Answering Machine vs Voicemail

I guess it has been about a month since I sent out any news on Connie, so I will give you a little update.

Connie is doing ok, she is still very, very weak but she is stable.  About 10 days ago they did a bone marrow biopsy and it showed all ‘donor cells’ and no abnormal cells, that was very good news.  The doctors said her marrow is producing at about 10% and they would like to see it at about 40%.  Which did not sound very good to me but as you age the marrow just normally produces less effectively so 40% is not so bad.  Connie had still been going to the clinic daily but this last sunny weekend she got both Saturday & Sunday off.  That really lifted her spirits.  The doctors have taken her off some medications and are very slowly reducing others.  We are just thinking positively that she will continue on down her road with no complications and can begin to gain some strength back.  She does hate being totally dependent on Ron for everything.

I do need to explain to everyone who has called her, left messages and never got return phone calls.  Connie & Ron have an answering machine and they check it for messages.  Well they did not know that when they bundled their phone, internet & TV they automatically gave you ‘voice mail’.  They figured that out about a week or two ago and when they learned how to check it, they had over 250 messages.  Sorry but you all got erased, trying to listen to all those messages was much too overwhelming for her.  So please don’t have hurt feelings and don’t hesitate to give her a call again.

Connie is still supported with units of blood & platelets but not quite as often.  She has her up days and her down days but she is hopeful that life will someday allow her to have a quality of life when she can be active and spend time with her friends again.

For a long time the doctors told Connie “just take it one day at a time”.  Now they seem to be saying, “don’t think about tomorrow, think about next month”.  I guess they don’t want her to expect ‘too much to fast’.

I hope many of you have signed up for the ‘Light the Night’ walk this year to raise funds for Leukemia.  We have a team called “CONNIES CREW FOR HOPE”.    Connie has every intention of walking with us this year, at least as far as she can, then we will pop her into a wheelchair to finish around the lake.  Here is the link to sign up, I hope to see you there.   http://pages.lightthenight.org/wa/SeattleL11/ConniesCrewofHope

Connie thanks you all for your friendship and love you have shown to her & Ron these past 10 months.

Take care,

Linda