Relaxing On Saturday Afternoon

Pablo, Grady and I just wrapped up a marathon 'Pirates of the Carribean' Uno match. Multi-player games with Pablo take a long time for two reasons: 1] he is a ruthless gamesman; 2] he doesn't know how to hold cards, and he insists that all players lay their cards on the table, face up. This changes the competition dynamic—especially with Grady, who is also ruthless—allowing strategic moves based on knowing the other players' cards. After three or four shuffles of the dead card deck, a victor emerged: Papa. I'd like to tell you it was a clean game. But it wasn't. Both Grady and I influenced Pablo's moves on countless occasions. P is incredibly sweet about it—he knows he's being swayed for the benefit of another player, but he doesn't seem to care. In fact, he usually defends the guy he's helping when the other guy protests. With a wry grin, his common refrain is, 'I know, but it's OK.'

Our friends Gretchen and Anne are here for the weekend from New Orleans. They snatched Jo Ann this morning to go out for a ladies' afternoon of mani/pedi treatments, brunch, and shopping...so I don't think we'll see them anytime soon!

We're having a great time back at the ranch, and now that I'm over the initial sting that we didn't get to accompany them, I'm happy that J is getting some fun time outta the house, and without the pressure and responsibility load that she carries eight days a week.

An update on Pablo's treatment:

Dr M and his colleague Dr Marcio Malogolowkin have assured us that they reviewed Pablo's treatment plan when the changes to clinical study came about. We have been speaking to them on email (Dr M is in Brazil for a conference), and the detailed information we have is limited. We have an existing meeting scheduled with Dr M on 13 November, and he's assured us that we can get into the fine details of the treatment plan at that time. No matter what, this news came at a good point in Pablo's chemo cycle: he is on his two weeks of out-patient Vincrsitine, a drug he's been getting from day one that is not addressed in the At this juncture, Vincristine is an appetizer, a snack, compared to the three- and five-drug cocktails P gets on his in-patient stays.

Hope you are having a great autumn Saturday. Talk soon....