Saturday, Feb 21

It's coming up on 3-1/2 weeks that Christina has been in the hospital, and she will have to be here (I'm currently at the hospital with her after having a movie night and sleepover last night) for at least a few more days. She has dialysis every other day right now, and she finished the first cycle (10 days) of radiation this morning. On Monday they will re-scan her abdomen area to determine the size of the mass. See the previous post for more on that.

Her bilirubin levels have dropped slightly each day for the last few days. That's a good trend. However, some of the other levels that help to indicate liver function have increased or stayed the same, so the doctors still consider her liver condition stable, not necessarily trending better. Some of the levels can be affected by the radiation, so with the positive bilirubin trending, we're considering this to be positive overall. Her general condition, appearance and spunkiness have definitely gotten better from a couple of weeks ago. Keep the thoughts and prayers coming.

This past week Christina really enjoyed having some of her college buddies, her sister and other family around constantly. I think it helped quite a bit. She also had several other visitors, which was good, but she has commented that too many people at once, or even back-to-back vistors makes her tired. Denise is trying to manage this, but it's difficult. Please be patient with us/her, and please don't be offended if she/we ask that you come back another time. She (Christina) can all of a sudden get tired and just need to rest. We know she's feeling better though, because she has no qualms about telling you, me, the nurses, or the doctors, to get lost.

I think that's it for now. Thanks.
Ken