Dear Family & friends,

This update is from sister Susan – arrival late Friday night, staying through Monday.

First things first…some very happy news:

Carol’s overall white blood cell (WBC) count was up to .44 today. The goal is to get to .5 at which point they can break out a subset that will show among other things, how those neutraphils (ANC) are doing that signal that her immune system is on the way back up. So why is this such good news? Because when the WBC is up to .5 and the ANC is over 500, Carol gets to “bust outta this joint” and go home to Sarasota for a bit!!!

Since her WBC has gone up so significantly in the past few days (.17 yesterday all the way to .44 today), the nurses are placing bets on when Carol might be able to go home in the neighborhood of Wednesday 5/19-Thursday 5/20 :) Whoever wins gets to come over for a celebratory dinner next time I’m back in town to cook it!

Once she gets home she will be able to be on oral antibiotics vs the IV (which in & of itself will bring a great sense of freedom, being totally untethered) and as her immune system continues to bounce back, the goal is to be able to do without transfusions. We don’t know how long she will stay home – all depends on how quickly a bone marrow donor match is found, then some time to coordinate with the donor to initiate the process for the transplant.

Speaking of that, one of the team Physician Assistants communicated the importance of spreading awareness of the need for bone marrow donors because if more people are in the database, it increases the chances for everyone needing a donor to identify a match. If you’re interested in being a donor, go to www.marrow.org and you can register and be tested -- if not a match for Carol you can choose whether or not you’d like to be a donor for someone else in need.

Now for the daily scoop

I arrived rather late Friday night, just in time for us both to turn into pumpkins & pass out for the night.

Carol’s friend Karen surprised us in the a.m. – she did the Miles for Moffitt 5K run for Moffitt Cancer Center in Carol’s honor, and was wearing a photo of Carol carrying her boat (see photo). Carol enjoyed that visit and was very touched by her friend’s thoughtfulness.

Carol & I fit in a short walk this morning and also one late this afternoon. Good thing there’s a lot of shade and a beautiful air conditioned Student Union building on USF campus with some art work to enjoy here & there to escape the heat .

In between walks around USF campus, we played a new game I brought called “Origin”, based on common expressions, their meanings and challenging players to guess their origins…fun but we could have used some help from some of you! Other than that, Carol fit in a nice long nap, enjoyed the great organic foods that Jaime picked out, and ended the eve with another hot game of scrabble.

Until the next update,

-Susan