Ernie update

An e-mail from Jack:

We went to see Ernie yesterday - and in many ways wish we had not. He looks horrible! He's lost lots of weight, it's all he can do to raise his arm and earlier in the week his arm was so swollen he couldn't raise it or bend his fingers, he has purple blotches on him now where he was totally purple earlier in the week, he can't talk well, and his hearing is poor. Seeing him like this was a shaking experience. But keep in mind that he's improving and there's been no recurrence of the leukemia. His body is just going through the host vs. donor battle.

Candi said you're going to try to come up next weekend. We were there maybe 30 minutes, with Candi and us doing most of the talking. He had a very difficult time hearing us and his talking appeared painful. I understand your wanting to see him, but I would encourage you to wait a couple of weeks. He is getting better and you'll want to see him when he's looking better and can talk. And candidly, seeing him as he is now is frightening when it shouldn't be because he is improving.

Next month it will be 1 year that he's been fighting this - and over half that time he was in the hospital. When he gets out they (he and Candi) say they will come spend a good amount of time with us while he recovers. Something to keep in mind, when he and Candi are here you could come up here for a visit - we have the room.

Also, next month he will be 60.