Good Morning All:

I have a couple of updates for you regarding my health and perhaps an insight or two into my mental state here at Hopkins.

First of all, I completed my second chemotherapy regimen as of Tuesday last week. This regimen targeted the Myeloid cells in my bone marrow with the aim of wiping out all cancerous cells. I underwent a bone marrow biopsy on Friday. While the full-fledged biopsy results won't be available until Tuesday or Wednesday this week, the initial view under a microscope wasn't what the doctors were hoping for. The doctors reported seeing fledgling cells and that those cells did not appear healthy. This comes from a very small sample as the biopsy did not provide much in the way of marrow, but clearly not the slam dunk results I might have hoped for.

I have since learned that there are transplant options that would be available to me even if I am unable to get cancer-free again. The unfortunate part is that the best transplant option would require me to completely kick the cancer again--something that is proving to be more and more difficult.I also learned this weekend just how much of a whiner I can be.

I have now been couped up at Hopkins for three weeks and many of the entertainment options that saw me through the early days have now begun to lose their luster. As a result I find myself napping more and moving more quickly from activity to activity in an attempt to keep myself occupied.

This past weekend Nolan and Audrey went to Hershey Park and to the annual family reunion. Both are events that I would normally have relished. Of course neither were options for me and, as it turns out, Marla decided to skip both and let my parents take the kids. So Marla visited on both Saturday and Sunday. Clearly, I am nowhere near the host I once was. Pretty much all I did was complain to Marla how bored I was, and when I completely lost any idea of what to do, I simply took a nap while she read a book. This isn't how I intend to greet visitors and Marla made all sorts or excuses for me. Perhaps some of her points were valid but I still can't help but feel bad that all I can find the capacity to accomplish when I get visitors is to complain about how bored I am. I will be looking for new and interesting things to do in the coming days. Something that will keep my attention and perhaps even delay my going to bed at night because I need to get to a good stopping point--so far I haven't found it.

At any rate, I'm going to wind up this post and work on getting my head screwed on straight--Hopefully I can get myself there soon (or get myself released from the hospital) before it starts impacting my outlook and my interactions with the doctors, nurses, and staff here at Hopkins.

As always, thanks for reading.

--Russ.