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Chemo Day

Wednesday, June 15, 2005 4:29 PM CDT

Chemo Day.

Thanks for the brownies, Alex. What a gem you are. It's always so good to see your smile, you brighten my day. I'll take you over Martha any day!

Dave's blood counts are still marginal. High enough so that he could get the full dose today, not low enough to get any more procrit, but still low overall. His O2 sats are 99, which is great, but he's still very, very, very tired. He mostly sleeps all day.

I talked to the doctor and it looks like the levaquin is taking care of the staph infection. I also asked him about the risk of cerebral hemmorage with CPT-11 and the oral blood thinner, coumadin. He agreed with Dr. Stark-Vance that the lovenox is safer and more effective, especially for brain tumor patients. He said most people don't want to do the home injections and it's more expensive. We said that we'd do whatever is safer and more effective for Dave, so they called Premera. (Have I mentioned you need to hug your local Premera/Blue Cross people?) and they agreed to pay for it. So we'll be going back to daily shots in the belly. Now that he's more stable, the shots will only have to be once a day.

Thank you all for your faithful support. The kids at youth group made Dave a plaque of praying hands and presented it to him at church on Sunday. I'm continually awed by the love and care shown to Dave and our family. Please continue to pray for Dave, especially for his energy level. He's not able to really enjoy anything right now, and that's a tough place to be.

A friend is getting some test results today, so please join us in praying for this wonderful person and for wisdom and discernment of the medical team.

Love, Shelley

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