Wonderful news!

Going to the hospital every day has become our daily job. But it's a lot worse, because it's not fun or fulfilling. But the good news is that Joe is getting better and better each day thanks to the wonderful doctors and nurses caring for him.

We made it to the hospital today in good time, only to be greeted by a full waiting room that kept getting more and more packed. We've never seen it so busy. Our wait in the waiting room was almost a full hour. Fortunately, somebody was great enough to order Joe's meds in advance, so they were ready when we got to his room. Joe is now getting half the fluids he was previously, he is still on vanco for a few days (which has brought down his temperature, and taken away the tenderness around his port), and of course magnesium. Unfortunately, one of Joe's anti-rejection meds depletes magnesium, so even after he stops getting it IV, Joe will have to start taking it in tablet form.

Now for the wonderful news. The doctor rounding today came into the room and said, "wonderful news!" Joe's WBC (which jumped up to 376 yesterday) is 900 today! This is the real deal. His WBC should just keep jumping up now. Platelets and RBC take a little more time, but we can be patient with those. Joe hasn't seen our house in over 3 weeks now, and he is itching to go back. He's decided that Sunday will probably be the day we head out of Hotel Mom & Dad. Of course, it has been noted that we are welcome back to the "hotel" anytime. We've been really blessed to have the extra help.

Thank you Marcus for visiting Joe while you've been rotating through the hospital. You really helped the days go by faster.

Thank you Albert for the great care package! We know you are super busy, so it means a lot that you took the time and thought that went into it.