John always has something going on

As I sit here at the computer at Hershey Medical Center I am kind of struggling.  I just came upstairs from John's bedside and I hate to see him sick.  He has something called autoimmune hemolytic anemia.  He seems pretty weak. He is requiring two to four bags of blood a day.  What is going on is his red blood cells are fighting against his red blood cells and eating them up.  Or something like that.  I don't really understand it.  Cathy, stop laughing at my explanation, LOL.  Anyway, it is pretty serious.  They said if he had come two days later, he would have passed away.  But he didn't, he lived.  So I am grateful.

So the units of blood are keeping John alive while the doctors attempt to treat the problem.  They are giving him prednisone (100 MGs a day) plus chemo (for at least four weeks) until he improves.  All that time (plus longer) he will be getting blood.  We could be here at the transplant center/hospital for four to seven weeks.

Meanwhile, he has an additional, unrelated problem.  His kidneys are breaking down.  He only has 25% function left in them.  When they lose 10% more function John is going to be put on dialysis.  I thought dialysis was a machine you have to be on 24/7, but found it is something you are on like every other day, which is good.  Although the kidney doc said it would probably be for John's lifetime that he would be on dialysis, a new good friend of mine said that you can sometimes fight to get off of it. ;)  John is a fighter, I know he will try. :)

So that is about it.  How am I doing?  Somewhat stressed but definitely hanging in there.  Only stressed because I am disappointed for John, but very much glad he is alive, and believing he will pull through.

Please say prayers, and I love you all.  Krissy