Yesterday was a long but very successful day. Al went to surgery nice and early. He was in the operating room around 7am. I spent a few more hours with Max and then took him down right around 10. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. We finally heard around 130pm that Al was done. He had a tricky lumbar vein that made getting kidney out a longer than anticipated processs. Then around 230, we heard that Max had the kidney in him and was peeing already! Which is of course the news we had been hoping for all day so we were elated. We then had to wait another 3 hours to see either of them. Finally about 530pm we saw Al who was awake and talking and in great spirits. And around 6pm, we saw Max who was sedated, still on his breathing tube but looking peaceful and had good coloring.
I ended up not staying the night because I got really sick during yesterday. I had a cold when we left Houston and then got really messed up on the airplane with my ears blocking up really badly. Then with all the extra stress it somehow developed into a sinus infection and by Monday night I was miserable. I stayed at the hospital but hardly slept. As soon as Max's doctors and nurses walked in, they were like oh you look bad. Of course i was in the best place in some respects as Lynn, our PA, immediately got me on an antibiotic and checked on me throughout the day, giving my Tylenol when I then started running a fever. Once we saw that both boys were stable, I was convinced I should leave the hospital for the night and get some rest. I stayed with our transplant coordinator who took care of me and I got 10 hours sleep and at least feel a little better today, although still not well. Al's parents stayed with the boys to make sure they were ok last night.
Al is already wanting to get discharged and seems determined to be the best donor patient ever! He is certainly making me look pitiful- I am super glad I went first!! He is texting me funny videos and making jokes and enjoying eating lots of popsicles. He does feel pain where his incision is and finds walking uncomfortable, as is expected. But being an amazing patient. Max is much the same, quite puffy from all the fluids he has been recieving and pretty relaxed with some heavy duty tranquilizers on board. He is running occasional fevers which is pretty standard for Max but that is being followed carefully. He will stay on the ventilator all day and hopefully just rest and pee.
Thank you so much for all the prayers for us. It was such a long day but we are thrilled to have it past us. Please continue to pray for Max that he will get stronger and better each day and closer to looking and feeling like himself. I don't think I will include a picture of him yet as he is a bit sad with his breathing tube and puffiness but as soon as he is looking more like himself I will include pics of the brave boys.
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