So here's the short of it,
Details are so interesting. 

And here's the long

Surely this cough I have is some kind of allergy! I had a dose of zithromax and within 3 days a round of Levaquin!  Surely if it was a bug those would have knocked it out.  I'm now taking Musinex.   If I stay on my one every 12 hours schedule, the cough is pretty calm - but if I don't I really start hacking away.  I'm eager to have this cough gone.

This evening, we decided to use one of the pieces written in the journal that Emily kept at the hospital.  She asked Gene's caregivers and visitors if they would mind writing in it.  Many did.  Emily brought it home after Gene died, and it was at the house after the funeral.  Several of the family took an opportunity to write in it during the days before and just after the funeral.  Tonight we chose to use the piece written by Elizabeth's husband, Josh.  As I typed the words he wrote, I was so tearful I could hardly see the words.  It is a beautiful tribute. 

Elizabeth and Alan took on the tremendous task of copying the legal pads that Dad used to write in.  They are so interesting.  He was a poet, a philosopher, a gardener, a planner, a letter writer, a pray-er, and probably lots of other things.  These pads show all these sides of him. In one pad you might find, a letter to someone, a garden plan, a meditation on evil, a prayer list, his monthly activities, a Bible verse he had chosen for meditation.  It's really pretty amazing.  The two of them got it together and spent the equivalent of at least a day getting a copy for each child.  It will be priceless.

I'm feeling pretty good today except for the darn cough.  And of course pretty good is pretty relative.  I'm awfully tired and achy.  I understand that one of the side effects of Abraxane is achy joints and muscles.  I didn't have that with the Taxotere - but all in all, I think I'm happy with the Abraxane for these last two treatments.  I'm in a positive thinking mode that the Procrit shot from last week will get my blood counts up enough for me to have my last Chemo treatment on Wednesday.  I looked up how Procrit works and I'm amazed.  Our kidneys produce something called erythropoietin.  It tells the bone marrow that it needs to produce red blood cells - Procrit is a synthetic version of erythropoietin.  It should be in there telling my bone marrow, make more red cells, make more red cells!  Who knew (except you doctors and other medical people) that your kidneys talked to your bone marrow and told them how many red blood cells they need to make!

In the meantime, I'm  trying very hard to continue living in the now and not racing ahead to Wednesday.