Laura went to the doctor the other day. This is the report I got from Emily that day:

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She's doing really good.  She didn't have to get blood today!!!  Jessica said that her hemocrat level was unheard of for her--29!  27 or lower and she needs blood.  Everything looks good except for her liver.  She's not yellow at all--but her liver enzyme levels trippled from the last visit.  Liver enzymes filter waste, medicine, stuff like that.  They protect against hepatitus.  So the over-production of enzymes is either a place of Graft vs Host Disease showing up or just that her Prograf level is off.  She takes the Prograf to effectively graft her new bone marrow.  And they recently adjusted her dosage of that--so that might be all it is.  They upped her dosage of Prograf today and put her on a new medicine specifically for the liver.  She goes back on Friday to check up on all this.  Otherwise, her knee is still swollen--not getting worse, but is annoying her.  They set her up an appointment with an orthopedist for Wed. morning to check on this.  And she needs to go back to see Dr. Jani in Albany--he's her breast cancer doctor--just to check up and see if she can get off the anti-hormone medication he put her on that she feels may be contributing to the arthritis in the knee.  She did her breathing treatment today that she regularly does to prevent a form of pneumonia.  It doesn't taste so great to her.  

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I spoke with Laura today (Friday, June 17th) and she had gone to the doctor again today. She didn't have to have blood today. They just wanted to see if her adjusted meds had made a difference. Some numbers changed. One of her liver enzyme levels is still high, but not the "OH MY GOSH! This is awful" kind of high. They've adjusted her Prograf meds and hope that things even out.

She's got a rash on her stomach and it seems like there's a rash in her mouth, too. The doctors say that is a sign of Graft vs. Host disease. And, even though you wouldn't think so, they say it's a good thing. It means her body is working to fight this new thing.

She's been working like a mad woman to clear out our family home. We sold it and closing is at the end of this month. That has worn her out. I'm heading back to Atlanta on Tuesday and hope to do what I can -- which I don't think is much (she's done pretty much everything). We'll all say good-bye to the house -- which is like another member of the family. It'll be sad, but good to be able to be there.

And, in other exciting news, Robert and Keren had a sweet little baby girl, Leah Celeste Hall, on June 15th.

Hopefully, this summer Laura will be able to "chill" and heal even more. She's pretty amazing. Stay tuned for future pursuits and dreams.

We love y'all!