GOOD NEWS

Another good day with positive results. Ron's creatinin has gone from 2.2 to 1.8 ...almost to normal range of 1.5! The dialysis cath was suppose to come out today...but the P.A. never made it back to Ron's room ...so, my guess is it will come out tomorrow...all the doctors are in agreement that it is ok to take it out. They removed all the remaining staples he had on his sternum and his groin areas....everything looks really good. I sat him up twice in bed today...he sat up much better today...at lunch time he was able to lift himself to a sitting position once I helped bring his legs off the bed and to the floor...he was quite impressed with himself. We did a lot of leg lifts and exercises in bed to stretch his muscles. The doctors will keep him here through the weekend and on Monday they will do another echo to see how the heart is doing before transferring him to a rehab facility. A representative from Kindred Rehab facility ...advised of the care they can offer from medical needs...wound care...and rehab. The goal is to get him ready for extensive rehab that he can do as an outpatient eventually. Several people I have spoken to here at the hospital have advised that this is a very good facility in town...they know people that work there or have been there...and had nothing but positive things to say about it. This made Ron and I feel a lot better about the move. I am also happy that the doctors are not rushing to transfer him out...they are giving it time to make sure he is stable enough to leave. I still do not have all the details as to how this will all play out in terms of the doctors keeping up with his care once we leave here...these are things I will have to sit down with someone from the team to be clear on. Overall...Ron had a good day. He ate well...and enjoyed meeting new friends today from Avondale...a young girl from our church...Sarah...who had a heart transplant back in July ...she was here for her 6mth follow-up...she received very good news. It was a joy to meet her and her parents ....Ron really enjoyed the visit and we both look forward to many more visits with them once we get home. We also had another visit from the hospital's PR Rep. She brought us a nice 8x10 photo that was taken of Ron with his kidney surgeon and his heart surgeon. They will be publishing the photo in the kidney newsletter soon. She also asked Ron if he would be up to meeting with another reporter from a program that airs on channel 9. They will run a whole segment on Ron and his experience to help promote the transplant program for UMC. Of course, Ron was all for it...anything to help promote the program here. The PR rep said after Ron is through with rehab...she will also call the network new stations to see if they want to do a final story on Ron as well once he is up and walking once again. He continues to be the local celebrity . "The Lord is God, shining upon us." Psalm 118:27