What an intense day we had at Stanford a few days ago. Not to mention taking 2 hours to get there and 2 hours to get back. Paul saw a social worker, doctor, another doctor and a nurse – over four hours. At first, the talk was about doing a bone marrow transplant. But, in the end, the main doctor (Lowsky – excellent!) recommended against a transplant at this time. Paul’s chemo is doing well enough for now. A transplant would mean many weeks of being at Stanford, at least six months of very restricted life, and another six months of regaining strength. Plus, the transplant might only buy Paul another six months compared to staying on various chemo treatments – if they work.

So, the new plan is to continue chemo for a few more months, harvest Paul’s stem cells (probably later this summer), freeze them, and use them for a transplant if and when. The current chemo treatments make Paul pretty exhausted by mid-day, but at least no other big side-effects have occurred so far. It’s likely that the chemo Paul is on will lose effectiveness in a year or so, at which point they’ll try another chemo or add one in to the mix.

Meanwhile, Tim had another course of chemo today – a little over 3 hours. Then, he had his pump attached, and it’s scheduled to be taken off in a couple days. His CT scan later this month should show whether or not the tumor continues to respond to his chemo. Unlike Paul’s options, the chemo treatment Tim is on is the main one available at this time.

We’ve been given the go ahead to travel – with appropriate safeguards and precautions. We first want to visit Paul’s folks in Milwaukee (his dad turns 96 in a couple weeks, his mom just turned 93). Then, we’d like to go back to one of our favorite places – Santa Fe. Masks and hand sanitizers all the way!

[This is a photo from our hikes up the Eastern Sierra, showing the Fragrant Shooting Star - Primula fragrans.]