Ken is in ICU.

Forgive me. I am typing this with gloves on. Will probably take me forever. Ken has been moved to the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT)ICU. They are monitoring his vital signs. He is not doing very well today. They say he probably has a sepsis infection which is being caused by an infection in one of his organs. However, they do not know yet which one. They first thought it was his lungs, but all those tests have come back negative. So today they moved him to ICU so they can run more tests and keep a better eye on him. They need to find the infection so they can treat it. Ken's temperature keeps going up and then his blood pressure drops and his heart rate goes way up. So they are trying to keep his temp under control and the rest of his stats. Right now, he is finally sleeping. His blood pressure looks good, his temp is ok but his heart rate is still fluctuating at 127-147. The alarm on his machines go off about every 2 minutes when the heart rate is over 130, so I am just constantly hitting the silence button so Ken can sleep. The nurses can see the alarms in their nurses station, so it is ok that I silence them. Just a pain for me. Could be fun to try to sleep in here tonight. He already asked me to stay with him tonight. At least the new room is bigger and they might be able to fit a cot in here. The recliner I slept in last night wasn't very comfortable but at least they let me stay with him.

I wish I had stock in these little paper gowns they make us wear. Every time we come into the room, I have to put on a new gown, a mask and gloves. Then I have to take them off before I leave the room. They are to stay in the room so we don't carry any germs out of the room. So every time I need to leave to use the bathroom, go to the cafeteria, or just go get Ken some water or ice cream, I have to put on a new gown. I'm on about the 15th already today. The poor nurses have to do it in each room also. Must be a pain for them.

I don't mean to be complaining. They are sure supportive here. They seem to know what they are doing. I have faith in them. And Ken is strong. He has come thru so much already, we just have to know he will come thru this too. They just have to find where the infection is so we can know what we are fighting. The doc said that 10 years ago, about 50% of people that got this infection died from it. But now, only 20% do. He said this hospital had a 13% fatality rate last year. I know that means I am happy that he is here since the odds are better, but I'm still scared.

On a good note, his bone marrow transplant seems to be doing great. His counts are way up so his white blood cells are starting to engraft. So if he can fight this, we will be clear sailing. Pray for the doctors to find this. Pray like you have never prayed before. (Though I know you are all praying already). I'll let you know thru the blog as soon as we know anything. We may have preliminary result as early as tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope so, because that will mean they found something. Otherwise, we will wait up to 72 hours for the cultures to grow.

Hope you all had a good weekend. Thanks to Linda and Ed for stopping by and lifting our spirits last night. Stay safe and warm in the snow. Bev