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.

Movin' on up!

Today marks two weeks since Joe's transplant. He has been feeling fatigued, but things are slowly getting better and better. Today was a good day for counts. Joe's platelets are now 66. His WBC jumped up from the 60s to 166. And his hemoglobin is 10.2. The doctor said that his platelets should continue to rise, his WBC should start jumping up, and it is pretty definite Joe will be able to avoid getting any blood transfusions! Yippeeeeee!!!!! It is amazing how well Joe has been doing through the whole transplant process. God continues to bless us beyond measure.

Joe's temperature started to creep up last night. It went up to 99.9. This morning it was 99.6. Also, the area around Joe's port has been a bit tender. There has been no swelling or pus. Just to be on the safe side and to avoid any surprise admissions due to fever, which is a sign of infection, which means several days and nights in the hospital - Joe was given Vancomycin today. If you recall, this is the stuff that causes red man syndrome. Joe didn't have as strong of a reaction today as he did back in August. But this time, with no hair he did look a bit like the red version of a Blue Man from the Blue Man Group. All is well now. Joe is just more tired than ever because he got some Benadryl to help with the itching from the Vanco.

Once I get back to my normal computer, I'll start sharing photos from these past couple weeks. :) As always thanks for all of the love.