May 2009

The month of May started out with a group of us running the Mini Marathon through downtown Indy and around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jeremy, along with Tim and Amy Benck, came down for the weekend to run the 13.1 mile race. Everyone completed the race and I was able to get to my goal of under 2 hours (1:57:43). I started out running with Beth and we split up around mile 9. I’ll always say that running the Mini is a good experience, but it is the training for the prior 4 months that really makes you not want to sign up again! We spent the rest of the weekend recovering, with a few beers on Saturday and some waffles on Sunday morning!
Mother’s Day, May 10th. We went out to eat at Capri with the entire family (except Beth, who came for the 2nd and 3rd week of Dad’s transplant). It was a nice dinner and we gave Mom some gifts for around the house and some shirts to lounge in at the hospital. Unfortunately we were not able to celebrate with Anna, but we sent her money to put towards her new furniture in the office.

Dad was admitted for the bone marrow transplant on May 11th. The transplant actually occurred on the 13th and it was a long 3 weeks following that before he was released (which was today, June 3rd!). The transplant went a lot like I was told by some people in the hospital, where it would get really tough and hard for Dad, and then all of a sudden he would turn the corner and start to feel better quickly. On May 16th, he went into isolation (which means we needed to wear masks when in the room) and stayed in that condition for a little more than a week. Along the way there were a few fevers and nose-bleeds, but mainly just not feeling well and not eating much of anything. As soon as he started to get out of isolation and get a little energy, he was sent to ICU due to difficulty breathing. He spent 4 days in ICU and was able to get the breathing under control with different exercises for his lungs and being diagnosed with sleep apnea. He went back to the main hospital for a 5 more days and was released at the end of the month! Everyone is very proud of him and praying for some positive results from the transplant. For the next few months, he is hoping to continue on his medication and get stronger. There is a possibility of another transplant coming down the road, but we know that each step should be taken one at a time!

During this month, Deb’s Aunt Sis has had some health issues in Charlotte, NC. She was put on a ventilator and not expected to do well when they took her off of it. However, at this time, she is doing quite well. She will need an extended stay in a rehabilitation facility to help her get strong. Unfortunately she probably won’t be able to go back to her own home as she will need constant help and care. Debbie is going to try to go to Charlotte later in June to help out for a few days.

Debbie and Amy Isaly finally got a chance to get together. They did their usual: meet in Columbus OH and shop for a ridiculous number of hours. They went out for a great dinner and came back to the hotel and talked and laughed for hours. Amazing how you can go so long without seeing a good friend and then just start up right where you left off.

Here are a few more tidbits for the month:
**On Memorial Day weekend, we stopped by Frank and Jan’s for a few drinks on Sunday night and catch up with them.
**Chelsea graduated from North Central.
**As the weather has gotten warmer, we have enjoyed the opening of our condo pool along with taking walks to Broad Ripple for coffee or a beer!