Saturday, October 21st

We’re at Day +4 and everything still looks good! Kerrie’s blood counts have dropped considerably and they had to give her platellets today… probably another blood transfusion tomorrow or Monday.

We took a short walk this morning and then prepared to have Kerrie take a shower. This is no easy task and involves placing a special kind of blanket around the floor of the shower ( to keep the water from flooding the bathroom), taping up her catheter so it doesn’t get wet, getting the IV cart into the bathroom and then getting her undressed. Just as she was ready to turn on the water her IV cart started beeping that the battery was dying and we had to stop everything we were doing to check it out. The battery had charged all night, so it shouldn’t have been dead.. but there was a definate problem. Carol, one of the RN’s, ordered another monitor and we plugged Kerrie back in… but the platellets arrived before we could get the problem taken care of and the shower had to be postponed.

Because of the reaction she usually has to blood/platellet transfusions, they have to pre-medicate her before a transfusion… so she was “out” for the afternoon. It’s kind of fun to watch the meds take effect on her… she starts to babble and then you can see her fighting to keep her eyes open… and then she falls alseep.. mid-sentence, babbling about one silly thing or another 🙂

Once she was on her way to a nice afternoon of sleeping, I headed to Mom’s to help her get things taken care of at the house. All the air ducts and furnace were being cleaned out today, the house will be cleaned and sanatized next week, as will the carpets and furniture, and then we’ll be ready to bring Kerrie home. We aren’t expecting that she’ll be able to come home for at least another two weeks ( or longer), but there is so much to do to get ready that we have to start now.

While the company, doing the furnace and air ducts, did their job… Mom and I began our work on Kerrie’s room and all her personal belongings. All of her clothes have been washed and are now hanging in her closet ( covered in plastic bags) or back in her drawers. EVERYTHING had to be dusted.. right down to the last book.. and was packed in plastic bags and boxes. If she wants a DVD, Book or Knick-Knack she’ll have to do a little digging. Almost everything she owns has been cleaned, dusted, boxed up and then put in plastic…. and then stacked neatly in her closet or on a bookcase. I wish I had time to clean MY house as well as I’ve cleaned her room and all her things.

I will be on my way back to the hospital within the hour and then maybe we can get in that shower she wanted this morning. Hopefully this will be in time for a little Tigers Baseball! GO TIGERS.  Tiger Stadium… I mean Comerica Park ( Tiger stadium remains in my heart!) is only a few miles away and we’d probably be able to see the lights of the stadim, from Kerrie’s window, if it wasn’t for a big church blocking our view…. I was thinking about grabbing a pair of binoculars and climbing up to the roof of the Hospital… but decided I will just let my mom take pictures when she is at the game tomorrow :)   Ted’s daughter-in-law works for FOX, so she got them tickets for tomorrows game in some GREAT seats… (Chris & Paul Whitney.. we know you are envious that your Aunt Joan will be at the game while you will watch it on TV… it’s OK to cry if you want!)

I have a ton of pictures from the transplant, but can’t figure out how to resize them on Mom or Kerrie’s computers, so it will have to wait until I get back to Ohio tomorrow night. Keep checking the Gallery… especially if you want to see some hideous pics of me, that I would NEVER allow to be shown in public, but figure it’s for a good cause 🙂

Kerrie is doing pretty good for now, but we are prepared there may be some rough days ahead.

As always, we’ll keep you posted.

 Jenn