Thought I would add some pictures from my walk today on the pedestrian walkway. They are all showing the hospital complex. It really is remarkable. Craigs numbers were good today and that makes us very happy.

Happy Memorial Day! It has rained so hard today the streets are flooded and the windows are steamed up and we are hanging out at home. Actually, it was nice to be lazy and watch old movies. Our days are getting into a routine this week. We have to be at the hospital between 8:30 and 9:30 where Craig has lab work done and reports to infusion therapy. There he sets up shop for 3-5 hours while they give him fluids, magnesium, potassium, neupogen or whatever else is low in his blood work. We get home, take a nap and try to force feed liquids. Since he got out of the hospital he has struggled to take in enough to liquid to keep him from being dehydrated. It is a constant battle between nausea and being forced to eat and drink. We're determined to get through this little blip. We see slight improvement today! Meanwhile our refrig looks like a soda fountain, trying to find that one thing he can tolerate enough to drink three liters a day. We have really enjoyed being together. Our lives are so busy in Reno that this forced slow down has shown us that we still have the same silly sense of humor and that we can have fun together doing nothing. Our big treat on sunny days is to drive to the roof of our apartment garage and watch the sunset. We have another goal to get Craig strong enough to walk to the roof. Our only other activity this week was shaving Craig's head. The hair was just starting to shed so we beat it to the punch. He can be ready to go in about 5 minutes now.

I made a great discovery at the hospital this week. There is a one mile walking route going from one building to another via a huge covered pedestrian bridge. While Craig is getting fluids I can work on the flab. This is an amazing place. Last week I wanted to tell you how amazing the staff and nurses are here, but I couldn't figure out how to edit what I had written. The picture last week of Craig and nurse Holly was so typical of the kindness and amazing skill and compassion we have been shown. She is one month from delivery. Another darling, young nurse named Deatra came to work even though she had colitis and still never missed helping and responding to Craig's every need. Another male nurse, Yousef, said, "I will try my hardest not to wake you when I give both medications and take vital signs at night." Everyone treated us with respect and answered every question no matter how trivial. It is so nice to see the innate goodness of people. We are so very grateful!

Many have asked about my head. It is fine now, just a good story. Thanks everyone for your concern. Cami and I went to church together yesterday and then she came back to Houston with me for the holiday. The timing is perfect, I can take Craig to the hospital, drive down to Clearlake where Cami lives (40 minutes) go to church and be back to pick up Craig. Today Cami and I had a pedicure together while Craig had his infusion. It was wonderful. It was raining so hard the power went out while we were in the salon, so the manicurists gave us a super deluxe treatment including leg massage with hot rocks, hot wax, salt scrub and sugar scrub while sitting in the massage chairs. We sat and talked and laughed for over an hour. Sometimes we just need the little things.

Thanks again for all your wonderful notes, comments, prayers, and emails. We just love receiving them. You are the best friends ever.

This is Craig performing the ceremonial "tossing of the urinal" in celebration of his being released from the hospital today after 19 days! It has been quite a week, but I wanted to start with the best news first. In these first photos we are on the 8th floor of the parking garage looking toward one of MD Anderson's buildings. His hospital room is in the top left corner next to the center entrance way. Every building you see in this photo is a hospital. It is amazingl. As Craig walked out the door and the moist, balmy Houston weather hit him, he moaned and said how much we take the little things for granted.

Ok, now back to the beginning of the week when he was so sick and weak. Each day the doctor would come around and say, "You're right on track. On Wednesday I went out about 7:30 for my walk in the park, I was almost across from our apartment building when something cracked into the back of my head. I had my ipod on, so I heard nothing, just felt a huge crack. I turned around to see what had happened and I could see two men standing on the golf tee looking at me. I put my hand to my head and it was all bloody. Yes, I had been hit in the head by a golf ball. The park has a golf course weaving in and out and there must be a couple hundred people walking the paths, playing golf, exercising, walking dogs etc. What are the odds of being hit--I can't even imagine. A darling lady came running across the street and even though she didn't speak English, she handed me several cloths to put on my head. The man that hit me arrived and apologized and said he thought I'd be alright. (I think he was worried about a law suit). I just kept thinking I could'nt die or Craig would never know what happened to me. The lady walked me home and I didn't seem too bad, but my head wouldn't stop bleeding so, I showered and went to Craig's hospital. The nurses were cute and cleaned my cut and suggested I go get a stitch so it would quit bleeding and a shot to avoid infection. They sent me to another hospital that they thought would be quicker--41/2 hours later I finally saw the er doctor and he said it looked pretty good and had stopped bleeding, so tetnus shot and antibiotics and I was on my way. When I got back to Craig everyone on the floor had heard my saga. For the rest of the day I was famous. I must have a hard head, because I didn't even get a headache. It made a little diversion as we counted the days waiting for Char's cells to engraft.

Saturday was day 10 since transplant and Craig had a good day. He drank a little and walked 10 laps. Saturday night he had a lot of pain in his back and hips and had very little sleep. When I came in on Sunday morning he was ecstatic. The blood work indicated engraftment. His white count went from .4 to 3.7. The bone pain can occur when that happens and doctor came by congratulated him and said if nothing came up he could go home on Tuesday. WOW! We were sooooo happy! I certainly had much to be grateful for when Cami and I went to church that day. We had been told that engraftment would occur day 14-16. Since then we have prayed that all would stay on track. I met a man in the elevator and his wife developed pneumonia the day before she was to leave and had now been in the hospital over 40 days with several different things.

So, we're back to today. Craig is lying down in the bedroom and hoping he can go for a short walk outside. One quick story about today to illustrate how strong he is. We had been waiting several hours for a chest x-ray that he needed to be released and the transportation people didn't come and didn't come so, he puts on mask and gloves and we sneak down to diagnostic imaging on the 3rd floor and back to the 11th floor before the nurse can stop us. It was great, we might still be there otherwise. He also refused to wait for the wheelchair for discharge and walked all the way to the parking lot pulling his own suitcase. That's my boy!

Our new schedule includes 4 hours a day back at the hospital seven days a week where he will receive, blood, fluids, minerals etc. that the chemo and antirejection drugs deplete and monitoring for graft versus host disease. It is a small price to pay to have him out!

Well, thanks everyone for listening to my rambling and sharing our joy. I hope you all see that miracles do happen and prayers are answered in ways that we cannot anticipate. We are very, very blessed and grateful.

So much has happened in just one week. It really is a rollercoaster ride and we are hanging on as best we can. First, we have a transplant. Craig received his sister's stem cells last Wednesday. Very easy process--just like getting blood. He had been nauseated the night before the transplant and has been quite sick since. They say it is very normal. They have him on three antinausea medicines, so he either sleeps or feels queasy. He hasn't been able to eat or drink anything from last Tuesday night until this afternoon when he was able to drink 1/2 cup of rootbeer float. At least he still has good taste. Unfortunately, as his GI tract recovers from the chemo, his white blood cells continue to be killed off by the chemo (that's what it is supposed to do) so that his sister's healthy cells will replace his. The side effect of that is weakness and feeling crumby, also weakened immune system and potential for infections. Those symptoms last until her cells start to grow and raise the white count which takes 10 days to 2 weeks. He will remain in the hospital until that happens.

Craig is amazing, just in case you didn't know. He has showered, shaved and dressed every day. The doctor doing rounds on Mother's Day said, "You look like a million bucks, like you should take your wife to brunch." He manages to say kind things to each nurse and aide. I must interject here how wonderful the care has been. They could not be more compassionate, accomodating and kind. We are spoiled. If he wears mask and gloves he can leave the room and walk around the floor. Even today when he is so weak, he rallied to do five laps. He has great will power. I know it will help him through this. He is my inspiration.

Cami came in to spend the weekend. She brought these beautiful flowers from Nicole and her. We celebrated Mother's Day with Craig on Saturday night and Cami and I went to church together on Sunday. I got to talk to all my family and open gifts and cards. I am so grateful for such a wonderful family. Craig took this picture of Cami and I in his room. It isn't very good, but the one's of him were a little scarey so this will have to do for this week. We pulled off our masks for a second, but still have our gloves on. In the background you can see the collage of photos we are decorating with. If you have any to add, email them to me and I will download them.

We have received so many emails, cards, calls and good wishes that we feel our burdens are lightened and lifted by your good wishes and prayers. Thank you, thank you!

We have had a good week. As you can see, this is Craig's home for the next 3-4 weeks. Our windows look right at the Astrodome. Craig can wander the floor with mask and gloves, but he already misses fresh air and sunshine. He is hooked to all these IV bags, so he has nicknamed his cart, R2D2. They are using only 2 of his 3 lines right now, but will need the third one next week. Craig is tolerating the first chemotherapy drug very well. He has been on it since Saturday. Today they added an antirejection drug and that has been okay too. Tomorrow they start a second chemotherapy drug. That will be the real test as it is the one that made him sick last time. He will receive his transplant on Wednesday. The nurses have been great and they say he is doing very well. He has been up, dressed, and looking like he is going to work every morning when I arrive. I'm afraid after a month he may have the whole hospital reorganized. Tonight I came back to the hospital about 6 pm and I couldn't find him. I wandered the halls for about 10 minutes and found him in a family lounge trying to see the sunset. We feel very grateful for his continued strength and comfort.

Cami came up from Clearlake and spent the weekend with us. It didn't seem to be a problem for Craig to have visitors at this point, but the nurses say when his white blood count drops to zero we will have to be more careful. It was great to have company and girltalk for a couple days. We went to her church on Sunday and they offered great support as well. I was sorry to see her go. Our apartment is on a big park, so my therapy is walking in the morning. It is really beautiful here. The temperatures have been in the 80s and everything is blooming and green. Cami has a big gardenia bush in her front yard and it is just covered in blossoms. She brought me some to make my apartment smell like Hawaii. We appreciate all these little things that we probably would take for granted in our normal, busy lives.

Craig is able to read your emails each day and is enjoying all your news. We both appreciate your support so much. We really do feel your prayers in our behalf and know we are being strengthened by them. Thank you!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Here I am at my writing station. It's a good location to see out the windows. It is pouring rain, thundering, and lightening with a tornado watch. This morning we walked and it was beautiful. Love Texas weather.

We have just come from the hospital where we met with Dr. Champlin. All is a go for tomorrow. Dad is in another clinical trial to test if reducing the dosage of melphalan will reduce the side effects of the transplant. We also found out that Char and Dad are a 6 point match which is a miracle considering she is his only sibling. The PA said, "WOW!" We should watch for and expect the miracles.

The doctor said that he will feel ok for the first 3 days of treatment and the 4th day will get the drug that made him sick last time, but this time it will be half the dosage. We hope that it will reduce the sickness. The doctor said he could have visitors during that first week. He gets his venous catheter inserted tomorrow morning, but doesn't have to go into the hospital until after dinner. He will get Chars cells next Wednesday.

We had a good day yesterday with a temple session and then dinner with Cami.

Well, here we are in Houston. It was a great trip. We absolutely love Zion's National Park where we stayed the first night. It was spectacular as the pictures show, but we could hardly take it all in. The second day we drove to the Grand Canyon and were impressed by the size, but not with the "touristiness" of the park. We stayed in Grants, Arizona that night. The last day we drove 873 miles trying to make up for our playing at Zions and the Grand Canyon the day before. We were pretty tired as we pulled into Madisonville, TX at 10:30 pm on Monday night. Late afternoon thunder storms had delayed us, but Dad loved tracking them with his gps and finding alternate routes around the storms with my car gps. Tuesday we had to drive 90 miles to get to his first appointment. We allowed lots of time but didn't allow for construction and an accident that had closed the alternate route into Houston. We were only a little late and all went well.
We're settled into our apartment. though not unpacked. And, Dad is proceeding to transplant. He had two tests yesterday, a bone marrow biopsy today, and labs again tomorrow. We meet with the transplant doctor tomorrow and he has his central venous catheter put in on Friday morning. The coordinator said they are showing scheduled admittance to the hospital on Friday. Phew! We want it to get going, but we are surprised and daunted that it is going so quickly. This is where the faith part starts kicking in.
We miss you all, but are hopeful and happy to have this opportunity.

Love, Mom and Dad