Tanner has an appointent tomorrow to see Dr. Barlogie at 3:00 p.m. Supposedly it's just an appointment to see how Tanner is doing and from what the nurses are telling Tim and Janet, he doesn't usually see the patients again until all the growth factor shots and stem cell extractions are done, but because Tanner is a special case and is so young, he just wants to check in with him.

Tanner doesn't quite understand why I so badly want to see the doctor, but we haven't seen Dr. Barlogie since the first week we arrived in Little Rock and started the tests, so I just want to hear from him about how he envisions Tanner' treament progressing.

I have several questions. How long, all together, does he take the growth factor shots? Will he do this whole process more than one time? How long does it take to do the extractions? Are they done all at once - or does it take multiple extractions? How far apart? How many times will he have to do chemotherapy? In what order does the treatments progress? Will Tanner maybe have time for a break in all this treatment to be able to come home at all or does he forsee us just staying in Little Rock for the next several months? I just have several "mom" questions about Tanner's treatment and would hate to miss an opportunity to see the doctor - especially since it looks like we are going to go weeks at a time in between appointments.

At this point, they have scheduled the growth factor shots to continue until the end of August. Then they will put in a new port with bigger tubes from which they will suck out the stem cells and then will immediately cryogenically freeze them. Then he will most likely have a few days of down time after which he will start the chemotherapy treatments again. As I said, since we haven't seen the doctor in a few weeks, all of this is coming from the nurses at the infusion center so it will be reassuring to hear from the doctor how he plans for the whole process to proceed.

It was nice seeing my family and friends in Fort Worth - and to get to go back to the office for a few days - but it was very hard being away from Tanner. Maybe as we progresss through this whole process it will be easier for me to leave, but right now being away from him is just a little hard on this mom...