Brownie Points

Today was our first return trip to Seattle for follow-up appointments since our return to Oregon. We drove up Monday night and somehow managed to miss all the end-of-holiday traffic and make it up in under three hours.  We had a nice visit with Pete, Caroline and Frances.  And while we really like being home, we miss our "roomies" and the wonderful hospitality they extended to us for six months.

The first appointment was at 7:45 for a bone density test. We won't hear the results on that for a few days, but Shirley has been given a new prescription that is supposed to help strengthen her bones.  From there, it was a chest x-ray; blood draw to check her Tacrolimus and Coumadin levels; a pulmonary function test (PFT); and then a meeting with her post-transplant physician Dr. Lease.

Some adjustments were made to her medication levels and the results of her PFT tests showed a lack of progress on expanding her lung capacity. Given the back pain Shirley has been dealing with, this lack of progress was not unexpected.

Before heading up, we baked four batches of brownies and after today's appointments were completed, we visited several of the floors that had cared for Shirley in her most recent hospital stay.  The first batch was dropped off with the post-transplant team where we had our appointments today.

Batch #2 was taken to the 8th Floor Rehab unit.  The first person we saw was Martha, one of her main day-shift nurses.  We visited with her and said hello to several others for about 15 minutes.  All were delighted to see her and were very impressed by how good Shirley looked.

Batch #3 went to 5-East the ICU where Shirley spent 40 days.  Unlike the Rehab floor, where they got to see Shirley at her release, the ICU team saw Shirley at her worst--coming in when we she went into respiratory distress and leaving when she was transferred by ambulance to Regional Hospital (with a trachea tube in).  The crew there were delighted to see her and how much she had improved.  Below is photo of Shirley with Edwin, Gayle and Greta three of the nurses that cared for her during those trying days.

Batch #4 was taken out to Regional Hospital.  Again, it was great to see some of Shirley's caregivers and for them to see her on her feet and looking so healthy.

Our next visit to Seattle will be in three weeks.  At that time, Shirley's central catheter (used for blood draws & IVs) will be removed and she will be tube free!