What a busy day!

Today I got here early and things started out normal with the doctor coming to visit to check up on my mom. After breakfast, her massage therapist knocked on the door and I was out for 30 minutes while she had a relaxing massage :) Next we relaxed a while until she was unplugged and we went out to start a short walk. Before we could cross the street to the USF campus, Mimi arrived with some organic spinach lasagna and a special, healthy, ginger(amongst several other things)-heavy drink. After I got that stored in the fridge we all went for a stroll on campus and wound up in the Student Center for some air-conditioned, high-altitude strollin'. We walked around the top floor and took stairs down to the next floor until we reached the bottom.

After that, we all suddenly had a craving for ice cream and ended up indulging (just this one time!) at the Ben & Jerry's in the Student Center, from there we went back to the room for lunch. Immediately after we finished, we had a visit from one of Moffitt's musicians, Loyd, an upright bass player who serenaded us for about 20 minutes :) It was very relaxing. Wanna see?

While he was finishing we got a call from the art studio here, asking if Carol would like them to come to the room for an art lesson but since she was unplugged, we said we'd go there! We walked to the other side of the hospital and Carol spent an hour working on what developed into what she now calls her "avatar".

After art, it was time to be back at the room for her private Yoga class. She found a note and a small gift waiting for her from the woman who interiewed her about the yoga and massage therapy benefits at Moffitt. At this point, I was pretty worn out and decided to take a nap while she continued her non-stop activity-packed day. From what I gathered she had a very relaxing session and was able to find her relaxed, balanced place. :)

As if the day couldn't get any better, her friend Janie popped in and spent some time talking to Carol about her past and about a ONE HUNDRED MILE BIKE RIDE that she is going to be doing soon in my mom's honor, raising funds for The Leukemia Society. She even gave us these nifty bracelets to sport in support along with our efforts. :P After a short walk outside to get a photo op before Janie headed home.

Time to get back to phone calls and opening mail and maybe some reading before bed time. Tomorrow at 9:30am will be hopefully the last bone marrow biopsy for at least a few weeks and Friday evening we should have some results from that.

Thanks to you all for all the ways you keep her spirits up from near and far =]

-Daniel