Renee and our "Rent-a Beagle",  Sydney

Salutations, ladies and gentlemen!  Today is Friday the 13th and day 23 of my post-transplant life.  One way to measure progress for the transplant patient is how the nursing staff schedules your clinic visits - as I've said, the outpatient visits start out as daily, including weekends.   I had daily visits for exactly 5 days before I was given a 'day off' this Tuesday.  I was back in the clinic Wednesday, Thursday, and today, but yee haw, they have given me the weekend off!  I will be in the clinic 3 days next week, and then they are putting me on a Monday-Thursday schedule.  This is really a great statement about how my body is taking the new cells.  Many, many people have been praying for this outcome and prayers are being answered!

A word about the days off - I still have to get my one liter of saline/magnesium fluid, plus my antibiotic, every day.  Renee and I have been taught how to use a portable, battery-operated IV pump, so I get the fluids at home in the apartment.

Today's photograph was taken during a lovely walk that Renee and I took with a beagle that belongs to a friend of Renee's sister's colleague's daughter-in-law.  To clarify - Renee's sister is a teacher in Asheville.  She has a co-worker who has a son who lives in Houston - that son's wife, Leti, contacted us and invited us to dinner, and in the conversation, Renee mentioned that she missed her dogs.  Leti, unprompted, set about trying to find some temporary dog scenarios where we could dog-sit or something - she found one of her friends with this friendly beagle that was happy to loan Sydney to us for an afternoon.  We walked for about an hour around Hermann Park - the temp was about 70, with a nice breeze.  Another great example of the body of Christ at work.

So again, everything is going well;  I am still working on the sinuses but they seem better.  Still feeling weaker than normal but the nurses assure me that I am way ahead of the game.  Thanks be to God who is the Great Physician and Healer!

Next week, I will have several tests to "re-stage" my cancer.  Re-staging means taking CAT scans, Pet scans, bone marrow biopsies, etc to determine whether there is any residual cancer or not.  In my case they are planning to do restaging at 30, 60, and 90 days.  I'm told that even if there is some residual cancer (probably CLL) at 30 days, it often continues to dissipate and disappear at 60 or even 90 days.  Still I would appreciate you praying for "no cancer" by the end of next week.....thank you so much.

Just to keep everyone on their toes, We have new addresses:

email:  dkrooker@gmail.com

3 Hermann Museum Circle Dr.
apartment 1208
Houston, TX 77004

phone (713) 529-2331

Everyone have a safe and enjoyable weekend!   Dan