Happy Thanksgiving

Hello dear friends and family,

Well, I've started to write this post several times, but just couldn't find the gumption to finish. Last Tuesday we received the unfortunate news that Bob is no longer in remission. Dr. Luger herself called(never a good sign) and told Bob that there are 30-40% blasts(leukemic cells) in his marrow. This means that the stem cell transplant is on hold, as there must be no more than 20% blasts, and Dr. Luger said she would prefer it to be less than 10%. Needless to say this info threw us for a loop...I think me even more so than Bob. I really was shocked when he told me, b/c he looks so well, and we had been given a date for the transplant(was supposed to be admitted on 12/5), and were really geared up for it. But as our best bud Deb says, having this disease is like living on an (expletive deleted) roller coaster. So, Bob will begin out patient chemotherapy on 12/4. All we know right now is that it will be 5 consecutive days of 1 injection. The only good part about all this is that it will be done locally w/ Bobs' oncologist, Dr. Zipin in Chalfont. We meet w/ him 11/30 to get all the details and find out what we can expect to happen, and I will update you after that.

Right now we are looking forward to a nice holiday. We will be feasting at Bobs' sister Santas' on Thursday, and than Matt will be up w/ his girlfriend Mandi and our granddaughter Rhane for the weekend. We are so excited about that. I think we will put them all to work and have a tree-trimming party, combining Christmas and Thanksgiving. I have a feeling that Bob is going to be feeling punk right around the 25th, so we'll celebrate a little early.

As I said Bob has been feeling pretty well. We were out on Saturday to a surprise party for his partner, Jerry Sag, and it was so good to see so many "old" friends and co-workers. This morning after my tennis, we went to breakfast and did a little birthday and Christmas shopping in Skippack. I'll wait til after the holidays to tell you about my gift(ha-ha), but for now, suffice it to say that my husband has great taste.

I did want to follow up and again thank everyone who contributed to Megs Light the Night walk. She raised $1200.00 and we're so proud of her and grateful too. Also, just to let you know, my Dad is doing a bit better...getting around w/ a cane, but still unable to drive. That is something that realistically I think might not happen again, but at 88 yrs of age, he is still remarkable. My Mom had cataract surgery on both her eyes( so glad we got that in before Bob starts his treatments), and they were quite a success.

So we are hanging in there, and as always, are so grateful for all of you. Whenever I'm talking to anyone about Bobs' situation and our life in general right now, I always say...thank God we have wonderful friends and family. On Thursday we will say a special thank-you for all the blessings we've been given. I pray you are all well and have a wonderful holiday with your families.

All our love,
Bob and Mo

P.S. Thanks to for the continued prayers, blogs and cards. I promise to be better w/ the posting in the future.