Good News! Dad was released from universty washington hospital on Wednesday. He was feeling pretty bad due to the chemo. He was not hungry, tired, and nauseas. We are told the effects are felt 7 to 10 days after. As his platelets drop he needs to be super careful of common viruses and germs. Luckily he has the clean master Maxine at his side. They are staying at the Marriott next to Fred Hutch Hutchinson Cancer Center. The best news came today. His blood test showed the chemo worked. Only .02 amounts of myeloma cells were detected. This means the cancer team moves straight to steam cell transplant. For the next 2 weeks dad will be staying in Seattle getting shots to encourage stem cell grow. We were worried he would have to go in for more chemo. All who read this have a beer or glass of wine to celebrate. Thank you for your kind words. Don't forget my dad's number one cheerleader and the one who has to deal with him every day: Maxine! She has been truly amazing and patient with him as many can imagine not an easy job. As a wrap up it has been a week of highs and lows along with some good laughs. Pretty sure the 8 th floor nursing staff is missing him. Cheers and thanks again.

It begins. . .Headed over on the 7:05 ferry. The sunrise over the city was amazing. I take this as good sign. Dad is in a pretty good mood. He is just coming out of surgery for the Hickman. Doctors love it. The patient gets to have a cool tube inserted in the chest so they can plug medicine into their body whenever. Needless to say dad is not super excited about it. After this they will put it to good use. He will be in the hospital for 4 to 5 days for some chemo. Send happy thoughts this way.