Update #17 - Freedom!!!!!

Great news!  I learned how to insert pictures into the blog!

More great news!  Karen has been discharged from the hospital!

 

If you zoom in to the picture, you can probably see how excited she is after I asked her to quick hop out of the car to take a picture!

As I mentioned in previous blogs, Karen had been improving by the hour.  By yesterday afternoon the doctors determined she was well enough to go "home".  For us, home is the Tiverton House, a hotel associated with the UCLA Medical Center, just a few blocks from the hospital.  Unfortunately our real home, Edwards AFB, is just too far to travel for the first week or so after release from the hospital.  The plan is to stay at the Tiverton House for a week.  Contact info:

Karen Ungerman, Room #212
UCLA Tiverton House
900 Tiverton Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90095-9000
(310) 794-0280
Unfortunately, we still cannot accept flowers.  Apparently the soil and water used by fresh cut flowers are known to carry large amounts of bacteria.  Because Karen's anti-rejection medication lowers her white blood cell count (and thus the ability to fight infections), it's best to stay away from fresh cut flowers, at least until we are out of the (small, enclosed) hotel room. 

In the meantime, Karen will continue to learn about her medications:

There's at least a dozen of them.  A year from now it should be down to just a few.  In the meantime, the doctors need to find the right dosage, by balancing her blood levels with a tolerable level of side effects (nausea, bloating, headache, dizziness, etc).  Much of the "guesswork" is why we are staying in the LA area for a while.  If she starts to have a crazy side effect, we need to be close to the hospital.  After a week, we should have a pretty good grasp on things.

So the next big thing on the agenda is Barbara's surgery.  Two days to go!  Please, please, please continue to pray for Barbara.  Pray for a smooth operation and a quick recovery.  Each time I look at Barbara I realize if it wasn't for her, Karen would NOT have a new kidney in her right now.  Plain and simple.  She is a wonderful woman, and I hope I could have the same character as she when placed in the same situation.  Who knows, maybe I'll have that opportunity one day.

A very wonderful person has asked for information on Karen's doctors.  I promise to do that soon!

Love you all!

Bob