Saturday, Feb 7

Well, after a week and a half, Christina is still in the hospital and we're not sure when she'll be able to go home at this point. They were able to get the stints in, without any problems; everything went well. The stints helped, from the standpoint that the kidneys are now able to move fluids to the bladder, but the kidneys are still not functioning as they should be. So, she will be having dialysis for at least the near term. She is having two hours today and three hours tomorrow. Until they see how she is responding to the dialysis, the doctors don't know how long it will need to continue. They are still hopeful that it will be temporary in nature, and that her kidneys will recover and return to functioning normally.

She continues to have good and bad days. Yesterday she was doing very well. She said she slept "awesome" the night before - the best she's slept in quite some time. So, she had a lot of energy (relatively speaking). Last night was different; she said she slept "like crap", so she's not as lively today, but doing OK. She has had some visitors, and I wish I could say that it's ok for everyone to come visit, but I'm not sure that would be wise. She's in the Critical Care unit, and when she's having dialysis they don't want her heart rate going up and down. So until things are a bit more stabilized, I'm going to ask that everyone, other than family, refrain for now. Hopefully she will begin feeling consistently better soon. I will provide an update as soon as that happens.

The next cycle of chemotherapy hasn't been scheduled yet, until they see how she responds to the dialysis. It's a balancing act at this point because she can't have the chemo until her body is able, but the sooner they can continue the chemo, the faster her body will be able. They were able to give her the Rituxan last week, along with a day of radiation, but the focus shifted to getting her kidney functions working properly before proceeding. Again, hopefully over the next couple of days she'll be doing much better, and we'll be able to move forward.

Jarrett and I are doing pretty good. He's been having some sleepovers, and has some more planned. We were able to make it to Dining with Dads last night, and he and I are going to see Pink Panther 2 this afternoon.

Keep the positive thoughts and prayers coming, and she enjoys the cards, magazines, and books when she has the energy to read them. Unfortunately in Critical Care they won't allow flowers, so those will have to wait.

That's it for now. Thanks again.