Casey Bishop!

This morning my alarm went off at about 6:45am. I shut it off, then I realized that I no longer set my alarm, since I just sleep until Audrey wakes up. So I looked back at my phone and saw that it was not my alarm, it was a call from my friend Casey.

Casey and I went to college together. We met in the dorms my sophomore year and ended up roomates the following 2 years! She grew up in Stewartville, but post-college ended up in Rochester, until last year year when she moved to Kansas to be a teacher (she decided to go where the jobs were!).

There was a message on the phone. I was pretty nervous to listen to it, no one likes getting calls in the morning, you can almost assume something is wrong. The message was from Casey's mom asking me to call her. Ok, now I'm very nervous. Expecting the absolute worst, I called Joy back.

Joy was in Witchita, Kansas with Casey, who had just been diagnosed with a form of leukimia, acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Casey had been feeling icky for a few weeks and had recently fell into the wall at home. Her family persuaded her after the fall to go to the hospital . A few friends drove her to the local ER. Turns out her platelet count was very low (platelets keep blood from getting too thin) and they found bleeding in her brain. The bleeding is healing itself and is no longer a concern, but led them all to the diagnosis of APL. She got some platelets infused and was airlifted to Witchita. I dunno how her mom got there, perhaps drove overnight, but Casey wanted her to call her MN friends ASAP! I ended up being the one that answered the phone so quickly friends were notified (aka Kelsey and Heather).

So, let the praying begin!!! She will be in the hospital for 6 long weeks, ick ick ick. Joy said she'll be on 2 meds, one being an oral chemotherapy drug and she will lose her hair. Apparently and understandably, Casey Jo is having a rather emotional day. I called this afternoon, but luckily Casey was getting some much needed sleep.

I just thought I'd blog about it if anyone out there would say a prayer for my friend. I was reading about this cancer and the numbers look great in terms of recovery. APL was discovered in the 50s and back then there was no cure. Sure makes me aware and grateful for cancer research, otherwise my friend wouldn't have a chance. But now they've found treatments that are successful.

Well Case, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry you're sitting in that hospital bed insted of getting ready to come home. It sucks, big time. I wish I could be with you right now. But your friends here are thinking of you all the time and praying fervently for you! May God pour out his peace and strength on you and you deal with these long weeks ahead. May he allow the medication to rid you of those dangerous cells and make you heathier than ever! I'm really mad at cancer right now, but thankfully, I know the God who is King of the Nations yet cares deeply for each one of us and hears our voice. He can do anything!

Love you Casey! Talk to you soon.

PS: Casey has a caringbridge site: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/caseybishop