Jeanne is doing ok tonight. She was able to get a good night's sleep last night (after all the crazyness of the day--see 2/26 post), and spent more than 4 hours sitting up today. She is still pretty sick, and is using the BiPap machine 20 hours a day, but is seems like she is getting better slowly. She medical team is pleased with her progress, and she seems pleased as well. She cracked a joke with one of her doctors today, which is always a nice benchmark.

Power Failure?!

It was a big day. Jeanne is still stable, but much of the hospital center, including the entire Karmonos Cancer Institute, lost power this morning when a construction crew hit a pair of buried cables. Much of the day progressed on back-up power, running only essential equipment like Jeanne's breathing machine, but in the late afternoon that power also failed. Just before that second failure we had prepared to move Jeanne to the ICU as a precaution, but with no electricity at all, the last elevator was going nowhere. The oxygen was still flowing, but there was no power for maybe two hours, and during that time Jeanne stayed calm and kept on breathing.

When the power was restored she decided with the ICU staff to stay in the BMT unit for tonight, and Jon is spending the night with her once again. Even after such a stressful day, Jeanne's blood oxygen levels were better tonight than they have been since the weekend!

11:13 pm Update:

The power has only been restored temporarily, and the ICU units have been moved to a receiving unit across the street. About 30 adults and infants have been moved out of the hospital and across the street, and according to the local news, everyone made it through the power failure ok.

It appears that Jeanne's pneumonia had been identified (CMV) and her medical team is actively working to treat that virus and to support the rest of her body while she fights off the infection. She remained stable today, and rotated between breathing on her own and using the assistance of a BiPap machine.

She also ate some today, and got a bunch of calories from a nutrious (but maybe not delicious) milkshake. She spent some time sitting up in a chair as well. It could be two weeks before she fights this off, but she has been showing a fighting spirit and said "I can beat this". She still gets tired and winded very quickly and does not want visitors dropping by. More soon...

Jeanne is still pretty sick. She has continued using the Bipap machine, which blows extra oxygen into her lungs when she breaths, but she has also been breathing some on her own without the assistance. She got out of bed and sat in a chair for a couple of hours over the course of the day, and is feeling comfortable. There are more blood cultures being analyzed while her medical team is trying to pin down the root of her pneunomia.

Jeanne appreciates the message we have been relaying to her, but does not want to have visitors right now. To contact us, please call Josina's cell phone at 313-408-7076, but it may take us a while to return messages.

Jeanne is sicker tonight. The pneumonia has spead some in her lungs, and she also has some fluid build up from all the I.V.'s she received so she is having trouble geting enough oxygen. She is using a breathing machine tonight which helps her get more oxygen deeper into her lungs which has been helping.

She could certainly use good wishes, so send lots of healing energy her way. We will update soon.