Update from Keith: June 13th, 2008

Taylor's week started pretty well. I thought she had more smiles than usual this close to chemo. But as the week has dragged on (and her white cell counts have plummeted), she has noticeably worsened. She has been much more nauseous the last few days than she was at the beginning of the week. She is also clearly uncomfortable. She has complained frequently that her tummy is hurting. We're a little concerned that her mucositis has spread to her stomach. We're watching closely to see.

Taylor received a transfusion again yesterday. She received both red blood cells and platelets. We're hopeful this will take her through the weekend. Our experience has shown that she is most likely to spike a fever sometime this weekend (usually Saturday night) if she develops one at all. Thus, we suspect she could wind up in the hospital over the weekend (that's not exactly what I want for father's day). If it happens, it requires at least a 72 hour stay which means that she'll be there into next week.

Kris has really been struggling of late. She is really down and is having a hard time coping with the stress of Taylor's treatments. It's hard for her because she spends all day with Taylor and sees every little setback and witnesses T's suffering. I'm trying to get Kris to go out of town for a weekend or even a night, but she refuses.

If things stick to the regular schedule, Taylor should turn the corner around the middle of next week. I hope we make it through without going back to the hospital. In any event, I will try and update the blog again over the weekend.