need. No doubt this economy is tough, and so is raising funds in the midst of it, but He assured her that this was possible. We can't help but recall the story of the feeding of 5000. It was in the boy's small gift of 5 loaves and 2 fishes that showed God's ability to multiply his gift to benefit thousands.

More than this, she began realizing this would only happen because of the love that Christ has multiplied among our friends and family. We are not asking you to do this out of obligation, we just wanted to share it with you and if God moves your heart we would be honored!

You can learn all about what they are doing on their website at www.izwi.org. If you do feel led to donate you can do so on that site or you can make a check payable to IZWI World Outreach and mail the check to:

Izwi World Outreach
108 Walnut Creek Rd.
Locust, NC 28097

Fran still feels like she can make it to UVA tomorrow so we will let you know how it goes. Thanks you again for all the prayers, cards and love you send our way.
Love, the Krause's

Yes we are home

In our haste to get packed I misplaced the logon info for blogspot.I'm sorry I missed yesterday. We got home around 8 last night (Wednesday). Fran felt like stopping by and seeing Robert, Emily and especially Ben. When we got home needless to say she went straight to bed. We were at Duke until around 4 getting more of the iums and then she had the Hickman Port taken out of her chest. She still does not feel like eating much and she has very little energy but she did get out and go to Will's girl's Hidden Valley soccer game. She enjoyed that and Robert, Emily and Ben joined us for a little while there which was fun. And yes they won 6-1 against a rival. This week will be bitter sweet, as you may know one week from today Robert, Emily and Ben will be leaving for Africa. Our hearts are saddened to see them go and yet we are so excited for them in this new ministry that God is leading them to in South Africa. I will say more about that in a later posting.
Back to Fran, please pray that she will begin to feel like eating and drinking (especially since she has 7 pills to take everyday and right now it is a struggle to get them down.) When she got home tonight she went straight to bed after our outing but hopefully she will get stronger every day. The folks at Duke said she has to force herself to eat and get out even when she doesn't feel like it. Also pray for us as we wrap up our time with the grandbaby, I'm sure there well be a lot of tears coming this week. But we are also very excited about Will getting his Masters Degree from UVA this weekend. Fran want's so badly to go see him graduate, so pray for us as we make this decision also.

You all have been so faithful in praying for us and especially Fran this far and we truly give God the credit for all he has done for her. Thank you for your continued prayer support.

PS She goes back to see her Roanoke Dr. this coming Tuesday and for the next four weeks and then we go back to Duke in one month for a follow up visit.

We love you all, Charlie and Fran

We are coming home tomorrow!!!!!

WOW were we surprised this morning when the PA came by and told us we could come home tomorrow (Wednesday). He said Fran's numbers were better than expected (thanks to your prayers). Fran is still extremely tired and hasn't started eating alot yet but the most important thing is that we are coming home even earlier than expected. I'm sure that will make her feel better! We have a 10:30 appointment in the morning with the Dr and they will give us instructions for coming home. She will also have her Hickman port taken out before we leave.

We have some wonderful cleaning angels in our home as we speak to get our Daleville home ready for us. Fran won't be able to get out in the yard quite yet but that will come. He said it would probably be 4-6 weeks before she felt like doing much. The Dr. even said that she should be able to go to Charlottsville on Sunday for Will's graduation, (we will see how she feels). Now we will have a whole week with Robert, Emily and Ben before they head off for Africa on the 27th. Also Natalie is planning on coming in this week end to check on her Mom.


Finally, we can't thank you all enough for your prayers, love and concern for Fran during this difficult time. We have been truly blest by your support and love. I will continue to update the blog for the next few weeks as she progresses.

In Christ's love,
Charlie and Fran

A better day!

It's been another long day at the clinic today, Fran got more antibiotics, and all the iums, potasium, magnesium,etc. She seems to feel better, she didn't sleep at the clinic and she did work on her soduko book (to keep her mind working she said). She said her throat feels better but not great. She ate about 1/2 of a Panera bagel this morning and hopefully some soup tonight for supper. Her counts are going up and they are still tentatively talking Friday for coming home. Just another exciting day in Durham. Thanks for your concern, Charlie

Broken Record

Things are still progressing as they should (at least that is what the Dr. says). The sore throat is getting old, Fran can't drink, or eat, which is not fun. Last night around 8 I took her temp and it was 101 so we had to call the hospital and go in to get checked out. We were there until 1 this morning and they gave her 3 major antibiotics and some fluids. When we went back the clinic this morning they continued more antibiotics and fluids so we were at the clinic until around 4 today. They were not concerned about the temp. and it has since gone back down. The Dr. again said this morning that they are looking at Friday as the day we should be able to go home and they still say as soon as the numbers get higher the sore thoat should get better. That of course is what we are hoping for. That is the way it is down here in hot Durham. We are looking forward to getting back home soon. Thanks for your prayers, Charlie and Fran

Still Yuck - still waiting

Saturday has not been a great day. The counts are still down and haven't started up yet. Fran's throat is so sore she has a hard time eating and drinking. She had a lot of fluids this morning including morphine for the pain. The clinic is great on helping with everything, they say we should see a turn around soon. We had a rough night but hopefully tonight will be better. We love you all and hopefully we will have a better report tomorrow. Till then, Charlie

Still on track

Everything is still moving along just as it should. Fran is still experiencing a bad sore throat and an occasional nauseated feeling. As sore as it is the Dr.'s say this is as it should be and they have given us meds to help with it. (which they do to a degree)

Her counts have bottomed out which is good and they should start back up this weekend which will make her feel better. We still go to the clinic every morning (even on the weekends) for them to check on counts and vitals, etc. She did get a unit of blood this morning and will probably get platelets this weekend, which is perfectly normal. One of the Doctors went out on a limb and said he thought we should be coming home by next weekend, which is what we had been praying for because of Will's graduation at UVA. I doubt Fran will feel like going but at least I will be back in town to go.

Here is an updated mailing address, the old one worked because they had a mailman that knew what he was doing, but they may not be so lucky again, so here is the updated mailing address:

Charlie and Fran Krause
5-103
5514 Butterfly Lane
#103
Durham, NC 27707

As I said we are expecting to be gone by next weekend so keep that in mind when you send cards. We are very grateful for all the cards and letters of encouragment you are sending our way. We thank God for you all and pray for you daily as well.

Till tomorrow,
Charlie

Fran is drunk and passed out on the bed!

That got your attention I bet! Her counts continue to go down and as predicted she has a horrible sore throat. They gave her some morphine and 2 oxycodone pills to help. Well they did, not sure about the pain but she just doesn't care anymore. She is resting comfortably on the bed this afternoon. Everything continues to go as predicted. Again the counts should turn around over the weekend (the PA said) and she should begin to feel better next week. Other than that everything continues to go as it should. Thanks again for your love, prayers and concern.
Charlie

WOW we got the CARDS!

Thank you, Thank you for all the cards you sent our way. We finally figured out we were looking in the wrong box! Fran is reading them now. This hasn't been a great day, but then it's not supposed to be. The PA said she is feeling just like she should which is pretty lousy. He said hopefully by Friday things will turn around. Counts continue to go down and she received a big bag of fluids and some potasium. So we continue to wait for things to turn around and just thanking God that she is not feeling any worse than she is.
Thanks again for your prayers and cards.
Charlie and Fran - We love you ALL

Not getting mail

We are not receiving any mail at this apt. complex. I don't know what the problem is, but I would suggest that the mail be sent to our home in Daleville. Hopefully the cards that have been sent will be returned.
Sorry for the confusion. Charlie

Right on schedule

Fran is feeling tired, lethargic and a little nauseated today. This is exactly how she is supposed to be feeling the PA said. It may last a few more days before she starts feeling better. She needed a little potassium and fluids to help her feel better. The nurse told us that we could be coming home in about 10 days, so that gives us at least a goal to shoot for. Naturally this isn't firm but at least it gives us an idea about our arrival back in Roanoke.

Even though Fran is feeling ucky, she came home and fixed a shrimp salad for us. ONLY FRAN So we continue to hang in there. All things considered I don't think we could be asking for anything better. Thank you again for all of your prayers and concern. We feel very blest.
Charlie and Fran.

We contiue to marvel at God's goodness

This has been another good day here in Durham. The PA is pleased with Fran's progress. He said today may be the worst she will feel, if that is so, then God is truly good. All of her blood work was good this morning, her numbers continue to go down which is what is supposed to happen and hopefully in a few days they will turn around and go back up. She has felt tired today but that is about it. No nausea, etc. She has rested today, (no shopping) So we continue to wait and thank God for his protection.
We know it is because of the prayers.
Thanks so much, we love you all.
Charlie and Fran

Great weekend

Fran has had a great weekend. Her blood work has come back great both days. In fact it was so good this morning that we were the first ones to get to leave the clinic. I asked Fran what she wanted to do, so we went shopping. We had lunch even though she couldn't eat very much. She feels fine and the nurses can't get over how well she is doing. She gets tired easily so I try not to push her and let her go at her own pace. Your prayers are working. The blood levels continue to drop which is good and now we are waiting for them to bottom out and begin back up. God is good. Thank you for your prayers, unti tomorrow.
Charlie and Fran

Had a good day

Fran has had a good day today, When we went for bloodwork this morning, she was feeling a little quesy and just yucky. They gave her some fluids and potasium. That took about 4 hours. We came home and she rested all afternoon and then we went to Harris Teeter to get her out. We walked around the apt. complex a little also. She fell asleep in the chair in the living room and now I just put her to bed. (9:45) We go back to the clinic at 9 in the morning for more blood work. So far so good, thanks for your prayers.
Charlie

Address here in Durham

Some of you have asked for our address while here at Duke.

Charlie and Fran Krause
5514 Butterfly Lane
Bldg. 5 Unit 103
Durham, NC 27707

Grow Stemcells Grow!

That is what the nurse said today when we left the clinic at 3pm. Fran received her stem cells today via two big syringes. Now we just wait for them to produce more good stem cells, the rest of the time here at Duke is spent just monitoring her condition. So far so good. She has had just a little nausea feeling but nothing that pills didn't help. The nurse told her that today would be the last day that she would be feeling good so she better go out and do what she wanted. And guess what? She did! We walked around an outlet mall for a little while and then stopped by Old Navy on the way home. She is now resting comfortably.
We go back to the clinic tomorrow morning at 9:30 for blood work and check up. If anything is needed they will top her off. Thanks for your prayers, everything that we came here for has been done and it is just a waiting game now hopefully for two weeks.
Charlie

Everything is going well

We got back to our apartment around 4 this afternoon and Fran went to sleep until around 7. I wanted to fix supper but she insisted on helping so we had soup for dinner. We are now watching Amelia. She feels good, and we are taking her temp. every three hours, so far so good. We'll keep you posted on how things are going tomorrow. She gets her first stem cell transplant in the morning. Thanks for everyone's prayers, they were answered! We're underway.

It has begun!!!!

Yeah!!!! Yes we have begun, Fran is getting a big IV bag drip prior to the chemo. The chemo is beginning at 1pm. Everyone is being very kind and helpful. Needless to say Fran is anxious but she will be fine. The transplant procedure will begin tomorrow. The nurse is here giving her lots of pills to take before the chemo begins. Thanks for your continued prayers. Needless to say our prayer is that there will be minimal side effects and that the stay here at Duke will be as brief as possible. I'll try to do a posting everyday to keep you up on how things are going.
Charlie

Still waiting

Fran has had a great day shopping, we began the day by going by the Duke chapel and then shopping, shopping. We had not heard from Duke by 4:30 so Fran called and talked to the PA, All of the tests still have not come back in, but she told Fran to come on in the morning at 9 and maybe we would know something by then or soon after. At least they did not send us home again, so one more night of uncertainty. Hopefully we will know something tomorrow morning. As soon as we know something I will put it here.
thanks, Charlie

Still Waiting

We are here in Durham and still waiting. Fran had lots of blood work done this afternoon, an ekg, and chest exray and now we are waiting on the reports to come back to the Doctor. We saw him this afternoon and he is sure everything is ok, just need the test results, soooo one more day of waiting. He said he would call us tomorrow afternoon with the results.
We will just take it easy tomorrow, visit the Duke Chapel where The Roanoke Chamber Brass will be giving a concert this coming August and try the find the gardens to walk around in as Fran is recuperating. Please pray that the results are what we need so we can get on with the procedure on Wed.
Thanks again for your interest and prayers.
Love, Charlie and Fran

It hopefully is beginning

Sorry we have not been on for awhile, there has been no new news. We have just been waiting and waiting. Finally the wound has healed and we are headed back to Duke this coming Monday. We have an appointment with the Dr. at 3pm and then on Tuesday morning at 8am. We are assuming this means we are beginning the process even though they have not said they will do the transplant yet. This is just our prayer. As we get going next week I will be making daily posts here. Thanks for checking in.
Charlie