Thanksgiving

Dear Friends,
I'm sure our silence has twigged everyone to the fact that Brian and I have been completely occupied with the medical journey for this past week. Brian was admitted to the hospital eight days ago. Originally this was to get the bleeding in his urinary tract under control, and also to see if they could normalize his blood levels with continuous blood transfusions. As happens in these situations, no sooner does the medical system try to get on top of one issue in the body, then another one surfaces. This week for Brian the next issue has been an obstruction in his bowel. Things had become serious indeed over the weekend, as there was little option for surgery and such a great risk of an infection taking off completely with his immune system rock bottom as it is.
What a harrowing few days; so painful for Brian, exhausting for me. I slept on a chair in his room for nights running, helping anyway I could think of, keeping updated with his vitals and bloodwork and listening in to the consults with the circulating rounds of physicians. What a time. Today, Brian is seeming on the mend. He still has a fever but his bowel is more clear, although not working on its own yet. He is alternating between sleeping and being quite irritable. Even I am getting sent out of the room with a wave from the back of his hand. My sister Lea says feisty is good, it indicates your body is headed toward survival.
Sigh, and prayers of gratitude. There is an awareness now in us and in the medical team of just how precarious things are for Brian. The hope is that we can get him stabilized, back to strength, and ready for that transplant. They do have a donor; ready to go, I believe. More gratitude to all the saint and angels and to the Creator. The work now will be in getting Brian healthy enough to go through the process. Ongoing emotional and spiritual support required for this next bit. Thanks to all who continue to hold us in prayer and thought.
I want to say how often I reflected on gratitude this weekend. The unexpected blessings of the kindness of strangers, the words in an email from an old friend, and the presence of people, especially family. Now that all of Brian's siblings have been here I can officially express my love for all of them. Its a family of individuals, so different one to the other, but all totally beautiful in all ways--spouses included, of course. We are all relatives. Special thanks to Louise for bringing them all into the world.
We are missing our kids like crazy, but feel completely calm with Mike and Lynn holing all the whole show. Now thats something to be grateful for. True friendship, true family.
I'm loving the postings, please continue. Thank you all for everything.

Love,
Joanne