Well, things are finally starting to happen. We went in for his last of the 3 Melphalan doses. It's the same routine every day. Vitals, labs, fluids, antibiotics and today, chemo. His lab values came back with some news....

He's neutropenic today. That means his white count is below 1,000. It's 0.84. Platelets are 43. The red cells are dropping as well. The party has started.

Tomorrow is transplant day. He'll get his stem cells in the morning. The wierd thing about them is the odor. The preservatives that are in the bag come out through your pores. People describe it differently, but I think it's an acidic sort of odor. Sort of like V8 juice. I bought some candles today. Anybody ever mix v8 juice and vanilla together?

Prayer requests for the next 10 days is mostly for Frank to stay free of infection. They monitor his labs daily for his electrolytes. He gets things as needed. And we want those little cells to graft quickly so his counts can come up fast.

What do we do all day?? It's pretty low key actually. Frank comes home and watches TV and sleeps on and off for most of the day. I walked around the apt complex yesterday for about 45 minutes. It was a beautiful day. I do different things: bible study, a little work (data entry), watch tv with Frank...... not much really. That's why we love hearing from you. We check the website/email several times in the evening.
Thank you for keeping up with us. It's very encouraging.

Frank and I have been laughing about what we watch on TV. If our compatability hinged on what we prefer to watch on TV, we don't know how we ever got married. It's funny, but after he falls asleep again, I reach for the remote, trying not to wake him up. But, when he opens his eyes, I give it back. I'm all upset, because Little Rock doesn't air Gilmore Girls. I've called the cable company and everything. They don't have it. Bummer.

Until tomorrow...... we're going to dream about stem cells..... fragrance free.

In His grace... peg and frank