Fill 'em Up

Kevin is starting to feel a little better. The diarrhea is clearing up but we are hoping it won't go to the other extreme because that could keep us here longer too. He is still having a hard time eating and keeping food down. He eats very little and is still nauseated most of the time even with the drugs.

Today they gave him some more stem cells but without the nasty chemo. This won't make him feel better now but in the long run they will help his counts. Dr. Wolff had talked about this as a possibility last week and Dr. Martin decided they should do it while we were already here. They take about 10 days before they start reproducing. Because they have so many of Kevin's stem cells in the bank, enough for 3 more transplants, they gave him another bag. It is very unlikely that they would ever do 3 more transplants for anyone. 2 more will be pushing it because of how bad Kevin reacted to the transplant and he won't be as young the next time but it is always possible.

Dale & I are hanging in there. A month is a long time to be away from home, Candice, Darrell, Grammy, our friends, my primary class and our cats. We are SO ready for this to be over with but love our daily walks around the bay. As much as we love the staff and have grown to know so many of them well we are ready get outta here. Everyone is so nice and pleasant even Janet our good friend who works in the booth in the parking structure. She is so friendly, we have seen her on and off for the past 6 1/2 months. We bonded when she told us her boyfriends last name is Richards too and have looked forward to her smiles and well wishes each evening as we leave the hospital.