OCTOBER 23

Gary received his third treatment early this morning. He was feeling pretty good today, just tired from being kept up during the night and a little nauseous. His creatinine improved since yesterday before coming into the hospital. Went from 1.2 to .7 which is normal range. Once again, the doctor reduced the dose of Methotrexate to 50% to make sure his kidneys would be ok. Later this evening, one of the lab tech personnel came to check his pH level. This guy has talked with Gary before and remembered him. He asked Gary how he was, and Gary told him the good news about the PET scan yesterday and how the treatment seems to be working. Gary then said he is not looking forward to the BMT, because he knows he will be very sick. The tech said, "You'll do ok.... you have a great outlook on life". Things like that do so much for Gary to boost his spirits. To know people watch him and take notice how he reacts to things encourages him to stay positive. Today, we had a special visitor... or should I say two special visitors. Steve and Jenell Bender made a special trip to see Gary. For those of you who may not know... Steve is on staff at our missions office, Baptist Bible Fellowship, Int. To have them visit, was a special blessing to us and we thoroughly enjoyed our time of fellowship today.