The Weekend: March 29-31, 2012

Ron is in his Buckeyes shirt, and we are warming up by watching Louisville vs Kentucky. He is still in the hospital and will be for 2-3 more days. The variance in his blood pressures from lying down to sitting to standing remains significant. He was given several liters of fluid over the first 2 days to see if dehydration was causing it. He is back to one liter a day ..the same as I was giving him daily at the apartment. The cause was not dehydration; it is called orthostatic hypotension, and tests are being done to find the underlying cause, so it can be treated. Usually, a person who has low blood pressure when standing complains of dizziness. Ron had been saying for sometime that he felt very weak on his feet, so we thought it had to do with his weakened muscles. An endocrinologist team is running tests on his adrenal gland function. His blood pressure drops about 50 on the top number and 25 on the bottom number from lying down to standing.
Regardless of the cause, Ron needs intensive physical therapy. He will get this service at an Ann Arbor skilled nursing facility. They will work on his rehabilitation, and the Bone Marrow Transplant doc will work on the medical part of his recovery. We will learn much more about how this will be facilitated on Monday and Tuesday. His rehabilitation will be about 2 weeks. Again, we are hopeful that this coordinated plan will all come together. The doc in charge of this hospitalization has been Dr. Bixby, Ron's leukemia doctor starting 2 years ago when he was first diagnosed with AML.
We will be living in Ann Arbor at least 3 more weeks...we will set a new target date after next week.