A Quart Low

Good morning everyone! Another relatively peaceful night for the patient. Looks like we are a bit low on blood this morning (actually hematocrit). Didn't really come as a big surprise since Denise's bone marrow has already been completely destroyed and is not up to making any reds, whites and platelets. So, we will be receiving a blood transfusion this moning as a prelude to the big event later today.

Actually, the transplant is scheduled to take place around 7PM this evening, as they do not expect the donor's marrow to get to the hospital until around 5PM. Why so late? We can only speculate. Perhaps it is from a wealthy European donor who is royalty? Perhaps it is from someone on the East coast and they thought they would donate on their lunch hour? Or maybe someone here in the Charm City who is coming into Johns Hopkins near the end of their work day?

No matter. We will have the opportunity to find out a year from now if the donor is willing to exchange information. If they are, you can bet Denise and I will treat them like royalty if we ever have a chance to meet.

I'll post another update once we get moving on the transplant. Thanks again for all your support and emails.

Factoid: Reno, Nevada is further west than Los Angeles, California!

Double bonus factoid: El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles (The Town of the Queen of the Angels.) is the original name of LA