Yes, we know, we need to keep this updated more often...

Cheryl was supposed to have a new blog post up, but somebody done forgotted...

I guess we'll give my wife the benefit of the doubt just this once. The joys of chemotherapy included the expected bugaboos of nausea, vomiting and general ookiness, so she hasn't been up to doing much of anything for the past two weeks, which, sadly, includes finishing the Bane of Our Existence, the thesis. At least she has the summer to get it done now.

News of note: not much, really. Cheryl got her third dose of chemo (and, hopefully, the wonder drug as well). Blood tests revealed that her platelet count was through the roof, something like 1100 (normal, I think, is around 100-200). What does this mean? We have no idea. It's worth noting that when the IL-2 treatment was working, Cheryl had an elevated platelet count, and anecdotal evidence suggests that maybe this is a Good Thing. It's also possible that Cheryl's just a weirdo with a naturally high platelet count.

Also, Cheryl has horribly tiny, dainty veins that apparently collapse if you look at them funny. She's starting to run out of good ones, too, so it's forseeable that she may have to get a semi-permanent port for the duration of this treatment. Oh, joy, a big plastic thing sticking out of your chest for several months. I suppose we should be happy it's not a colostomy bag.

Right now, Cheryl's in Vancouver, B.C. for the SAA conference, and it feeling pretty good at last report. Hopefully, that shall continue.

Here in the Palouse, it is apparent that spring will have to be pried from the cold, dead fingers of Old Man Winter. It snowed again yesterday, and it's not going away, in fact, we are expected to get more snow over the next few days. I'd better check the calendar, 'cause I was sure that it was almost April, not January. I could be wrong. It happens.

Tonight will be a busy night for me. Not only do I need to wrap up the tax stuff (the downside of being a Jeopardy! winner - we owe the guv'mint quite a bit of cash, much of which we have already spent), but I have to finish my fantasy baseball research for this weekend's draft, clean the place up, castigate the cats for whatever trouble they've gotten into this time, and then, time and laziness permitting, consider doing something about the shaggy beard I've got going. Seriously, I look like the bastard stepchild of Grizzly Adams and Redbeard the Pirate right now. I might let it keep growing out to look really shaggy, but once it warms up, I suspect I won't want a bird's nest on my face any longer.

And I have softball this weekend, too. I wonder if we'll have a Snow Delay...

Dave