Dear Team Zachary,

I am sending out this report to update you on week 3 of a 6ish week journey. Zachary and the team at the University of Omaha have been very busy. On August 5th Zachary and Dara left for Omaha by car instead of flying. Once they got to Omaha he had another round of chemo like the past several. After that round of chemo, stem cell harvesting began several days later. They needed 4 million stem cells to be harvested. The range of days it takes to harvest is from 1 to 30 days depending on the person. On Zachary's first day of harvesting he managed to give them 12 million stem cells and was done with that process in one day. How they count to 12 million I don't know!

On Saturday (8/18) they started his 'high dose' chemo. When they say 'high dose' they really mean it. Zachary met with Dr. Vose before the chemo to 'sign some papers.' I asked Zachary, 'what kind of papers?' 'Well Ann, they needed me to sign and say that if they killed me during this process I won't sue them.' 'Did you read the fine print Zachary?' 'No. For what purpose? I got the gist of it and they aren't really going to negotiate these points with me.' 'Yeah, you're right. And besides you're not going to get your money back anyway.' 'I'm kinda committed now to finishing the process.'

High Dose started on Saturday evening and will go 6 days. On August 24 they will put his stem cells back in with the anticipation that these will re-invigorate his immune system which will be largely compromised by the high dose chemo. The UNMC radiologists on Saturday also determined that there remains active cancer in Zachary. Therefore, once all of this is completed Zachary will still need to undergo some radiation treatments. Michael and I will be in Omaha Wednesday and plan to stay 'a while' because he is most likely to get sick after the stem cells have been put back in.

He continues to be funny and positive and I continued to be humbled by it. An example of his humor is the Postcard he sent us from Cabela's (a huge hunting and fishing outfitter). The postcard is a picture of the store and all of the stuffed animals (as in taxidermy) on display. On the back of the post card it said:

Howdy, We went to Cabela's. We really enjoyed looking at all the nature exhibits. It was like going to a giant dead zoo. We hope all is well with you. Love, Zach and Dara

For those of you who want to know more about stem cell transplants, here is a link to an article that maybe helpful. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stem-cell-transplant/CA00067 I believe in the power of medicine AND I believe in the power of love. Zachary, because of all of us, has both.

Thank you for continuing to be a healing force in his life. My love to you,

Ann