Tuesday Update

Howdy,

I wanted to start this update today with some nice Midwestern "folksiness" as I unwillingly for the next two months a Midwesterner; but don't tell Liz because she will not approve.

The day started extremely early today. We had to check into the hospital at 7:00 today and since we are totally dependent on taxis, and taxis can be unpredictable we were awake at about 5:00 and made it to the hospital at 6:00. The hardest part about all of this is that Mom and I are still very much on Colorado time which felt like we were getting up at 3am.

After getting to the hospital so very early we finally were taken back to the area where I was prepped to have my special new catheter placed. This new catheter will be used to remove the stem cells, give me chemo, and then put the stem cells back in as well as give me any meds and such that I need. The procedure was done under conscious sedation which meant that I was awake, but I have no recollection at all about the procedure.

We will head back to the hospital tomorrow morning at have my stem cells harvested, and hopefully they will be able to collect enough so that we can start the chemo on Thursday. They told me today that most times it takes anywhere from 1-3 days to get enough cells so I am not getting my hopes up to high about starting Thursday.

This afternoon, I was in dire need of some sleep so I took a much needed nap while Mom took a tour around the neighborhood and found out that there were some restaurants north of where we are staying which is much closer than having to head west. So that was wonderful news, and we made our way there tonight and had dinner in a very cool pub.

There is some very good news on the Indianapolis front. The air conditioner at Rachel's House is once again working and that has been making the stay so much better.

There were also two very generous donations made in the Kurtis Huss Cancer Fund at the Wells Fargo Bank. We cannot express how grateful we are to the people that have been, and were, so very generous to us throughout this entire ordeal.

After we find out about how the stem cell collection goes tomorrow we will let all of you know. Thanks again for all of your support and love.

Kurtis