Sunday +46 (Midnight) Actually +47 Now

This post is rather late. I got caught up watching old WWII movies on the TV and I'm just getting around to doing the daily post.

This morning I took the video camera to the hospital and spent some time shooting some video of the local area around the apartment. I put the video and pictures together as a small "music video". Most of you will probably be able to see it below. I finally learned how to embed the actual video into the blog. If you don't see the video box below it is because you don't have Shockwave installed. If that's the case, you will have to miss the video. A description of how to install a Shockwave plugin is beyond the scope of the blog. Sorry!



I was lucky to get any photos of Jackie. She complained the entire time that "no one wants to see me looking like this". I convinced her that everyone would like to see how well she is doing.

She began the morning with her regular back pain. As with many mornings it was very severe. I feel certain it must be due to some sort of electrolyte imbalance. She took a couple of pain pills and was fine. In fact, after returning from the hospital and after sleeping off some of the pain meds she said she felt as close to normal as anytime since the transplant.

The day was really warm here in Rochester. I think it got into the 90s today. It was very windy so it didn't seem as hot.

We were recalled to the hospital for an earlier-than-normal return visit. Jackie required another unit of magnesium. This is getting to be a regular occurrence. It seems about every 3 days she requires a unit. They seem to feel this is quite normal.

The doctor put us on a "No MD" schedule today. That means we will no longer be seeing the doctor or PA during our daily visits. She will receive her IV transfusion and talk to the nurses. Unless there is something unusual the doctor will not do the normal examination. This is in preparation for going to "Clinic Visit" status. Jackie would have been in Clinic Visit status long ago if not for the CMV problem.

Another CMV PCR test will be conducted tomorrow. With luck it will be negative and she will only require another week of Ganicyclovir.

Jackie's counts continue to remain stabile or improved. Her RBC (Hgl) count today improved to 9.5 from yesterday's 9.4. Her WBC count remained unchanged. Her platelet count improved to 122 from yesterday's 112. I was reading through the blogs yesterday and it is hard to believe that she went for months with platelet counts below 40!

Well, until later...

Bruce and Jackie
From Rochester, MN