No Suckers

My dad was collecting money for a raffle his men's club was having at his church. Most every day I was in Mankato we would make a bank run and, big kid that he is, my dad would come out with suckers for each of us. It made me feel like a little kid again to be out running errands, just me and my dad, and being treated to a sucker from the bank. How sad on Tuesday when I ran to the bank in Sheboygan - by myself - and didn't get a sucker. Yes, I'm home.

I had a really good week with my parents. We didn't do anything major but it was nice to always have someone around and someone to eat with and play cards with and just sit next to and read the paper. My parents are just plain wonderful and I plan to go back again soon when the walls close in again. As a bonus, I got to spend time with all three of my brothers, their wives, and Mark and Joey. I also was able to visit with my Aunt Midge. It was just the perfect week for me.

While I was there I did battle a low grade fever for about a day and a half. When I got home I thought it was all in my head that I was feeling down and out, but it turns out my blood was messed up again and I ended up in the hospital yesterday for a blood transfusion. I didn't get home until 10:00 last night. Back to reality!

I have decided that I'm probably only going to blog once a week now. My guess is that I'll try to do it on Sundays or Mondays as a re-cap of the previous week. There's just not enough going on in my world to warrant anything more frequent than that. It will also save all of you from checking every day and finding nothing and wondering what's going on.

Time to go pop a pill or two to try and control another fever that's going on right now. It should help with some of these aches I'm feeling also. It may be time to increase the Fentanyl dosage for pain as my hips and legs have been bothering me more and more lately. I'll see Dr K in two weeks and discuss it with him at that time.

You're all in my prayers. I hope I remain in yours as well.

Where's Carol?

I'm not at home. I'm not in Sheboygan County. I'm not even in the state of Wisconsin. I had an opportunity to come to MN with my folks and I jumped at it! I just had to get away from the walls that were closing in on me and the long silences at home being alone all day long. Already this is a great improvement. I really haven't done much that's different here, but the scenery is changed. They have a big, bright window in their living room I can look out and watch traffic go by and hear neighborhood noises and watch the silly chipmunks scurry by. I don't have any of that at home. We're a lot more "private" living where we do than I ever really realized. I'll be flying home on Memorial Day to be reunited with my guys.

I've had some problems with my legs recently. In fact, they gave out from under me one evening. I don't know who it scared more...me, or Deb and Amy who were with me at the time. I haven't had another incident but I am constantly aware of how they feel now and am extra cautious on the steps.

Graduation weekend in Beloit was really nice with my family all together. I'm very thankful that it all worked out and I was mostly feeling up to all of the activities. There was still napping involved and I was worn out by the time I got home, but it was all worth it. I also was able to see my brother-in-law, Anthony, graduate the following weekend as part of this trip to MN. It just worked out since I was traveling with my parents.

It was 80 degrees here yesterday with a nice breeze blowing to keep the air moving. It was a perfect day. I was even comfortably warm (while everyone else was hot). Today is supposed to be similar, but with a slight chance of rain. Nephew, Mark, has a program at school tomorrow night which we're going to try to attend. I ran a bunch of errands with my Dad yesterday and that was nice. Even here I still need to get out of the house.

So I guess that's about it for now. My tumor marker number is up to 944, but no one seems too surprised by that since we're not doing any treatments right now. I am getting a boost for my red blood cells every other week with a shot of Aranesp. I just wish I would start to get some of my energy back...soon!

Have a good week everyone and a safe holiday weekend. I'll check back in once I'm home. Please keep the prayers coming my way. I need some strength and energy and peace of mind at home.

I Feel Good!

That's all. Just wanted to post something 100% positive! I feel good today, the weather is beautiful right now, and all is well in my corner of the world. Hope you are feeling the same!!

Loooong Weekend

Yes, it was long. Why? Because I was stuck in the hospital from Fri at 3pm until about 9 this morning. I developed a fever of 103.7 on Friday and I couldn't get it to come down. So they admitted to the hospital to get iv antibiotics. I was really ready to come home yesterday but they made me stay over one more night.

NOW I need to start the upward trend again and feel like a million bucks by the weekend. I just can't miss out on this family affair that's coming up!

I'm very sleepy as I did not sleep well at the hospital at all. There's definitely a nap in my future this morning/afternoon. At the moment the sun is shining and it looks beautiful outside. Nice to come home to that, rather than rain and grey skies.

I must thank my friend, Kay, for her consistancy in sending me such beautiful and comforting cards. She sends something at least every other week, if not every single week and I always look forward to that. Thank you Kay!! You're so wonderful!

And thank you, also, to Amy and Carol who each came to visit me in the hospital. While they were discouraging me having any visitors besides Brian and Dominic, these two both stopped up to see me and were most welcome and appreciated. So were the phone calls from family and friends. It helped to make the time go a little quicker. I'm sorry I don't always call and let folks know when I'm in there. Most often I don't have my list of phone numbers with me, and I need to get a long distance calling card to reach any of you who are further away. I'll try to remember to purchase one of those next time I'm in the store.

Ok, all for now. Really, really sleepy and the fingers aren't typing so well. I'm keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers!

Lost!

I seem to be missing my ankles, and I have a lot more foot than I need. Things have swollen up with retained fluids now and I have elephant legs! It's terrible. Fortunately, it isn't uncomfortable at all, but it is a challenge to get my shoes on.

I spent Monday afternoon at the clinic with my parents where I received iv fluids and they did more blood work. I did have a "minor" reaction to the transfusion, so I'm not sure what that means for any future blood I may require. I'm just extremely pleased to be past the worst of it all.

I am feeling so much better today. In fact, I even ventured out on my own in the truck to go pick up a prescription at Wally World. It was a major deal for me. I was wiped out by the time I got home...but that store is huge and I needed other things from one end to the other. There was a definite sense of accomplishment that came with the trip!

In addition to my parents being here Monday afternoon/night, my sister, Sue, and her little boy, Owen, were here as well. It was so great to wake up Tuesday morning and have other people in the house. I can't even begin to explain what a difference it made in my mood and my enjoyment of the morning. Thank you to the four of you for being here for me!!

Now the push is on to just feel better and better so I can have energy and oomph for our family get-together over Mother's Day weekend. My oldest nephew, Alex, is graduating from college, and another nephew, Zachary, is celebrating his birthday. It should be quite the party weekend and I can't wait...especially after being cheated out of MN this past weekend. Please keep me in your prayers that this upward trend continues!

Huge Dissapointment

I'm supposed to be in MN right now but plans fell through when I ended up in the emergency room early yesterday morning. We still don't know what the exact problem is, but it seems likely that I had a bad reaction to the blood transfusion I received on Wednesday. The other possibility is an infection of some kind, but we have to wait for blood cultures, etc., to see what they show.

I was sooo looking forward to seeing Mighty Mark and his family this weekend...not to mention just getting out of the house. Hard to even enjoy the warm, sunny day today when I have such a high fever.

I think the worst part of this is that we had just made the decision to stop chemo treatments for a while so I'd feel decent, and now I feel like crud anyway. It's always something!

On a totally unrelated note, my hair seems to be coming back slowly. It's very straight and very, very gray. There's not much there to speak of, but I can still tell there's more salt than pepper.

My guys are out tonight so I guess I'll go curl up on the couch and watch some Brewers.

What Was I Saying?

Oh yes..."semi-regular"...

I was back in the hospital yesterday to get another blood transfusion and some iv fluids. Then today I seemed to have a bit of a reaction to the blood and ended up with a fever. That seems to be under control now with the good ol' extra strength Tylenol.

After a couple of rough days this week I sat down with Dr K yesterday and we decided to stop chemo treatments for a while (3 months?) to let my body try to do some "healing" on it's own. My system doesn't seem to be able to take much more and we've beat up my bone marrow pretty good. The hope is to start having some days of feeling more human, potentially enjoy the summer a bit more, but keep monitoring things with monthly appointments at the clinic.

In the long run is this the right decision? There's no way to know. BUT, the idea of feeling 'good' is so appealing right now that it's a chance I'm willing to take, and Dr K and other staff members seem to agree.

So while I'll continue with all my home meds, there won't be any actual chemo drugs administered for a little while. The biggest immediate concern is whether or not the fluid will come back around my lungs. Time will tell...time will tell a lot of things. But for now I'm optimistic that there will be some happy days ahead when I feel like I'm able to leave the house for places other than just the clinic or hospital. Maybe even a long-awaited visit to Muth!

Off to MN this weekend for Mighty Mark's first communion. High hopes of getting past the fever issues and enjoying their predicted 80 degree high temp with sunshine!! Say a little prayer we're able to hit the road without a problem.

Semi-Regular

I recognize most of them, and most of them recognize me. That's how it works when you become a semi-regular patient at the hospital. Even if it's on an out-patient basis. Why do I bring this up now? Because I spent most of my day in one of their semi-comfy beds yesterday.

In the morning I had a bloody nose that wouldn't stop and bleeding gums that wouldn't stop. I was a mess. Add to that some kind of funky vision problems and it was time to call the clinic. They ran some tests, did some basic stuff, then sent me off to the hospital for a unit of blood and some platelets. Dr K also added another drug to my daily regime, something that will hopefully get all this bleeding under control. Unfortunately it's 2 pills, 4 times/day. That's a lot more pills to start sending through my system. And I imagine there will be side effects to one extent or another.

The sun is shining here again today. Time to ride along with Brian to go get some fresh fish for the pond. Ours did not fare too well this past winter. A road trip may do me some good...

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Full House

I can't believe a full week has gone by since the 'gang' stopped by. Last Thursday evening the doorbell rang and in walked 11 close friends (both adults and children). Brian knew they were coming but it was a complete surprise to me! What a great treat. "Thank You" just seems so inadequate sometimes...but I truly am thankful for Dave & Linda, Deb, Jeff & Aaron, Ed, Amy, Andrea & Ellis, and Sara & Rachel. Missing from the group were Tom, but also Dave and Faye. This is a core group of friends that I became part of after meeting Brian. What fantastic people each and every one of them is.

Over the weekend we actually got to go up and see Dave & Faye, just north of Antigo. The weather was nice and I felt half-way decent the whole time. Three weeks off of treatment will do that for a person. I knew I needed to get away from here. I didn't realize how badly I needed to get away until I was actually gone. It was tremendous therapy. And our hosts were so accomodating and wonderful.

I did come back to treatment on Monday and have been feeling crummy since then. Yesterday was especially bad, but today is an improvement. Could it be today's sunshine is helping to improve both the mental and physical side effects? Hard to say.

We have an appointment this afternoon with the attorney to update our wills. It's something I've been meaning to do for a year or two now, but my stay in the hospital last month made me realize it's time to be responsible and get it done so I can get it filed away.

Time to try and eat something again and hopefully not get the belly churning. One of the pills I take needs to be taken with food. Tough to do with no appetite and no guarantee it's going to stay down.

Hope the sun is shining wherever you are today!

419!

Need I say more?

The tumor marker number dropped back by over half after starting this new chemo. So, obviously, it was the right decision. It would be great to cut it in half again over the course of this next month. Then...maybe...we could eliminate some of these other drugs that leave me feeling so lousy.

Like most of you, we have a cold, snowy, blowy day here today. I'm not liking it at all!! We could stand to be blessed with sunshine and warmer temps. This has turned into an incredibly loooong winter!

Too Low To Go

Numbers were on the low side today so we could not proceed with treatment. I wasn't too surprised by this since I haven't been feeling very good. No transfusion is necessary at this point yet, though, so that's a good thing. I did get the Zometa and Aranesp and a shot of Neupogen. The Neupogen I'll receive each day this week and then we'll check labs again on Monday to see if we can proceed with treatment at that time. I'm also back on a pill called Femara that I took about two years ago. It's one of those things where it can be revisited and maybe have some positive results again. It acts as a hormone inhibitor, similar to Tamoxifen.

While I still may have a little fluid around my lungs yet, my breathing has not been a problem so we're not going to do anything "dramatic" at this time. That's a big relief to me.

I want to thank June for her nice long letter telling me of her trip to Mexico. It was just what I had hoped to receive when I put out the request. Thanks to Wendy, also, who had photos along on Easter to share. What fun!

I did manage to get out on Easter for both church and to Brian's mom's house. It was good therapy to be surrounded by family and just watch all the goings-on. I didn't feel very good, but it was worth it to me to not sit at home.

All for now as it is nap time. I hope all of you had wonderful, joy-filled Easter celebrations!

I'll probably blog again tomorrow with an updated tumor marker number...

First Try

I am pleased and proud to report that Dominic passed his road test first try yesterday! Sure, he lost some points, but still passed. It's a relief cuz it's one less hassle to deal with.

Feeling fairly yucky today. May have to break down and call the clinic this afternoon yet or tomorrow. I hate to do it, but I'm not enjoying my "off" week as much as I'd hoped...again. It's just always something!!

So far my version of spring cleaning has been to clean out two drawers and all of my purses. Now, granted, this took me three days to accomplish, but it's still a minor success on my part. I found lots of spare change in my purses. And I threw away lots of garbage in my drawers (like receipts from Xmas '05 --- that kind of thing). Next will hopefully be my file cabinet, but that task seems quite daunting. It's definitely on hold until I have a better day again.

I'm back to having lots of bloody noses and, even worse, blood clots in my mouth. It greatly affects my sleep at night. Obviously this is chemo related again. I'll have to bring it up with Dr K next week.

This cold, blustery day is doing nothing to help my mood. The wind gusts are terrible, but at least the giant snow flakes have stopped swirling around. (Oops! I take it back. Just looked outside and they're back in the air again.)

Going to try and take a short nap now...

Computer Problem Solved

Hi Folks. Sorry to have not been in contact sooner but our computer was misbehaving. Thanks Deb for the solution! (I won't go into the easy fix for fear of embarrassing myself.)

So anyway...I had a treatment last Wednesday. This was the second round with the new Navelbine chemo drug. I went without the steroids this time and managed to sleep that night with no problem. I've had some tired and queasy days, but no actual nausea. So while I still feel fairly crummy, it could be a whole lot worse.

We did a chest x-ray again on that Wed morning and there was a little bit of fluid that had returned around the right lung again. For now we're just keeping an eye on it. The hope is that this chemo will do it's thing and prevent that fluid from building up. My breathing is the best indicator and so far I haven't had a problem taking a deep breath. Since I don't want to have to undergo any kind of surgery, let's all pray that the fluid stays away.

Dominic had a great week in MN over his spring break! Thanks to everyone there for entertaining, transporting, feeding, and playing with him. Tomorrow is the big day of his road test. Keep your fingers crossed! This Mom isn't as optimistic as she'd like to be.

No Place Like Home

There's no place like home, especially when you haven't been here for a few days. Even more so when those days have been spent in the hospital.

I woke up Wednesday feeling just a little more crummy than usual. Then I started throwing up blood and had to have Brian drive me to the E.R. Thank goodness he was home! We got to the hospital around 11 or 11:30 that morning and by early afternoon I was admitted. I had ruptured some varices in my esophagus (you may remember they came up as a potential issue at the end of December). So on Thursday we did the same scope procedure we had done back then and Dr. Sokhi banded them off to stop/prevent further bleeding. It left me with some sharp pains just below my sternum.

In addition, my breathing had become labored again. Even though they drew a litre of fluid off my lungs last Thursday (the 15th) there was more fluid built up again. This time they got 2 1/2 litres! The doctor said it's the most he's ever drawn. If the fluid comes back again they will have to do a more involved surgical procedure that involves a chest tube and the injection of some talc to sort of close off the space that allows the fluid to build. We'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it.

I was finally discharged from the hospital this morning (Sunday, the 25th). It was a long several days and my room seemed to shrink by the hour. All seems to be fairly ok right now though. Please keep praying that it remains that way and that this is the end of the fluid build-up. The chemo can potentially keep it from coming back.

I'm scheduled for shots each day again this week and for another chemo treatment on Wednesday. I will say that it was reassuring to see a different oncologist who agrees with all that Dr. K is doing. I trust Dr. K's judgment and his decisions, but there's no harm in hearing the same kinds of things from other doctors. In this case it was from my original oncologist who first treated me back in 2001. He happened to be the doctor on call this weekend.

I guess that's all for now. Thank you for the many prayers, visitors, flowers, hugs, cards, gifts, poems and drawings! And thank you for all of the love!!

Keeping it Brief

The results of the lab work on the fluid from around my lungs showed NO cancer cells! This is very reassuring. We need to now see what the chest x-ray shows next week to make sure there are no spots within the lung itself.

Keysha has run away twice now since Niko was put to sleep, but was returned by kind neighbors both times. She's one strong dog to have managed to break out of her pen, even after Brian did some strengthening of the wire. Her grieving seems to be getting a little better as she didn't spend the whole day howling today. Brian has been well-distracted by her, I think.

All for now since my tummy is rather upset today.

Sad, Sad Day

Poor Brian had to take his beloved Niko into the vet this morning. Niko would have been 13 this June and had developed some kidney problems, as well as troubles with his back legs. It was "time." Niko was Brian's best friend and this was an extremely difficult decision for him to make. I know there are many, many of you who can relate to his sorrow.


On a more positive note...my procedure went extremely well yesterday and was far less uncomfortable than I had feared. They withdrew just over a litre of fluid from around my right lung and now we await the lab results. That news should be available some time early next week, I hope. The whole procedure took less than 20 minutes and all I really felt was one tiny needle prick and just a small amount of pressure when we were nearly done. All of the staff was exceptional and really put me at ease.

Jitterbug

As you can see by the post time down below, this is not a good time for me to be up and about. Especially because I have not managed to catch any Zzzzs at this point. This darn treatment today has left me feeling all buzzed up and jittery. I can't take much more of this. The steroids left me eating all kinds of junk tonight and now I don't know if the tummy is bothering me cuz of that, or cuz of the chemo. The Kytril helped settle the belly a bit, but it hasn't made me sleepy enough to be able to lay down for even 10 minutes straight!

So here I am; typing, typing, typing. I'm hopeful this will work out some of those jitters I feel. Definitely got the jimmy legs going again tonight.

Those of you who have vacationed recently (past 3-4 months), please let me know how your trips went! Technically, Brian and I should be in Mexico or Punta Cana this week and I'm missing that annual trip very much. I'm hoping to live vicariously through your vacations instead. This is the first year since we've been married that we haven't gone away.

Thanks for your quick comments on my last blog entry, KB. The pic of my liver was encouraging for sure, but the fear now is that the cancer has spread to my lungs. We were reasonably certain the Avastin was helping the spots on my liver to go away and the scan seems to have confirmed that. I never had any great degree of discomfort when Dr K pressed on my liver so we know we caught it early there. As far as Survivor goes; for those of you who don't know, yes, I am hooked on that show. I watched it at Sue's last week but I don't think the previews for this week really stuck with me. Thanks for the update on the buffs and the shake-up. It could make for much more interesting tribes now.

For you pray-ers out there...please send up a few for my uncle and aunt, Jim and Kitty, who both managed to land themselves in the hospital recently. Also, my aunt Ruth who had recent heart surgery. All three seem to be doing pretty well and are home recouping. And while you're at it, my sister-in-law, Kate's, dad is undergoing some health issues and has conflicting opinions from some doctors on whether or not he has cancer. The not knowing things is the worst...how does one deal with a conflict like that?!? At least my 2nd and 3rd opinions at UW-Madison Hospital and at the Mayo Clinic all confirmed what we were being told here at the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic.

What a great day here yesterday with a high temp of 68 degrees on our deck in the sun. The wind was brisk and so it didn't necessarily feel quite that warm to me, but the snow is practically all gone now and even with the temps back down in the 40s today, it was still refreshing to be able to walk to the end of my driveway yesterday and not feel chilled to the bone. (Granted, I was wearing a turtleneck, sweatshirt, and corduroy jacket, but I was comfy.)

Oop, there's another big yawn, but the legs are still bouncing up and down yet. I think I'll iron my bandanas that I washed earlier today. I'm trying to do quiet things that won't wake the men-folk.

My 2 1/2 year old nephew, Owen, was here last evening. I didn't see much of him because he was all about having his private play time with Dominic. But he came upstairs a few times to sort of check in. I had my hat off most of the evening and the first time he just kind of looked at my head while he was talking to me, paused ever so briefly, but kept on talking. The next time he told me "you have beautiful hairs." It just made my night cuz he has no clue why my hair is practically non-existant or that that was the sweetest thing he could possibly say. What a kid!

I think that's all the typing for now. As I said, I think I'll iron now, but I don't know what I'll do after that. The print in my book is too tiny to try and read at this hour, I've already discovered. I have no desire to watch 'paid programming' and there's little else on at this hour. Much too late too call any of you for a chat, but could almost call some of you early Muth employees who might be about ready to wake up this morning. I'm not banking on much sleep before my procedure this morning. Have to be at the hospital by 10:30am, can't eat anything after 8:30am.

Well, thanks for lending an eyeball to my rambling typing. Hopefully will sleep better tomorrow night and you won't really hear from me again until we have the results from the fluid samples. No date set yet for the x-ray. Have to call and get that arranged.

Happy St. Patrick's Day (coming right up)!! I'll have to wear my fun green party hat from Mac and KB. Hope you're all snuggled in tonight and sleeping like rocks.

Love to all

Bad News - Good News - Bad News

Bad news: Tumor marker number is up over a thousand again to the tune of 1092.

Good news: CT scan shows the spots on the liver seem to have all but disappeared.

Bad news: lots more fluid around the right lung and I will have a thoracentesis done tomorrow to drain anywhere from 1 to 2 litres of fluid. They'll run some tests on the fluid they draw out and I should have those results in 2-3 days. The fluid is not in the lung itself. It is in the chest cavity surrounding the lung. I'll have an x-ray done before my next treatment to see what shows up (more fluid, spots, anything).

I did have treatment today. We stuck with the Avastin, but I am no longer receiving the Taxotere. That was switched to something called Navelbine now. (Oh goody...a whole new set of possible side effects.) I'll let you know how this one works out for me in time. The plan is to continue with treatments every other week, now on Wednesdays.

Sorry if I'm not posting as often as some of you might like. When I have a crummy day I tend to not have any desire to sit and type. And I've had a lot of crummy days lately. You can always feel free to call for an update if you'd like, though. Never be afraid to call. Although I may not always be the best at returning calls either, if you leave a message it does me worlds of good just to know you're out there thinking of me. I ALWAYS love to see comments posted here too!

I guess that's about all I learned today. Questions anyone?
Q: Am I nervous about tomorrow's procedure?
A: Absolutely! The thought of a needle going into my chest makes me a little anxious.
Q: Do they know why my tumor marker number is on the rise?
A: Not specifically. Could be any number of explanations. Some drugs just don't work for everyone, or they stop working after a while. Another possibility is that certain cancer cells are not responding and those are the cells that are messing up that number. Could be there are cells elsewhere that just don't show up in this scan. But as long as we keep treating we should hopefully manage to bring that number down again, in time.
Anyone else? Questions? Buehler? Buehler?

You Just Never Know

You just never know what 'treatment day' will bring. By definition it should bring a treatment, yes? Well, not today.

Instead, by the time I had asked all of my many questions and updated Dr K on all my current aches and pains he decided that we should do a CT scan of my head, chest, abdomen and pelvis. And that we should also wait and see what my latest tumor marker number looks like that we drew blood for today, before proceeding with another treatment. So I'll have the marker # sometime tomorrow, and I'll see the pics from the scan on Wed morning. After that we'll determine if we'll proceed on the same track or change things up a bit.

I've been experiencing headaches, vomiting, and lower back pain (even with the fentanyl patch on). That's why we want to see if there's anything new going on that we should be aware of. Unfortunately, this past weekend was my sort of annual get-together with my sisters and the way that I was feeling tapped into the fun way too much. I felt extremely cheated!

For some reason the scan caused a great deal more discomfort than I ever remember it causing in the past. First it took 2 nurses and 3 pokes to get an iv started. Then the iodine burned something terrible when they injected it. I know it does, but this was extreme. By the time I left I was ready to run screaming from the building. So then I came home and napped for 2 1/2 hours with my jacket on because, even on this spring-type day, I just couldn't warm up.

So I should have updated news to report on Wednesday at some point. If all looks "normal" on the scan and the tumor marker number is cooperating then we'll just go about our business as it was planned for today. If anything has gone haywire, we'll deal with that as necessary.

Topped Off

Yesterday I had a treatment and, as Brian said, we "topped off all my fluids." I received the Avastin, Taxotere, Zometa, plus extra pre-meds to avoid any kind of adverse reaction. The extra Benadryl sent my head a spinning and then knocked me out for a nap right then and there in my chemo chair. I also have a new prescription for the GERD symptoms I've been experiencing. Just one more drug to add to my list of many.

I think I ate more for dinner last night (steroids again) than I ate all last week combined. At least that was the way it felt. Today I'm on the anti-nausea pills right away to try and curb any ill side effects. I'll also have a Neumega shot each day this week. Four shots seem to be maintaining my platelets in a "safe" zone. My white and red blood cells are hanging right on that borderline, but haven't dropped at all, which is promising.

VERY PROUD to report that Dominic was named "Student of the Month" by his band teacher for the month of January. The letter his teacher wrote was just wonderful. This honor is kind of a random thing. No teacher is required to name any student, there are no quotas to fill, etc. That just kind of makes it all the more special. Dominic is very proud of this accomplishment. He'll get his picture in the Lakeshore Weekly too.

Please continue to pray for me. I really need to have a good week or two now. And know that I keep all of you in my prayers as well.