Hello family and friends.... We've had the first of what I hope are many good days today. This is day "+11BMT" in hospital language.... the eleventh day after Rachel's bone marrow transplant. The last few days were bad ones with a very raw throat and frequent nausea. Diana was here for those days and did a lot of hugging and holding. The hospital staff provided pain relievers through sprays and mediciations administered through the Hickman I.V. line. I arrived Sunday evening. Monday morning there was one bout with nausea and pain in the throat... and then an hour later Rachel started bouncing around the room... kept me running all day long. She danced, sang and played and played and played... finally konked out at about 10:30pm... mad at me because I turned out the lights over the bed and turned off her program on T.V.! This morning the doctors informed me that Rachel's immune count had shot up overnight. If things continued as they were she could go home two weeks earlier than usual.... if today was an indication of things to come I'm a believer! The stay at the hospital has generally been good. On Sunday, Dec. 19, friend Maureen and her son, Jeffrey, stayed with Rachel so Diana and I could both be in Topeka for the Assumption School CHristmas pageant.... we were grateful to both of them for providing us with the opportunity to see Emily (8th grade) in her last Christmas performance at Assumption... not to mention the priviledge of witnessing another fine production by the students of Assumption. When we returned to the hospital all was well.... although Cindy, Rachel's stuffed bunny rabbit had fallen madly in love with Jeffrey... she still speaks fondly of him... though I think he's being replaced in Cindy's affection by Ricky Martin, whom we saw on the television recently. On Christmas Day Kenny, Amanda, Emily and I packed half the house in a van and headed east to Kansas CIty where we spent much of the day with Rachel and Diana. There are restrictions on what can come into Rachel's room... no stuffed animals unless they are new, still wrapped in plastic or boxed. Cindy the bunny rabbit has been the only exception... and that's because Rachel's godmother, Lois, was able to get a sealed wood/glass case made for Cindy to sit in during Rachel's stay at the hospital... something which lifted Rachel's spirits about ten points higher when Cindy arrived. But Rachel had nothing to sleep with... until Christmas Day when "Baby" showed up. Diana and Amanda had found her at a store... still boxed... a sheep dog.... and as big as a real sheep dog.... Baby takes up about a fourth of Rachel's bed!!!... Rachel's big Christmas gift... literally. The Topeka/Shawnee County PUblic LIbrary staff were also kind enough to supply us with treats, some decorations and new, unused games to play during the day as well... it was a good day. Thanks. We're hoping things will continue to improve. We had been told originally that Rachel would have to stay in Kansas CIty for up to three months after her release from the hospital to be close by. Now the doctors are talking about letting her come home to Topeka. We're an hour away from the hospital on the Turnpike and right now they think things should work out ok. We'll know by the end of this week if that'll be possilbe. Otherwise we'll need to find an apartment in the KC area for one to three months. We wish you all a good New Year and thank you for your continued support and prayers. BIll Sowers Bill and Diana Sowers - wrs@cjnetworks.com - 1746 Fairmont Rd, Topeka, KS 66604 check out our SCHREMMER-POLLOCK families page at: http://www.cjnetworks.com/~wrs/index.htm Lincoln County Kansas KSGenweb Project page at: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/lincoln/index.html Gove County Kansas KSGenWeb Project page at: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/index.html