Dec. 28,08. I visited dad and Val for almost 2 hours. I arrived with new lighter Popsicles, a new potato and leek soup and some Christmas presents. Val had been sitting up in the chair in her bedroom since 10 am by the time I arrived at 12. She looked weak, but good. I encouraged her to drink 2 oz of the energy juice Alison had sent even though she said it tasted awful ( it was pure beet, carrot, celery and zucchini juice from Ali's juicer). I asked why she wasn't sleeping was she having bad dreams or worries? She said no and she didn't know why. She is in no pain, yet has residual leg and arm aches from the shot on Monday. She ate the most today with the salmon again and more soup. She doesn't want to drink alot, but I told her it was her job to eat and drink as much as she can in the next 14 days before chemo starts again. Eat every two hours. Drink the Ensure drink even though it doesn't taste as good as the yogurt. She asked about how to roll and sleep on her stomach so we talked about the pillows and positions. She said she would continue to let Baine and John drive her to and from visits. She will let Denise accompany her to the nutritionist Dr. Kaplan in Montpelier to be a third set of ears. We will cancel the MD in Burlington as Val prefers the Montpelier location. I tried to explain how this MD would help her get the best nutrition in between her chemo treatments. Dad's only fear is that this MD would send them home with all these pills extra things to eat and drink. Val is not being that good of a patient for Dad as it is so he can't imagine trying to get more into her. I verbally said maybe she would do it if the MD told her to do it. "She will do it for you Salynn but not for me". So she is not as good a patient for dad as she is for me. Her temperature is down to normal. She is stopping the gallbladder powder for the diarrhea since she hadn't had a BM in 3 days; now she thinks she is constipated. Dad and Val both thought the blog was a great idea since she just doesn't feel like talking to anyone yet. She gave me her address book to add some more friends. She has three caps for when she looses her hair which Cindy Cato knitted...all beautiful. We measured her head to get one of the wrap scarfs. She doesn't know what she wants to wear on her head when she looses her hair. All in all , Dad looked better than I thought he would and Val agreed he was doing well. He apparently takes a hit of Pepsi for a caffiene boost during the day which is new for him...join the club dad. Rudy and Lea continue to visit Val every day for 2-3 hours every afternoon. This frees Dad to go run errands if he wants to. All was good on windy wood road today. Love and prayers to Val. Salynn