10:15 AM Friday June 17th, 2011

Just a quick update...... Ed is doing well.  He's quietly donating stem cells at the moment at the pheresis unit at UCLA.  His body is not giving 'em up as quickly as we'd hoped, so he'll have a couple of extra collection days it seems, and starting today, we're doubling his Neupogen shots to try and give another jump start to the bone marrow.  The thought is that if we double the dose over the weekend while there's no collection taking place, by Monday his bloodstream will be brimming with cells and they can finish the collection.  If not, we still have Tuesday available as a safety net day before his expected admission on Wednesday, June 22nd.  We'll just have to play it by ear.  Luckily, there's no correlation between the length of time it takes to collect them and the quality of the cells being collected -- they are all good cells - just not in the quantity we hoped.  But once we have the required amount, it's all a go forward for the procedure.  His intake physical yesterday went well and everything else looks good.

The chest port is still a little sore today, but it sure beats all the poking that would be required for these multiple collection days, and they will use the port for the chemo, transplant and multiple transfusions anyway, so Ed is happy he waited to start the collection until they had the port inserted.  He's getting jabbed everyday with Neuopogen injections (now twice a day) so that's enough already!  His appetite is still good and he's eating well.  Up to about 147 pounds - and enjoying pasta, pizza, ice cream, cupcakes (thanks Cheri), ribs, chocolate chip cookies (thanks Lenore) and donuts to get him there!   A well-deserved silver lining (if there is one) to this whole thing! 

Since this will be Ed's last weekend at home for a while, please give him a call or feel free to send cards to the house.  We should be going to UCLA on Wednesday for the long haul, but my kids will be keeping the mail flow going and running errands, so he'll get his cards for sure.  Prayers and finger-crossing are welcome and I'll post any news as it comes along.  Thank you again for all of you and your energy.  We look forward to seeing you on the other side of the transplant..........