6/20 BLOOD LABS
WBC: 7.73 thou/uL (3.9-10.7)
PLATELET COUNT: 182 thou/uL (135-371)
NEUTROPHIL ABS: 3.93 thou/uL (1.60-8.10)
POTASSIUM BLOOD: 4.2 mEq/L (3.3-4.8)
MAGNESIUM BLOOD: 2.0 mg/dL (1.8-2.4)
Mary Jo went to her oncologist here in Louisville on Day+45 yesterday. Her blood levels have progressed to a point where she will not have to go back for blood labs every two weeks until Day+100, as we expected she would. She will only have one more visit with the oncologist before we go back to Vanderbilt on August 19th.
It is hard to believe that 46 days ago, we were in Vanderbilt Hospital, and I had a syringe with one of the 11 bags of Mary Jo's stem cells in my hand giving her new life and a fighting chance to beat Mantle Cell Lymphoma that has been a part of our lives since October, 2009. A lot has happened since then and who knows what else will happen. But, watching Mary Jo's remarkable recovery has been a beautiful thing.
We had dinner with my brother Lou, aka Cookie, and his wife Paula yesterday evening. We went to the Sidebar on Whiskey Row near the Yum Center in downtown Louisville. The Sidebar's specialties are gourmet hamburgers, craft beer, and a wide selection of Kentucky bourbon. Our younger brother, Paul, who is in the commercial construction business, is a minority owner of the Sidebar. His business partners are lawyers. Thus, the Sidebar name. If you haven't done so already, check the Sidebar out.
It was good to see Cookie and Paula again. They will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on July 6th. I told Paula that I remembered when her and Cookie came to my grandmother's house back in 1962 before Paula's senior prom. They were a beautiful couple then, and they still are.
Their youngest son, Brian, and his wife, Cindy, are moving back to Louisville from Indianapolis this weekend. Brian just finished his residency and fellowship in radiology at University of Indiana Hospitals there. He will be working at Jewish Hospital here.
It is so good to be home with family again. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at my brother, Dan, and his wife, Lynne's house on the 4th of July. I played in the Annual Clergy Day Golf Scramble for deacons and priests this past Monday. Somehow, I won the longest drive contest and a 42" TV in a raffle after the outing. Maybe, I should have went and bought a lottery ticket while I was on a roll. Busy weekend, this weekend. My turn to preach at three Masses, and my son-in-law, John, and my grandson, Johnie, are going to help me stain our deck.
Summer arrived at 1:04 this morning. It got to 90 today, and it's going to get even hotter next week with the heat index above 100. Our summers here in the Ohio River Valley can be brutal. The Spring here has actually been pretty nice here since we got back from Nashville. Mary Jo turned the air conditioning on about noon today for the first time.
When I got home from golfing today, it was 87 in the house. Obviously, the air conditioning was not working. I checked the outside unit and the compressor was running, but the fan wasn't. I did what I usually do whenever I have no idea how to fix something-I googled it.
Mr. Google said to pull the breaker, and see if the fan will turn freely, then put the breaker back in and see what happens. I did that and the fan worked. I'm not sure if dirt or something had gotten in the fan and bound it up, or if pulling the breaker caused a capacitor to charge which my son-in-law said could be the trouble. Anyway, whatever it was, it is cool in the chateaux for now. Mr. Google came through again. I am looking forward to a long, hot summer with my girl.
I want to thank all of you for your prayers again, and ask you to continue praying that those stem cells of Mary Jo's keep on, keeping on, and she has good results when we go back to see our friends at Vanderbilt in August.
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