Update

Sorry no pics for this update. Things are going ok. We are currently in the hospital for Shawns final chemotherapy before the transplant. In short, things could be going a little better. A few days before we came in Shawn started getting some neuropathy. This is tingling, burning, stabbing intense pain most common in hands and feet. His feet are hurting so bad he was soaking them in ice cold water to even get 1 or 2 hours of sleep at night. This however is not a good therapy to do all the time because it can start affecting circulation and making matters worse. We are currenlty battling and trying all sorts of other things to try and make this pain ease even just a little so he can sleep at night and be semi functional during the day. Any suggestions you have heard about neuropathy we are willing to try, we have researched a lot and tried a lot so far but are getting desperate.

Enough bad news, good news is that the transplant is officially scheduled!! He will go in around May 12 to start the pre transplant work ups, then a few days of chemo and then 6 days of radiation. Then on May 24th they will put the new bone marrow into Shawn. We are so fortunate to have a donor that is so willing to do this. Some of you have asked if we know the donor, no we do not. They contacted him (we do know its a male) through the bone marrow registry and his "identity" is confidential until a year or two after the transplant. We are so thankful to whoever he is though, he has no idea what a difference he will be making in our lives. So even though things are difficult right now for Shawn he remains positive and even trys to cheer me up from seeing him suffer. We have listened to several talks and read scriptures on the purpose of trials and the benefits of going through pain...they are good to put things into perspective and to remind us that there is no suffering that goes unnoticed by the Lord. We love you all and thank you for the continued love,support, and prayers!

Barnes Battle

So in case any of you are still checking this blog occasionally I will give an update. Most of you have already heard my husband Shawn was diagnosed with leukemia in January. Since then there have been a lot of things happen. Basically the plan is for him to get a bone marrow transplant this summer. They have found a match and he just has to get one more round of chemo (chemo round #3) before they will go ahead with the transplant. He has been so strong through all of it, but no matter the strength a person has chemo still takes a big toll on your body. He has lost quite a bit of weight, hair, and energy. He also got a case of bells palsy from his immune system being so shot. Sometimes I like to call him my little "Job" because he has gone through so much and still has such an amazing attitude and Faith. There are a lot of good things that have come from this and we try and focus on these. One being we were able to get pregnant before all of this happened!! We are having a little baby boy in august. We are going to name him Lucas Shawn, call him Luke. I hope one day we can tell Lucas what a light he was to us in this time of darkness. Among all the sad and hard news, he kept us going, he kept us counting our blessings, he kept us positive when it seemed impossible to be. We are so excited for him to come into this world!
Right now we are enjoying the few days we have home before Shawn goes back for more chemo. Everything is going pretty good, aside from some crazy pain Shawn gets every now and then, we are able to function pretty normally most days. We love those days. Sometimes people ask us how we are dealing with everything, thats just it, you deal with it. We have such strong support from family and friends that it makes it bearable. We have felt the most love and support from our Savior and lucky for us he is the one in charge, and we know that whatever happens is going to be for the best.

I am going to try and keep this blog updated but a lot of people have asked us how they can help, well check out this blog on some fun events our families have put together to try and help raise money for some medical costs. shawnanderinbarnes.blogspot.com

Past few months