Today was smooth, like puree

Today's white count is still stable at 800. At some point they will give him some drugs to help boost that number. But today is not the day. The pain of his new line in his arm is killing him. Between that and his mouth, he's getting morphine every 4 hours.

Food still must be pureed and not spicy. Anything the least bit acidic won't work.

He was in pretty good spirits this evening. Sasha and Valiya came by with soup and the aforementioned chicken mush, which Vlad said was yummy. I took some potato soup and strawberry Jell-O that Mom made, both big hits, especially the Jell-O. Liliya brought some fish soup about 8:30 and he was too full to eat it. I brought it home and will take it back to the hospital tomorrow.

Phone calls I remember: Bill, Lana, John. Suzanne called last night; I failed to add that to the archive. Mom talked to my cousin Stevie in Dallas by phone today who has added Vlad's cause to her prayer chain. Thank you!

Mom and I are almost done with the master bedroom. I guess then it's on to the master bath. Then the office. I was hoping to send Mom back to Fort Worth Friday morning to let her get back to her life. But she is adamant she will be staying, probably until Vlad comes home. I think she's worried about me. Mother stuff.

Bill goes with Evan to a Boy Scout Jamboree this weekend and he'll be back here the following weekend. My sister, Suzanne, wants so badly to come down and help, but she's got her hands full with her girls in Fort Worth. And she's paying extra child care while Mom is here, plus Mom is often the cook, laundress and errand-runner, so Suz has a lot more on her plate. And that's helping, I keep telling her.