Once more into the breach dear friends....

Christine was supposed to have her next chemotherapy infusion last Tues. but when they did her blood workup earlier in the day, she only had a white blood cell count of 700. (normal is around 1500) So she's been having daily shots to spark more white cell production, and she will have her infusion on Fri.

This is one of the expected side effects of the chemotherapy and should have already happened earlier in her treatments. The oncologist is rather amazed that she's handling it this well. It seems that the fasting is proving to be very effective. If you know anybody on chemo you should pass this on to them. (Read about it in the older postings)

They're Always Hungry

Good News! We can use the deck again! Momma and Daddy Robin continue to feed these beaks even while we're out there. They don't like us, but they'll put up with us for awhile.

THEY GROW UP SO QUICKLY

How did they fit in those little eggs just two days ago!

THEY'RE HATCHING RIGHT NOW!

If you click on the image, you can see the egg on the left is starting to show holes.

I feel like I'm doing a special for National Geografic. It's so cool watching them peck their way out.

SLEEPY WEEKEND

Chris was very tired this weekend after her chemo infusion ended on Friday. It seemed like every time she sat down somewhere, she went right to sleep. She refuses to give in to it though, and she wants to take part in everything the family is doing. However, it's nice to see her rebound a couple of days later, and she's back to full steam this morning.

MADE IT TO THE BIG 59 !!!

OK, so maybe 59 is not that big a deal, but it is a good excuse to post another picture of me in the blog. Saturday, (my birthday) we slept in to the unbelievable hour of 8:00, and then went in search of treasure at garage sales. Later we went to Charlie & Candi's for elk burgers. (Charlie is worried about running out of elk before hunting season, but he still has plenty of deer meat.) It was interesting to watch Liam and Adien singing "happy birthday to you" (over and over and over again) with their mouths full of chocolate cake. Ugh! Thanks for all the cards and presents, especially the 12 string guitar that Chris got for me.

Four Down, Eight to Go!

Grandma Brown starts her fourth chemotherapy treatment today. That means she's 1/3 of the way done.

We read a report on a study about fasting prior to chemotherapy treatments. It appears that when a patient fasts for 48 hrs before the chemo infusion, it puts the healthy cells into "survival mode", something that the cancer cells don't have the abillity to do. this means that more of the drugs go to the cancer and less to the rest of the body. This helps in two ways; first it means that the side effects for the healthy cells are lessened, and that the doctors will be able to increase, or even double, the amount of chemo that each patient can tolerate. The research looks really promising, and since it can't hurt, Chris and I are fasting before her treatments.

We were thinking about visiting Yellowstone this weekend, if the snow stops. We'll just play it by ear. We're hoping Peggy & Preston will come up from SLC and go with us. (Won't that be fun!)

OUT OF AFRICA ! KELLY'S BACK !

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We are so relieved to have Kelly back safe and sound! It looks like she's had a wonderful, life changing experience. You all need to go to http://macandkelly.blogspot.com/ (just click on it) to read about her trip/mission, and see all the photos. Welcome home Kelly!

Spring in Bozeman

Are we certain that this is June?

MAD MAMMA !

We can't use our deck without getting cussed at. I was a little worried about this but I guess we can live with it for a little while longer.

I'M SO EXCITED!!

Dad

Mom

Our messy new neighbors are expecting. The nest was barely completed, the mortar (mud) not even completely dried, when the mom started laying. The results? Four beautiful blue eggs.

We'll keep you updated on the progress and try to save some of the blue shells for the grand kids to study up close when they visit.

One problem is that the nest is only about 8 inches from the back door. Every time we go out we get severely reprimanded by the birds. They are obviously very concerned parents!

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Just another day in Paradise

THREE DOWN, NINE TO GO

Each new chemotherapy infusion seems to be just a little worse the the previous one.

It's Sunday morning and we have just finished disconnecting Chris from her pump. The technology is pretty cool, but the side-effects aren't that great. Yesterday she was very tired and couldn't keep her eyes open for the movie we tried to watch or the book she was trying to read. I finally nagged her into going to bed about 8:30 pm and she had the hardest time waking up this morning.

I hate that she has to do this! The idea of having to pump poison into her body is completely repellent to me, and I'm becoming very cynical about our medical establishment. After all, why should they want to cure cancer when they can make so much more money treating it? It's a big problem with a profit-based medical system.

On the plus side, she bounces back quickly and will be OK in another day. She's also strengthened so much by the love and prayers of her family and friends. This is much more than just a trite phrase! It has become a physical fact that we can observe from day to day. This morning I read to her a note that Gini had posted about her on the rigbyericson's blog and the effect was noteworthy and instantaneous. We love you all and you make such a huge difference in our lives.