Good Afternoon Family and Friends;

This week has been busy starting with my Bone Marrow Biopsy, as you may know, having to let Alexia go home, not easy, walks every second I can as soon as I am disconnected from my IV “totem pole” serving me antibiotics and hydrating me in between. At the end of our beautiful morning walk yesterday, we had a wonderful visit from Sybil & Jay which lifted my spirits and brought sunshine in the form of their home grown oranges. As their visit ended, they, along with Jaime escorted me to a yoga class that I escaped to yesterday over at the Hope Lodge, followed by a little weight training with my PT. Today, much the same, release from the pole, a nice shower and even a ride in the car for the first time since I got here… not far away… to a Children’s Shriner Hospital to walk around in the cool breezy morning air.

Jaime and I were finally just visited by one of my sweet doctors, Estrella, who let us know that my results from the biopsy were still a little iffy, but at 5% blasts. They wanted to see 5% or less, so again I’m sitting on the fence, not too bad. At this point, they want to wait until a second biopsy this coming Monday to see if the chemo is just working a little slow, but still working, rather than going right to more Chemo right away…I like that. Dr. Lancet, my Leukemia specialist here, is out this week, but will be reached by email and consulted for the last word, in the meantime, and if there is any update regarding his opinion, they will let us know.

I think that’s pretty much it for now. It’s already Wednesday and I am looking forward to a visit tomorrow by my sweet friend Mimi. Between her and half the nurses, techs and doctors, my Spanish is getting a good sharpening and further, a bit more medical vocabulary I didn’t even realize I had in me! Tomorrow I hope to make it to Hope Lodge again for another 3:00 yoga class and before I know it, it will be Friday and I will be hugging my precious sister, Susan, who has a date with the Bone Marrow Donor office for HLA typing to see if she’s a match. In the meantime, somewhere in Pennsylvania, my brother, Michael, is doing the same. So the race is on! I hope it’s one of them so we can keep it in the family. If neither of them are a match, they will be searching the world-wide donor registry to find a match (who will surely become a new family member).

Again and Again…thank you all for your wonderfully entertaining calls, cards and visits.

Love,
Carol