Today, 20 October, Karen's blood test indicated her platelets have continued to drop. A platelet (Plate-let) is a type of blood cell that helps prevent bleeding by causing blood clots to form. At this time I don't have any more information on the topic of platelets other than its not uncommon for them to drop with chemotherapy. I will provide more specific information on this in the next update. For now please continue praying for the platelet level to increase. While the platelet levels weren’t great, Karen's ammonia level, while still higher than the doctor is comfortable with, has dropped and hopefully will continue in that direction.

Karen began round 6 of chemo (Xeloda) this morning. In light of her platelet levels, chemo was suspended until next Thursday. As you can imagine, putting off chemo for another week doesn't bring a great deal of protest from Karen!

Karen's energy levels continue to improve. She went grocery shopping this week; really shopping not just milk and eggs. Sounds mundane and completely normal, right? This was a first for her since May! When I think back to way she felt in late June to way she feels now, I'm completely overwhelmed with how far God has brought her. God is awesome!

That's all the update for this week. Thank you for checking on Karen's progress.