Wed, 8.6 - ICU Departure and Light the Night

You read that right. Mom left the ICU today. Needless to say it was quite a turnaround today from the past couple of days - a great thing. Ironically it started out with a pretty restless night during which she actually wanted a 'day off'. When she was told she could have it, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, took her oxygen mask off, and just relaxed. Of course the mask went back on pretty damn quickly as she wasn't quite that qualified for a day off. :)

But she got going this morning and Ganguly gave her an encouraging report stating that she was doing better. He reported her WBCs were up to 0.8 (the highest point in a couple of weeks). He also said she'd potentially leave ICU soon. I'm not sure if I mentioned it previously but last week when there was a disconnect between him and ICU regarding ICU departure, he told me it's the ICU doctors' call. Apparently that's how we progressed so quickly.

From there it escalated. She sat in the chair, walked around the ICU with her mask, had some of her attached contraptions removed, and was out of ICU in what seemed like 5 minutes. It was really about 4 - 5 hours. Mom was ecstatic to get out of there and I'm attaching the picture of her waving goodbye to the ICU.

Note she's also not wearing a mask at all. Instead it's a tube that goes ear-to-ear with an extension up each nostril. All I can say is she's come a long way if she wore that. From Day 1, that's something she avoided and even in her worst moments has mustered up the energy to decline it.

She's now back on the 4th floor and I'll post an updated room number as soon as I have it. Ultimately if you keep sending mail to the 4102 'address' she'll get it. The same staff she had previously works the ward she's in now, and we're hoping she's back in the 41st ward shortly. It's a matter of a room freeing up. Something she's extremely excited about is she actually has real clothes on...what a novel idea.

One last thing about today. She got the blog read to her today, which was very exciting. She did have one request - more jokes and stories but shorter. No pressure, bloggers! Also, until we announce otherwise she is not able to have additional visitors. So don't rush up there to say 'hi' and see how she's doing. The blog will continue to be the preferred method of communication with the outside world.

Light the Night

Mark has volunteered to captain the team for Light the Night. It's a Leukemia and Lymphona Society event on Friday, September 12th @ 6 PM in Overland Park. The specific location is actually Corporate Woods so not far from Mom's nor Grandma and Grandpa's houses. The walk actually begins at 7:45 PM so festivities will be going for quite a while beforehand.

If you are interested in participating, we would love to have you. Please utilize the instructions below to register for our team:

1. Click the following link: http://register.lightthenight.org/LTNRegistration/app;jsessionid=18EE76335208C6A84E18B70702A9E2B0.ltnreg-server2?component=joinTeamLink&page=Home&service=direct&session=T&sp=Steam
2. Click the 'Search By' dropdown
3. Select 'Team Name'
4. Enter 'Maynard' in the 'Search' box to the right
5. Click the 'Search' button. The site should return 'Team Cathi Maynard'.
6. Click the 'Join' button to the right.
7. Enter your registration information.

We'll be in touch as the team forms to ensure we're all meeting before / after, and potentially having Team Captain Cathi shirts made up for Mom.

Contact Mark Maynard @ 913.909.1750 with any questions!