Quick update

Gennie's transplant took about seven hours yesterday. There were a few complications that came up. Shortly after they started she developed the shakes (rigor). Then her blood pressure got crazy. Then her heart rate went way up. All of this and a few more things happened all at once. These folks here are amazing and just took care of business. They quickly decided that having Gennie get up every fifteen minutes of so to try and go to bathroom was a little to risky. Therefore they put in a cathiter. This eliminates the getting up on her feet part. Last night they took an ultrasound of her blatter. I asked them to send me a copy in an e-mail so we could be like all of the kids these days and post it on facebook. She said she would but she didn't. Oh well. We are having twins!!!! Very cool. The next thing to go ahywire was her blood oxygen. She is now on oxygen trying to keep that up. It was a long night and Gennie made them work for their pay last night. This whole time she was feeling fine and on some pretty good drugs. She was alert and helpful as she could be. My part as caregiver in all of this was to be there and keep an eye on the monitors. This went on most of the night and I finally got some sllep around 5:30 till 8. I will see the doctor around 11 this morning and he will explain to me what they plan to do to help with this water retention. This problem can cause problems for her liver and that need to be addressed. Now that is a lot to take in but let me assure you this is nothing they have not seen before and they will deal with it. The best part of yesterday is that the transplant is complete and now it is on to engraphment. We should start to see evidence of that sometime around day 7 to 10. That will bring on a whole new list of complications but as they say every journey begins with the first step. We have taken that step and are ready for more. I know most everyone is following my post on facebook but I want to continue this blog for myself and those who want to follow here. Sometimes I feel like facebook is so public and maybe it sounds like I am asking for sympathy when I post there. I can assure you this is not my intent. We are very glad to have the support but in no way want anyone feeling sorry for us. We are thrilled to have this course of action available to us. We will take everything is stride and with the help of these wonderful people here at MCV and the support of all of you and others we will make it. Gennie has started her recovery yesterday and is ready to continue to fight through this. I will be right there with her for the entire recovery looking forward to her new lease on life. Speaking of leases, try and rent an apartment when you don't have a job. It is a hoot. We have one now but that is a whole other story. Well that is all for now. I am going back upstairs to see the doctor. As always thanks for the thoughts and prayers the are very welcome. Bye for now, Bob ps... Way to go Joyce!!!!!! We are so very happy for you.