Rising platelets

Steve's lab work today brought great news. His platelets are up to 116,000, enough in range to receive chemotherapy and Avastin on Wednesday!

His kidney stone pain has subsided as well. Last night was the worst. Even with lots of pain pills, his pain was 8 or 9 on a 10-point scale. If it had persisted any longer, we would have been visiting the emergency room for more powerful drugs.

His headaches continue. As we give thanks for rising platelets and no kidney stone pain, we pray for relief from his headaches.

Weekend update

While Steve and I were spending Friday at the cancer center, Katie was with Jim and Betty, and Aunt Ami was driving in from Austin. Ami arrived at our house just in time to see Cooper walking home from school. (He was headed to Meghan's house.)

A sampling of what's happened since then:

Margie escaped the house late Friday night. An unpredictable dark dog running through the neighborhood at night is a scary thing. Uncle Greg and I sprinted after her. Even speedy Greg, though, was no match for Margie. Aunt Melane and Cooper chased her down in the Escape (appropriate name, eh?), and Cooper coaxed our crazy fast dog to hop inside.

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We celebrated my 37th birthday. Steve surprised me with a framed print from our early 2008 portrait session, and many, many others spoiled me with the most thoughtful cards and gifts.

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Katie bounced around at Conor's fifth birthday party.

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Cooper played tough with the Dolphins, the hardest-working second-grade soccer team in Frisco.

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In health news:

Steve seems to be passing another kidney stone. He's been taking pain medicine, which is helping some, though right now he's in awful pain. (I know there's no point in deciding "what's fair," because nothing about Steve's condition is fair, but honestly. He shouldn't have to endure so much kidney stone pain on top of everything else.)

His headaches aren't improved yet with the increased steroid dose, but it's still early in the process.

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And Steve has a new hairdo! Check back soon to see!