Graham's bronchoscopy went well on Tuesday. However, it was slightly nerve racking since his last bronch is what started the chain of events that ended with him in ICU. They sucked A LOT of secretions out (snot...mucus...) and so far, the cultures of these secretions are negative! So now that they do not need to treat him for any infections, they are starting him on 3 days of a high dose of steroids - not the buff kind :) Steroids are another type of immune suppressant. This is the same therapy they did with Graham's Acute Rejection.
Graham's anemia has been keeping him down and sleeping most of the day. The Dr's wait until the last possible moment to see if he needs a blood transfusion or not. Last night, there was another fear that he might need one. His hemoglobin was at 7.3 - very close to the "we won't treat him" number for Photopheresis. Luckily, his number rose by the evening and a transfusion was not needed.
Not that receiving blood is bad, for the Regular Joe that is; for a would be transplant patient, it's more complicating. Anytime you receive blood or plasma (or a body part or two) you also receive the former owner's tissue and antibodies. When you are up for a transplant, they try and match your antibodies with the donor antibodies so that the chances of immediate rejection are much lower. The more antibodies you have, the harder it is to match up.
There is talk again of him going home next week (insert REALLY HAPPY face). Criteria for him to go home: 1. He will need to do PFTs (see his lung functions) 2. 6 minute walk (ha...but he did take 6 consecutive steps today without gasping for air) 3. Make sure his cultures are still negative. He should be off IVs on Monday - maybe this will make his homecoming a little bit easier this go round.
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