The Hope Lodge

(Joshua Reporting):

Well, Brianne got out on Wednesday and has spent the last few days here at the Hope Lodge. The Hope Lodge is an amazing facility set up by the American Cancer Society and is totally free with a doctor's order. It has 34 units with 2 beds in each unit (1 for the patient and 1 for the caregiver), a large spacious kitchen and common areas, is close to Emory's campus, is rather secluded, and has a beautiful view of the nearby woods - you'd never think you're in the middle of Atlanta. When I first came up here on Thursday, I was overwhelmed by the place - it's an amazing blessing. The staff here is great and the other patients are welcoming, friendly, and great for conversation.

Update on physical health. Brianne's leukemia is back and right now she is recovering from the chemo she got last week. She's been exhausted all weekend and sickly. She'll get up for a few minutes to walk downstairs or walk around and before long she is too tired or has to go the bathroom. She's barely eaten and is mostly only drinking water and gatorade. This morning, we spent 6 hours at the clinic getting 2 bags of blood, fluids, potassium, and platelets. She perked up for a little bit after getting fluids, but was tired again within an hour or two.

Emotional/mental/spiritual health. As you know and can tell from her last post, this entire ordeal has been very trying and the last two weeks have been really disappointing as the transplant date was pushed back again and Brianne hated having to have chemo AGAIN.

Keep her in your prayers for physical strength as the side effects from the chemo can be devastating. Also pray that she would feel God's love and presence through this hard time (we know it's there, it's just sometimes hard to feel/see). This morning she met Ann Something from Smyrna who was diagnosed with ALL leukemia last week and the two of them had a really good talk about God, faith, and illness - it's a wonderful thing to see the people God puts in our lives especially when we really need them. Those wonderful people include all of y'all out there in computer land - she really appreciates your prayers, letters, comments et al. Here's her address for the Hope Lodge:

Brianne Tsavatewa Room 212
1552 Shoup Court
Decatur GA 30033

Joshua signing off. - (Also - you can click on the title "Hope Lodge" and it'll take you to the Decatur Hope Lodge website)