#18 Guess what I saw?

This is what a Hero looks like.  This is a photo of Mr R as he is being wheeled out of prep and into surgery!!!!!  And his lovely supporting wife.  He was full of Happy Juice.  Yesterday he has a lot of shoulder pain based on the way they laid him on the table to remove his left kidney.  However, upon his release from the hospital today (YES HE WENT HOME TODAY!!)  he was feeling much much better, and looked great!!!!!  Dad is going to bring them dinner tonight!!

This is mom after her shot of happy juice before the surgery!!!!  They kept asking her all these questions, to which she responded funny out there answers.  I think it was the dope she was on.  

SO when I got to the hospital today this is what I saw!!  Look who's up and at 'em.  I hope she isn't over doing it.  

then shortly after she had her first liquid to drink in over 18 months!!!  

This made her really happy.  And since she has had tons of water, her favorite Coke Zero, V8 juice, and her least favorite Sierra Mist 0 Cal.  She's eating like a horse, (ok not probably to you, but after monitoring her intake over the past 18 months, she's on a roll)!!!  The food here is actually really good.  

We are sitting here in ICU, waiting for a bed to upon up on the Renal floor.  She should be moved at any time now.  The Liquid Gold is still flowing.  She's even felt good enough to help me with my homework.  

Channel 5 WLWT Coverage

Cincinnati's Channel 5 WLWT's Lisa Cooney donated one of her Kidneys to a stranger 10 years ago today (1-11-01).  This lucky gentleman, Andrew Theilan, happens to be the son of friends of my parents.   In order to help get the word out about living donations, Lisa came over to my parents house and featured mom and Mr R in a touching story.   Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

#17 Under the Knife

It was soooooo hard to get to the hospital today.  Living on top of a 3 mile HUGE hill doesn't help when there is 2 inches of snow and a torrential downpour of snow still coming.  It took me about 1 hour to go 2 miles, and I cried in the car when I got stuck on a tiny hill.  But I did make it, and with plenty of time.  Surgery got started late, Mr R got started around 10am, and they started my mother around 11:30.  After about 4 hours, the surgery was completed.  So, I guess you'd like a report.  Mom and donor are both doing well, and mom has already started to produce that "Yellow Gold" known as urine!!!

The first 24 hours are the most important, then followed by a week, and then a year!!  This is when the Kidney might be rejected, but each day that goes by, the better the chances.  I have not had the chance to see mom, and Mrs R is visiting her husband.  I think I shall walk back soon to see how they are doing, but wanted to wait so they can have some privacy.

Everyone is so excited and happy that everything is looking great.  I will be posting more soon.

#16 It's Almost Time

NOTE : tomorrow technically means today, as I didn't finish writing this on the 10th, it technically is the 11th now.

Well the time is almost here. Mom will be waking up in 4 hours to start to get herself ready to go to the hospital for her KIDNEY TRANSPLANT!!!!!!!! Wow has it been an emotional day. We had a chain reaction of crying which was initiated by Mr R (the donor). But he made up for it by proposing to my mom after all these years after joking he's her boyfriend. It was funning, and it was caught on film!!!

So mom has to be at the hospital by 5:30, as she is going to undergo a Plasmaphresis treatment to knock out the few antibodies she has against Mr R.  This will be about a 3 hours process.  Mr R on the other hand gets to sleep in (and I think he deserves it) and doesn't have to report to the hospital until 7:30am.  They will start with the donor first around 10am, and shortly after they will start getting mom ready to receive the Kidney.  They are removing Mr R's Left Kidney, as his atrial artery is longer and my mom needs not only his Kidney, but also his artery.  She's getting demanding isn't she?  ;-)  It takes about 1 hour to prep each patient and 1 hour to close each patient.  I am told the surgery will last about 5 hours.

Mr R might get to come home on Wednesday (wow only 1 day in the hospital!!) but more than likely be sent home on Thursday.  Mom is projected to come home on Monday.  Steve will not be allowed to drive for 2 weeks, he is not allowed to lift anything over 7lbs for about 6 weeks.  (a gallon of milk = 7 lbs)

Mom will not have her fistula removed after surgery.  They want to keep it in in case something happens further down the road.  He veins aren't very good anymore, so to take it out, and then later put it a new one might not work.  She is considered a high risk transplant 1) because of her age - she is 66 2) this is her second transplant and 3) the few antibodies she does have against the donor.  But they wouldn't go thru with this surgery if they felt the risks outweighed the success.

Sorry this entry was not as quirky or personable.  I am so nervous.  I forgot to eat all day until about 10 pm because of all the thoughts running thru my head.  I have a long list of people to call, and I am to call them all because my father thought he'd be too emotional to make the phone calls.  I don't know if I will be much better, and I might be a sobbing idiot on the phone.  I know tomorrow will be super emotional and there will be many times that my eyes will produce tears.  Some happy, some scared.  I am having a SERIOUS case of "what ifs" right now, and I do not know if I will be able to get any real sleep tonight.  Mom expressed that she probably will not be getting much sleep tonight either!!  Tomorrow is a day thats going to change all of our lives in my family and in the donors.  I will update as I can and if I can tomorrow.

There might be a story running tomorrow on Channel 5 WLWT .  And I do believe Channel 12 WKRC is going to be at the hospital and actually in the Operating Room.!!  I made sure to set my DVR as I might miss these while at the Hospital.

Now the big big big worry at the moment.  Is it's suppose to snow tonight, and during the morning tomorrow.  I hope mom and her donor are able to get to the hospital and on time.  How horrid would that be.  Though I did express that I do believe that it would be considered an emergency and that I think they could call 911 and get an ambulance sent over to transport them.  Plus a lot of family friends have offered to get up at the crack before dawn and drive them in their 4 wheel drive vehicles.   I live on top of a huge hill, so I am not sure what time I am leaving for the hospital tomorrow, it really depends on the snow situation.