Thoughts, prayers, and well wishing requested. As a bit of news, my father has been diagnosed with Leukemia a few months back. The bad news is that his blood isn't producing what it should, he's lost a significant amount of weight, and he's now on chemotherapy. The good news is that the chemo has been working incredibly well! His blood levels are climbing, he's got more energy than he has in a decade, he's gaining back the weight he'd lost, and it's wonderful to see. This is the kind of thing people hope and pray for in a chemo treatment. Just a bit of indigestion and an annoyingly runny nose for side effects. But the fight isn't over, he's not in remission yet, and he still needs regular transfusions what with his hemoglobin levels and platelet count being so low. Still, it's a blessing to see Dad start to recover.

On a not so happy note, my niece's PANDAS has continued to deteriorate. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a strep throat infection that has produced antibodies that are attacking her brain. She's forgetting things like math how to walk from time to time, and regresses back a year and a half developmentally. She also has developed anorexia, where her mind simply doesn't tell her to eat. On top of that, she has about 9 tourrette's-like ticks that can manifest at any time. She's on a diet to help control her symptoms, but the high fat and protein foods tend to bring about the symptoms even worse, so it's a careful balancing act between keeping her healthy and helping her be comfortable. PANDAS is still a very strange thing, not well documented and controversially over diagnosed, but she's seeing a specialist about it. Thoughts and prayers for her, her autistic younger brother, and their poor mother(my sister) who is having such a hard time dealing with it all.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.