Happy Saturday, everyone! All is going well here on Oakshire Lane. The weather is beautiful, although a little hotter than earlier in the week, and I have lots of company this weekend! Ronnie, Kathy, Katie, Laura, Tiso, Aunt Bitsy, my padres and the dogs, of course! Also, my cousin Mike came down with Karen and their sons, Jake and Ben. We had a wonderful afternoon, as you can tell from the photos. It was so good to see you guys!!!

So, I don’t get Sunday off from visiting the doctor’s office because they want to monitor my platelets (today, they are 30.4,000), but my other numbers are looking great! Here’s the breakdown: white count 5.27, neutrophils 3.86!, hemoglobin 10.5 and hematocrit 29.1). Not bad, huh? Kathy joined Aunt Bitsy and I at….guess where?!!!! Yup, IHOP for another delicious breakfast (we went yesterday too!). This morning it was chocolate chip pancakes for me and pancakes with a brown sugar sauce, bananas and ice cream for Aunt Bitsy…mmmm…sounds good, right?

In addition to these wonderful (for me) numbers, I don’t have to take my prophylactic anti-fungal, anti-viral or antibiotic meds. I don’t want to get too cocky yet, but I feel good, so I’m hoping any infections just stay away!! I’m still taking my Lexapro and Xyzal (for allergies) every morning and then my Ativan every night to help me sleep, so I’m not completely free of pills, but that’s OK.  They’re helping me and that’s all that matters!

I was quite happy to be given the go-ahead to go out in public (and to hang out with Jake and Ben too!). Aunt Bitsy and I went to several stores yesterday to celebrate my freedom. It may just have been Petsmart, Safeway, Ulta and the hair salon, but I had a wonderful time! I think Aunt Bitsy is a good luck charm for my counts. She also helped bring the owls out!! We were pretty hard-core last night…we stayed out a bit even though it was thundering and it started to rain. Although we didn’t see any owls, we heard them, but now I’m wondering if my mom’s right…perhaps a neighbor across the creek put the same owl sound on his cd player and plays it in response to ours. I don’t think so though—I know they’re out there!! I fully expect them to come out and give me a good send-off before leaving next week.

Laura is making dinner tonight, which I’m sure will be delicious. Tomorrow Lori will help me start packing, and I’m nervous, but I know she will help get me organized and keep it lighthearted. Thanks again, Lori!!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!
Love ya.