The Hallbergs enjoyed a nice break in Bend for almost two weeks. Mom got to get a few good days of skiing and hiking with friends. Dad also was able to ride his super fancy bike. Today they were back at Fred Hutch to start the stem cell transplant. The plan is some chemo a break for a day and then the transplant. Looks like Monday. Will update this soon with more info from today and tomorrows meetings.

Published too soon. Darn phone. . . This process is very fluid if you have not noticed. The doctors and nurses change plans daily in response to dads blood work. So, as of yesterday the plan is to come back to Seattle May 21 and prepare for the stem cell transplant. The bad news is his cancer seems to be more active than previously thought. The good news is he hopes to be good and done by the end of June. Right now I am just looking forward to seeing them! I hope to get dad back on the blog. He is so funny and as you can imagine he handles things as only Erik can. A little humor and negotiation can go along way. Still pretty sure Fred Hutch has not seen the likes of him before. Happy cinco de mayo. Have a margarita for dad.

A quick update. The good news is the folks are getting a break from Seattle and coming back to Bend for a little r &r. The latest blood tested showed the cancer cells too high for harvesting a second round of stem cells. The doctors were hoping for lower than .02, but