Genie Arrives!

Happy brother and sister. Grateful recipient. Generous donor.

Genie arrived from California on Sunday afternoon. Monday was a day of rest getting used to the changed time zone. Tuesday was spent at Karmanos while Gil and Genie got blood work and other tests completed so they could be cleared for the upcoming transplant procedure. (They both passed!)

Gil goes in to Harper Hospital tomorrow (Friday) morning at 5:30 am (!) for placement of the three-lumen Hickman catheter through which he'll receive the chemo drugs and immunosuppressives and antibiotics and antifungals and antivirals and blood products as needed during his one month stay. He'll be discharged after the line is secured.

He'll come home for the weekend.

He'll be admitted for the transplant to Karmanos early next week. We had a tour of the unit and the room he'll be staying in. It's bright and fresh and modern. A very appealing place if you have to be a patient for a month.

Because the unit is devoted to bone marrow transplant recipients, the entire floor and each patient room is HEPA-filtered which means the air is constantly cleaned and recirculated and no one needs to wear a mask on the unit. Of course, no flowers or raw foods or sick people can be on the unit as they try to protect the immunosuppressed patients.

I'm planning to stay with Gil in the room at Karmanos. I'll also have a small studio-style room nearby (a short walk on the Karmanos/Harper/Hutzel campus) so I can have a place to shower and hang out while Gil is taking those inevitable naps during the long days.

Genie will divide her time between the Milford house where she can take care of the dogs and have her own space, and the hospital where she'll visit with Gil and prepare for her part of the transplant procedure.

During these next few weekend days, we're treasuring our time together, taking care of business and deciding what to pack in the suitcase that we "can't live without" for the next four weeks.