Well, I am back in Orlando. I had a wonderful week with family for the holidays.

The day I arrived at my parent's condo, Wednesday the 24th. I had a couple of surprises. First I saw my brother at the condo wrapping up presents for his daughters and other nieces and nephews. It turned out to be a safe place to get the wrapping done without being interrupted by his family. We talked for a bit, then I hear the phone ring in the condo. I picked it up and it was my mom. Dad just received the 'okay' to get out of the hospital.

I guess my dad complained enough to get released from 'the death doctors.' I guess they needed the bed for the next victim to soak money from. Those are my dad's words, honest.

Well, I was able to help out mom and do some things for them. He was able to get the 27 staples removed before I left. My dad has been opened four times. He feels they should put a velcro strap to make it easier next time. Again one of my dad jokes, tee hee...

I spent Christmas with my brother while mom took care of dad that day. He was in no mood for visitors, he is in a weaken stated. His blood level at the time was 8.2. He was able to raise it to 9.5 when I left. Normal is 12 units or so. His appetite is back. He is able to do some short walks down the street. He just needs to brush his tongue to get rid of the thrush. yuck... ewww... My dad would ask, "Why is it call thrush? I haven't eaten any birds lately." hah, hah...

I spent New Years with them as well. It was great. Of course, mom's cooking did ruin the girlish figure. Darn it, now I need to lose that weight again. sigh... The day I left, my dad had an appointment later in the day to find out what is going on.

The results are that the cancer is the aggressive variety. They are going to do this step by step. Do a PET scan to determine how far it has spread. Do one shot of chemo-therapy and take another PET scan. Hopefully the treatment will do the job and get good results. That is the prayer request right now.

Well take care my friends. I will drop another line of how it went. The story I am writing is coming along. I was able to do some more writing in my spare time. It just needs to be cleaned up as I type it on the PC. There are still more chapters to write.

Rachel