Don: I know that most of you would rather see a post from Karen when you come here. Thanks for understanding that some times you are just going to get another dose of Don. I talked with Karen a few times today (Friday). It was a long morning at the hospital and that is good news. That means it wasn’t a long DAY at Shands. The lab work yesterday let them know that Karen needed some platelets and some blood. So they got her cocktails ready and gave them to her this morning. This should keep her all fixed up for the whole weekend. She won’t have to go to Shands until Monday morning for more labs.

If it seems like most of these messages say the same thing it is because that is the nature of the beast. They watch her close and check her blood levels. If she needs some things they give them to her. She will reach a point that her body starts taking care of itself and they will not have to give her anything. Then after the 28 day cycle ends we go do it again. We are a little past the halfway point of this round. For those keeping track she had one month of the induction round and this is the first consolidation round. Today is day 17.

So the normal consolidation is: hospital for 6 days, getting chemo for two hours twice a day on day one, day 3 and day 5. Released on day 6. Her labs stay up for a few days and then go down around day 10-14 and then go up after about a week. They do labs about every other day and give her what she needs, when she need it. She needs to be at Shands on day 21 and 22 for procedures and exams due to the research program she is participating in. By then she should have good ‘counts’ and we can go to Panama City for about a week. I hope that helps clear up what is normal.

If you are still following me then you probably understand that we are at the bottom of the monthly cycle. Karen doesn’t feel very well today. Her parents are with her this week. She misses the kids and me. She is a little sad. About now I expect that one or two of you might have looked at the Subject of this message and are asking, “How in the world are -Things going really well?” It’s all relative. You know the cycle that we are on with these treatments. Well Karen and her body is reacting exactly the way you would expect for anyone in this program. To us that is a blessing and we count it as such.

She will be lots happier tomorrow. We have 2 or 3 surprises lined up for her. One of them is me. I can let you know because she can’t get to the internet tonight so when I get there it will still be a surprise to her! Please say a prayer for Karen’s continued spiritual, mental and physical well being and leave a comment now and then. Your support, prayers and just knowing you are coming by to visit go a very long way in Karen’s recovery. We love and appreciate you all for being here.