Day + 63 Good News

Happy New Year! Our internet access was out for awhile so I had to wait until going to the clinic to update anything.

The good news is that there is a donor for the thymus gland transplant. Peter is now known at the clinic as "the thymus". They are running tests on it now and as far as we know if all is right he will get the transplant on the 10th. That would be day 71 - the very end of the window of opportunity. They tell us this will not extend our time here in Durham and I sure hope they are not fudging that. We are both really tired of being here and ready to pick up our precious pup Annie and go back home to Wilmington.

We had a nice quiet Christmas and New Years. We spent Christmas day with Heather at Linda and Jim's house. Linda made stuffed cornish game hens that were fabulous. We started a jigsaw puzzle but will have to go back again to finish it.

Kim and Todd came the day after Christmas and we had our family time then. After opening our gifts we went to Carrabas for a great meal. Heather left the next day to go to Cincinnati to visit a friend, and Kim and Todd stayed until Friday morning.

All remains the same at the clinic. We go 4 days a week for bloodwork and usually only need magnesium once a week while there. We went to the movies last Thursday to see "National Treasures"; in my opinion, not as good as the first one. We try and get out each day even if it is just to walk to CVS to get drugs. Now that it is really cold (a few flurries fell awhile ago), we are not as motivated to leave our nest.

I think I had a partial meltdown over the weekend. Friday afternoon/evening I had a terrific stiff neck and shoulder pain. Peter massaged my shoulders and I used my tennis ball to try and work out some of the knots. Finally got some relief and fell asleep. I am sure it is all stress related and I find that by the end of the day I am usually knotted up again. Sunday I ended up at Duke Urgent Care with a flare-up of diverticulitis - nut and stress related - so now I'm on antibiotics and trying to eat a bit more sensibly. Needless to say, New Year's Eve and Day were very quiet for us - slept alot of the time.

Peter was a bit bummed out yesterday. We got news that one of the women who got her transplant 5 days after he did is going home already. I reminded him that everyone is different and we don't know what her circumstances are. He hasn't actually talked to her yet to see what she has to say, but it sure frustrates him, especially since he has been doing so much better than she has, and now she gets to go home.

Tomorrow we both have a treat. I have theater tickets in Sanford (about 1 hour from Raleigh) with some of my stitching buddies, so while I am there our good friend Fred will be babysitting. He intends to beat Peter at cribbage several times and then I am sure they will find some way to get into trouble. This is definitely something we both need.

We're gonna try and make an overnight trip to Wilmington next week. Peter is going to see if his dr. will let him go. He really wants to get back to the house just to check things out for himself. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Hopefully I will find out what the problem is with our internet access at the hotel and then I can (and maybe Peter too) update the blogs more frequently.

Have a great day!

Wendy