Sunday, Aug 24 (Day +3)

I felt better yesterday, but had too many guests to get around to posting a blog.  My brother Don came  by and we had a blast watching the Little League World Series.  My great running friend, Drew, stopped by after his Grapevine Lake training run.  He's 67 and will run The Bear 100-miler (with Fred) in about 4 weeks.  It was fun to laugh about old runs.  Once he gave me a 30 second head start a couple miles from the car.  I raced off, but could tell he was gaining on me, so I dropped my sun glasses on the trail to make him stop to pick them up.  He still won and was shocked that I would 'cheat'.  Then Katie and Ike came by and showed us pictures of their possible new house in Plano.  Fun times.  After church Sherry rolled in with potato soup from Saltgrass and we had a romantic meal together...well, as romantic as possible in a hospital.

The nurse informed me my white blood count really fell this morning, which indicates the chemo is working.  It looks like things are working as planned, although it's early.  The goal is to take my white blood count to zero.  Then, after maybe ten days I should begin to grow my own, from the donor cells.  Not to be rude, but I'm also proud to announce I had a bowl movement this morning.  Another good sign, and an improvement over what's been happening the last several days.  The only negative is my swollen left foot, which shows no sign of wanting to go down.  I'm not exhibiting any signs of skin rash, which is a sign of transplant rejection.  So, while I'm still struggling to eat, things look optimistic.

I'm now going to hobble up and down the halls for a while.