As I sit here reflecting on this last week, I think about the strides Susie has taken. We’ve been trying to watch the Sochi 2014 Olympics each evening. While the wins are exciting to watch, it is the close finishes and the recoveries that catch our breath. The Dutch have been truly magnificent at speed skating, especially their three podium sweeps. I never thought that I would say that relay cross country skiing would be thrilling, but it was. But it was watching the women’s two person bobsled that brought smiles to our faces. Here we saw women that competed in the summer Olympics, specifically track events, apply their strength and speed to the bobsled. It made us think about the movie ‘Cool Runnings‘.
But, I digress. The week before last was a lot of up and down. So, I expected this week to be much of the same. Susie’s sister, Ann Sharp, left on Tuesday afternoon. Susie had pretty good days on Monday and Tuesday. Her Wednesday was as she put it ‘a bit foggy and uncomfortable’. While she slowed down each afternoon, her speech was still quite clear and she had less sillypants moments. In addition, she was determined to do things on her own. She even made tea on Thursday afternoon, and helped with folding laundry. Each day, I see her lean a bit further to cross the finish line ahead of the previous day.
We had lots of help this week. We had a delicious meal provided on Tuesday by Beth Savercool. It was pineapple and chicken on skewers with sides of steamed broccoli, potatoes and a pasta salad. All items that Susie could easily manage and nothing over spiced, i.e. magnificent for this week. Susie’s mom came over on Wednesday and was with Susie on Friday for the immunoglobulin/ octagam treatment. 
And we had a surprise offer from Edie Vitemb on Thursday for a foot massage that turned into a full body massage. There must have been magic in Edie’s hands, as Susie’s platelets jumped from 46k on Wednesday to 63k on Friday. In fact, all of her counts showed an uptick on Friday. Her white blood cells even crossed into the normal range. So, we’ll be looking forward to a repeat visit from Edie.
We are laying low this weekend, as we are heading to Houston on Monday. Pearl will stay with our dear friends, Ken and Lisa, on Monday and Tuesday. Susie will continue the same treatments from this last week on Wednesday (50mg solu medrol) and Friday (50mg solu medrol + octagam). She’s down to a 1/4mg of dexamethasone.
