Wednesday +68 (10:30 PM) Finger's Crossed

I hope everyone enjoyed the first full day of summer!

We won't know until next Monday what the decision will be for Jackie's return home. In order to get all the doctor's visits lined up we have to wait until Monday. It seems the actual transplant doctor is out of town (vacation?) and we will see the doctor covering for him. He may not feel comfortable in releasing Jackie for a visit home. We will just need to wait and see. We are keeping our finger's crossed.

Jackie had a good day today. She did have some nausea but it seemed better. Her back pain is also much better; although still around from time-to-time. I think the prospect of coming home has energized her. Between bouts of "I'm pooped" she did exactly what I predicted she would do today - she packed suitcases! She says by Sunday night she plans to have everything packed. So, I hope she isn't disappointed!

Tonight we had a video conference with Derrick and his girlfriend Tiffany2 (so named because we already have one Tiffany - Tiffany Lapidus, nee Taylor). We used my Father's Day present, an iSight video camera that hooks up to the Mac. It worked well! We can conference in up to 4 video streams. With 4 streams the video and audio is likely to be pretty bad, however. For anyone thinking about buying a new computer I certainly recommend Apple. There are a few quirks that drive me nuts and a few websites that present problems, but overall the experience is much better. At present there is no worry about getting a virus, there are no pop-up ads to annoy you, and the user interface is superior.

The decision to allow Jackie home for a visit (sounds like we are getting out of prison doesn't it!) will depend a lot upon her blood counts. These continue to do well. Her RBC (Hgl) was at 9.9 which is down fractionally from yesterday's 10.0. The more important measure for now, her WBC count improved to 2.0 from 1.8 yesterday. Her ANC is now at 1.0 (actually measured as 1000, but the trailing zeros are always dropped). This is up from .78 (780) yesterday. Her platelets are still holding strong at 133 which was a slight decline from yesterday's 142. I could be wrong, but I suspect tomorrow's counts will be better. It seems you can always tell what tomorrow's counts will be like based upon the previous day's general feeling of well-being (or not).

So, with some luck we may see everyone next week sometime. I would reiterate the fact that anyone who is ill or has been near anyone who is/was ill should stay away. If we are allowed to come home I will probably post some "rules for visiting Jackie" before we arrive. Things such as no hugging, no hand shaking, special handling of food, frequent hand washing, etc. will all need to be considerations. Anybody who thinks this is strict need only remember that all doctors and nurses are required to glove before entering her room at the hospital. The room, bed, and all surfaces are disinfected before each visit. The hospital rooms have HEPA air filters that exchange the air every 6 minutes using air from outside the hospital. Obviously they take this stuff seriously and we will need to do the same.

Until Later....

Bruce and Jackie
From Rochester, MN