still standing tall (and walking)

the chemo has all been administered and the doctors expected the decline to be in motion so far, but Dad is still feeling pretty good. no real loss of appetite, no weight loss, or hair loss yet. he's even been able to get up and around and go for some walks on the Emory campus with Mom and Lia, who's been in visiting and helping since Wednesday. it's nice too that the weather has been good, British Open has been on, and he has so many great friends.

the hospital staff has been very friendly too. when he got his infusion of stem cells and transfusion of new blood they threw him his new "birthday" party. this process in many ways a new birth because you shed so much (good and bad) with the old blood including all previous vaccines. when the process is all over, he'll need to get all new vaccinations.

there has been some minor symptoms so far such as low blood pressure, a silky taste to all food and drink, and a couple rounds of hiccups (might just be karma from playing "hiccups" with leo so much), but overall he's still hanging very tough. we don't want to be naive, and know that status can falter quite quickly, but are very grateful for all the success so far.