Better Day

Things went a little smoother today and Dave is doing remarkably well. He had lab at 8:15 a.m. and then he had a chest x-ray at 10:00, a dressing change at 10:15, and then we had a break until 1:15. We then met with one of the transplant physicians and had an hour conference with him. They are just amazing here and we haven't met one of the transplant team that we were uncomfortable with. As it goes right now, they are still planning on using Dave's stem cells. They should start collecting those in a week to 10 days. We had good news just in case Dave's stem cells are not able to be used or they can't retrieve enough of them (5 million). Out of four brothers who have already been tested as a donor - there is a match with Dave's brother, Richard. That's good because they don't have to look for an "universal donor". There are actually six brothers, but because of problems with addresses only four have been able to be tested.

Another good bit of information, Ripley is doing better so we are able to keep him with us. It will take a little getting used to, but I think it will work fine thanks to Whitefish Animal Hospital who is sending us some "doggie downers" to help out for awhile.

Tomorrow should be a relatively quiet day with lab at 8:15 a.m. , an appointment at 9:15 and then we have the weekend to rest up.