Happy Thanksgiving(and Black Friday!)!!

We spent the day at Dad and Mom's for Thanksgiving. It was just the six of us this year. Our two oldest didn't make it home for the holiday. We had a wonderful meal and then the boys helped Grandma put up her tree and outside lights. (She really seemed to appreciate the help, she was pretty sore from a recent fall at the recycling center.) We also watched some football and Isaac's favorite show, Mythbusters.

Today Mom, Jared, Isaac and I hit the stores EARLY! Poppy slept in and joined us for breakfast at Panera. It is tradition that he skips the shopping and buys us breakfast. Yum - thanks Dad! After breakfast he and Mom went to the mall. Dad people watched while Mom did some more shopping.

Each day he seems to get stronger. He is attending heart rehab. three times a week and hasn't been back to Cleveland in almost two weeks. He recently celebrated his two month transplant anniversary.

Visitors from WVA

Mom's sister, Janie, and her husband, Hank, were in the area for business this week and stopped by to say "Hey!" Dad enjoyed seeing them. Hank took Dad to his heart rehab while mom and Janie had some sister time and then they all went out for dinner. A busy day for Dad. Rehab. is going well. The therapists keep adding a little bit at a time and he is getting stronger. The doctors adjusted some of the anti-rejection drugs this week and we are waiting for results from yesterday's blood work to see if it had the desired result.

Here is a picture that Mom snapped and sent me.

A New Normal?

Dad is steadily improving. He went to both worship services on Sunday and even stayed around to chat awhile (he didn't shake any hands and stayed his distance). We have had several from our congregation with health problems and several were back on Sunday. It was good to see them all visiting together.

Monday brought the usual trip to the lab for blood work. He is down to one visit a week now. Eventually it will be once a month. The numbers looked good. Heart Rehab. was also Monday afternoon. That went fine as well. He is eating better and maintaining his weight.

Mom has started teaching the water aerobics classes at Birchaven again. Dare I say - it looks as if we are on our way to a new normal. The holidays are just around the corner and that will bring kids home from college and basketball season. Also, Bill and his family are coming up for a visit in early December.

Thanks again for all the prayers!

Home Again

Well, we are home. Dad is eating fairly well and his lab numbers were looking good so they let him out. He was home in time to watch Ohio State beat Iowa (they will win, right?)

Home on Saturday?

Dad is doing much better. He's eating well and looking healthier. The results from the liver biopsy were fine; there's no indication of any level of organ rejection. His abnormal blood tests were apparently due primarily to dehydration. If his blood levels continue to improve in the morning as they have over the past few days, we are expecting that he'll be released tomorrow. Thanks for everyone's continued prayers. Mom and I are enjoying spending some time with our friend Clarice this evening.

Thursday Update

The Ultrasound of Dad's liver came back A-Ok. Some of his lab results are still running a bit high. His kidney numbers are a bit high but that is mostly due to the fact that he was dehydrated again. His liver numbers were also somewhat high. They did a liver biopsy earlier today but results from that aren't back yet. If it shows some rejection then the docs said they will adjust his meds. They didn't seemed concerned about it so I guess we aren't either.

On the up side, once they took Dad off of the liquid diet he needed to be on for tests, he ate a hamburger for a snack and then ate a fairly good dinner. More than he has eaten in one sitting in awhile. His mood also seemed to improve today. We are hoping to go home soon. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Another Visit to Cleveland

We are back in Cleveland again. Dad's nausea got worse and his coordinator said that some of his labs were running high so they asked us to bring him back up here to get checked out. He still complains of "fuzziness" in his head. We are thinking it is a side effect of one of the medicines but haven't been able to figure out which one. They are running several tests so we probably won't know anything until later tomorrow.

Sunday Update

Dad had his first major outing today. He and Mom went to worship services this morning. They sneaked in late and out early to avoid germs.

Nathan and his girlfriend Becca were up this weekend. They cooked dinner for all of us last night. It was a delicious meal. Dad came over and ate a little but is still having some problems with nausea. He also rode out to the local Boy Scout camp with us Saturday morning.

Heart rehab. begins tomorrow afternoon. During his evaluation they had him walk for 6 minutes on the treadmill. Mom said that he didn't have any difficulty with that at all.

He seems pretty strong but still gets anxious when he knows something new or different is on the schedule.

Home Again

Dad was released today. They got back in Findlay about 3:30 PM which made him happy - still time left to vote!

He is scheduled to start heart rehab. this week and will have a check-up with a cardiologist later this month.

Still hanging out in Cleveland

So far the doctors have found nothing wrong with Dad. His fever went away Sunday and hasn't returned. They have run all sorts of tests looking for infection but haven't found anything. His anti-rejection med levels are good. Yesterday the doctor said they were waiting for a couple more labs to come back before they sent him home. So it is just a waiting game at this point.

Mom has been driving about 40 miles to stay with our good friend Clarice. They enjoy each others company and it makes the evenings more pleasant for Mom than hanging out in the Guesthouse on her own.

We are hoping that Dad will be out in the next day or so. Our oldest son, Nathan will be coming home this weekend to see his Poppy (and us too , of course).