How sweet it is...

First, the not so fun stuff. Joe's rash became increasingly worse over the weekend. Yesterday, his body was covered with red patches and spots, and his skin was flaking more than ever. Joe actually looked like he had a white beard because the peeling was so bad. Several times a day Joe goes through the ritual of slathering himself with lotion. I get the privilege of getting his back. Over the weekend, we resorted to good old petroleum jelly. It is working better than any lotion, but the effect still wears off within a few hours. It is really amazing. If I used a quarter of the amount Joe uses on myself, I'd look like an oil slick and then completely break out. Or, I'd look like a wannabe body builder. Last night it became pretty unbearable. Joe contacted the doctor who further increased Joe's steroids. Again, the increase is hopefully very temporary. Please pray that as Joe's GVHD is treated that he continues to test negative for CMV! (Friday's draw did test negative. Yay!) The increase did seem to help. Joe's rash was bearable today.

Joe's WBC continues to be low. We're hoping to see it go up by the end of the week. Joe got a Neupogen (filgrastim) shot today. That usually boosts his WBC for a couple days. Joe's platelets are creeping up ever so slowly. I consider that a good sign. The hemorrhagic cystitis is much better now, and the edema in his feet and ankle area seems to be better too.

We were not scheduled to go back to the hospital until Thursday. But then the doctors decided Wednesday would be better...and then they changed their minds again, so we'll be back tomorrow. That is okay. We did have the whole weekend away from the hospital!

Now for the more fun part. Our weekend was lovely. We got to spend some time with Joe's parents on Friday evening. Then on Saturday my parents and my brother joined us for lunch. It is always nice to spend time with our families. Saturday night, Joe was glued to the TV, thanks to college basketball.

On Sunday, Joe slept the day away. He was not awake for more than 30 minutes at a time until 6:30pm. Poor babe was absolutely exhausted. He finally woke up and promised to stay awake for at least three hours. Later in the evening, the doorbell rang. I was absolutely shocked to discover six of our friends from fellowship grinning from ear to ear outside our door. They brought us a beautiful cake. They didn't even complain when we made them stay huddled by the door since Joe's counts are still low. It was a great surprise to see them, and Joe was thrilled to see some familiar faces outside of the family. By this time, Joe was a bit wired from his steroids, and the two of us ended up reminiscing about our wedding day and other fun things until close to 3am. Ooops. That's okay, when we got to the hospital, we discovered that the doctor forgot to write orders for Joe to go to short stay, so we had to wait extra long. Joe got a little cat nap in the waiting room!

Today we did sappy squishy anniversary things like look at all of our photos and videos, and eat cake! The shirt Joe wore was my gift to him. It makes me smile!

Congratulations to Michael and Judy who got married on Saturday!

Thank you to Nancy, Bill, Evan, and Elijah for the gift. You guys put a huge smile on our faces! (Happy belated anniversary to you!)

Thank you to my Taichung Aunts, Uncles, and cousins for the card. And special thanks to my 3rd auntie for the handmade bear charm (so cute!) and generous gift.

Thank you to Caryn and Roia for serenading us over the weekend. You two are too funny.

Thank you to Eric, Vivian, Louis, Sha, Crystal, and Patrick for the big surprise! You guys are wonderful!

Thank you to Sha for the thoughtful gift and always treating us like royalty!

Thank you Joy, Jerry, and Alex for the very sweet card. We miss you and can't wait to see how much Alex has changed!

Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.
~Song of Songs 7:7a