Wednesday, December20th

Kerrie’s getting an early Christmas present!!

By Noon, tomorrow, she will have a new address… 7th floor rehab center at North Oakland Medical Center.

I had been given strict orders not to post this on the website until it was official.. Mom and I are both a little paranoid about jinxing anything (and I suppose a stop could still be put to it..) but her fabulous limousine ( ambulance) is expected to pick her up sometime after 10:00am tommorrow.

I’m surprised this hasn’t already hit the gallery.. as several people at NOMC were told about this today.. but I guess I get to be the first to give the news.

We are all a little scared about this ( ok.. alot scared), because Kerrie has so many issues to still deal with on the Transplant end… but Dr. Jana feels strongly that we are missing our window of opportunity to be able to salvage any of Kerrie’s abilities and if we don’t get her into extensive rehab soon that window will close. The risk of not getting her into rehab outweigh the risks of not having her in a unit equipped to deal with a BMT patient.

We are very excited that NOMC is able to take her.. not only will Mom be near by all day ( Mom works there), but she will be surrounded by her friends, co-workers and tons of people that love her ( Kerrie worked there too.. and I think they kind of like her 🙂 )

While we are thrilled she is going to North Oakland, we are very sad to leave our Henry Ford Family. They have been our constant source of support, for the last 5 1/2 months and I, for one, am very saddened at the thought of leaving them. I know Mom and Kerrie are too.. Mom said it was a pretty tearful night of Good-byes tonight.

I had actually been looking forward to spending Christmas with them, as they have become such a part of our family, and now.. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. If anyone from P2 is checking the web page, please pass the message along that you have all been wonderful ( not only to Kerrie, but to me) and that you will be missed. You made it so much easier for our family to get through all of this so far.Thanks for everything.. and I hope the next time we meet it’s under better circumstances.

To the staff of NOMC, I look forward to finally meeting some of you.. and can’t wait for Kerrie to be in a place where there is always someone there who loves her.

As for Kerrie’s new home.. the BMT team at Henry Ford said they were very impressed with them during their conference call today. Several people on the BMT Team told Mom how impressive it was that they had themselves so together as far as being so ready to take Kerrie and take on the challenges that will come. It’s hard for the BMT Team to let Kerrie go, not only because of her BMT needs, but because she has been with them so long.. but they said they feel very positive about this whole move after speaking with the staff that will be working with Kerrie at NOMC.

That makes me feel 500% better about the whole thing. I have come to rely on the Henry Ford staff so much that it’s difficult to think about having to start over with a whole new staff ( even though Mom and Kerrie know people there).. but if they’ve been given the stamp of High Approval from BMT that’s all I need to know!

Well, there is one more thing I need to know…

When I asked Mom what they had said about me staying in Kerrie’s room with her she said she hadn’t thought to ask. Excuse me? Come on.. I know you had hundreds of issues to discuss with them today.. but I would think THAT would be the most important question on the list.. and should have been part of the inservice training they received on Kerrie today 🙂

Keep your fingers crossed they let me stay.. otherwise the Andree sisters may have to live apart. We wouldn’t want that now would we 🙂