Friday, December 9th

This is Carolyn, I am a day late in posting this. I took my dad and Gina to visit Maria yesterday. Her friend Rosanne was also there in the morning and I know it helps pass the time for Maria to get some human contact from her family and friends during this time. All visitors do need to wear a mask when visiting with her and anyone with any kind of cold or cough should really avoid going up there at all and just visit with her by phone. Maria continues to look good and be in good spirits. I still think it is easy to believe that she really isn't dealing with this at all because she has remained so strong and seems to be her same old self. The nurse said the worst is still yet to come and most likely will be in the middle of next week. I am such a believer in the power of prayer and will continue to ask everyone to pray that we remain on the mild end of the spectrum as far as symptoms are concerned. As far as her blood counts go, they are still dropping as expected. The chemo is doing it's job to drop them to rock bottom to kill all of the bad cells which in turn will also kill the good cells too. They have a calendar in her room that identifies each day with a number "post transplant." The numbers should fall through the middle of next week and then they will give her growth factor to get her good cells to start reproducing again. When she comes home will depend on how quickly her body will make those white blood cells to protect her against infection. Even after she is discharged, she will be highly at risk for infection and will need to limit her contact with people especially with it being flu season. She is getting a little sick of hosptial food and yesterday, she thoroughly enjoyed a burger that I brought her from Tom's bar and grill. So if you are planning on visiting, please ask her if there is any food or anything that sounds good to her. She has a refrigerator in her room and there is a microwave on the floor. That is all for now. Continue prayers for her!