Gary's Saturday Report

Penny and I visited with Christi for about an hour this afternoon and took her some lunch. She requested a chicken muchaco and cheesecake chimichanga from Taco Bueno. She looked great, and acted liked she was feeling good (relative to the situation). She didn't get much sleep last night because she has a constant I.V. of something that makes her have to go to the bathroom every thirty minutes. If that's not enough to keep her awake, she also has a constant parade of nurses coming in the room to replace I.V. bags, take blood pressure, and fiddle with machines. Sometime the nurses wake her up by coming in the room to see if she is sleeping.

I asked if her doctor has told her what to expect over the next couple of weeks, and she said that she will get very sick, and weak from the chemo. She doesn't seem too worried about the chemo sickness. She said that the scary weeks she had in ICU may have been a blessing of sorts- if she can make it through that, she can deal with the nausea and weakness of chemo. I'm really hoping that the worst part of this experience is behind her, not in front of her. She's got a great attitude, and is ready to get tough. She says the next few weeks can't be any worse than the last few have been. She made it through that, and I think that has given her confidence for this next round.

Now that we know her donor is in Europe, we are picturing a big, strong, East German woman named Hilda with super human stem cells. She has long, blonde, braided hair sticking out from under her Viking helmet. Rick may have to start shaving Christi's back after getting Hilda's cells, but I know he won't mind.

Love,


Gary Holt