Great! It is really good to hear of more improvement. These situation are always difficult, but it sounds like Michele has a very positive attitude and will make leaps bounds in the days to come. Charlie we are so glad to hear the positives that have occurred over the last couple of days.

Thoughts and prayers are with you. Best wishes to all from my family.

 

3/31/02 Sunday
7:20pm

Michele was removed from ICU and is now in her own private room. It's nice and quiet there now and she can rest much easier. Her hallucinations have stopped but she still has a bit of confusion, but it is much improved from the previous days.

She was able to sit up in a chair for 4 hours today and got to eat some graham crackers and drink some gingerale.

I left her at 6:30pm so that she can get some needed sleep.

Tomorrow she will begin to walk a bit and get some soft food.

I'm feeling very much relieved it was a difficult 11 days with things very much touch n go. Since wed. the 20th my days consisted of waking up at 5 am going to work for a few hours then off to the hospital till I left around 9pm, get home call family and friends e-mail some and then go to sleep and start all over again. My friends ask me "how do you do it?" my answer "I would have it no other way I will be at my wife's side for as long as needed and as long as she wants me there".

So the last few days are very encouraging. Thanks to all who have kept her in your thoughts and prayers and continue praying for her speedy recovery.

Till tomorrow....
Charlie

 

Good news Charlie!,,, P.S. that's a lot of prednisone.

 

some day you'll look back on these hallucinations and be able to laugh about them with her, but i would imagine that they are pretty scary at the time. at least she is on the road to recovery rather than on the rocky road she was travelling just 2 weeks ago.

 

Charlie: I've been following your updates every day on this thread. So glad to hear that Michele is finally out of ICU and into her own room, sitting in a chair, and eating some real food. I also reflect on your dedication through all this, being at her side constantly and dealing with the roller coaster of her condition. I think Sondra mentioned, and it bears repeating, don't neglect taking care of yourself too during this time. Don't feel guilty taking some time for yourself, doing something you enjoy, if only for 10 or 20 minutes. Michele needs you to stay strong and healthy too.

 

4/1/02 Monday
10 pm

Michele had a good day today,her hallucinations and confusion are now a thing of the past and she is alert and thinking clearly.

She remains in her own room and received physical therapy today for a half hour. She is very very weak as you could imagine. She did manage to do some work with pt today and walked to the bathroom a few times(with some assistance)

Michele has 2 issues, her white cell count up a bit which could indicate an infection but she is being covered with anit-biotics until they get a handle on why this is so. They did some blood cultures to try and find out what's up and should have word tomorrow.

Also she is now diabetic and getting insulin. They anticipate this will go away in a couple months once she starts eating well and the steroids are reduced to low levels but you never know the Doc said.

Her heart is showing signs of improvement as well as her kidney functions. So that's it today let's hope there is less to report tomorrow.

Charlie

 

Charlie,

You and your family are in my heart, thoughts, and prayers. I am amazed at your strength throughout this ordeal. Your wife is very lucky.

 

4/02/02 Tuesday
10pm

Michele is improving and eating a bit more today. Her white cell count is down to 16 and her sugar is also down to 175 from 390.

The Doc's are pleasantly surprised at her recovery in such a short period of time.

They also commented again on how she is a miracle and that 5 years ago they would not have even considered doing a transplant operation on her b/c of how wasted she was physically.

The Doc's also mentioned possibly sending her home next week as long as things progress as planned. She will need p.t. at home or perhaps stay a bit longer in the hospital and get it there. It all depends how things go this week.

Her heart is getting stronger again and they were also pleasantly surprised to see on her chest x-ray today that the fluid in her lungs is improving. They removed 1 gallon of fluid from her lungs during surgery and also a gallon 2 days after surgery, but some how it has stayed in check and everyday it does it becomes less of a concern. But they will continue to do x-rays everyday to make sure.

So things are looking good for now and that's all we could ask for. We continue taking it one day at a time.

Charlie

PS if things continue going well perhaps I will make that New Hope meet on the 28th that would be nice

 

Wow, that is great news. I wish a very good recovery!

 

Hi Charlie

Hope you can come. You need a brake.

Other Charlie