Goodbye, Left Kidney

Wounded but triumphant, our heroes return to their castles.  We got out of the hospital late yesterday,  and stayed in New Hampshire last night with D&A. This morning we drove south, picked up the dog, and made our way home, where I spent the day in something of a stupor, dazed from the events of the last week. But after dinner we ventured out for a walk - Matthew made it a full half-mile!  The biggest goal for the next few days is to see his appetite return to normal. He needs extra calories (especially protein) in order to heal and regain strength, but his appetite is somewhat inhibited. So I'm on the look out for high protein meals to tempt him with.  Tim was released from the hospital early this afternoon, and is now resting at home,  hopefully in as much comfort as can be had.

  He's very sore, and he's walking like I did at 9 months pregnant, but he's left the hospital! We'll probably stay in New Hampshire one more night and drive home in the morning.  Tim will stay in the hospital until tomorrow; he continues to improve every hour. 

Matthew would like you to know that he is smiling in this picture, even though you can't see it. We finally got to see Tim, who was transferred to our floor from the almost-ICU this afternoon. He is looking so much healthier than I've seen him recently, and his lab work has improved dramatically. We imagine his new kidney cracking its knuckles and settling to work, putting its new home to rights. Matthew will be staying at least one more night as we wait for his pain to abate. I have to imagine it's a bit of a shock to the body, to suddenly have half its normal kidney function. But we are optimistic that he'll feel better soon.

They told us today would be rough,  and it appears they were right. There has been a lot of pain - enough to get him the "good" drugs - which apparently aren't quite good enough.  But he can eat today, if he feels up to it, and we've had a slow walk down the hall and back. For now he is reading/dozing in his chair, while I'm doing cross stitch on his bed. The bed is specialized to avoid bed sores, I guess, which means it moves like a dysfunctional massage chair. I can't imagine wanting to sleep on this thing. Maybe that's why dozing in the chair is better.

More than 12 hours after we got here, he finally got a room! Update: Everything is going as expected for both patients, so now we just wait to hear when -A- He can eat real food (it's been 32 hours without a meal so far), and -B- when he can go home, which the doctor implied might be as early as tomorrow, but realistically Friday is more likely.  I'd hoped to be able to see Tim today, but he still wasn't out of recovery. And after a long day of waiting, walking around an enormous hospital, and the emotional toll of it all, I'm exhausted. I left shortly after this picture was taken. I'm back at D&As now, and looking forward to a full night's sleep. Thanks all for your well wishes. I'll post more tomorrow. 

After my last post I expected things to be over fairly quickly, but Kellyann and I have been anxiously waiting with no news on Tim. Finally the Tim's surgeon came out to talk to us. Apparently there was a minor complication when they cleaned the kidney before it was reattached - a minor vein was nicked and had to be sewn back together. But now all is well and Tim's new kidney is doing what kidneys are supposed to do. He has woken up and talked to people, but we can't see him until he's out of the recovery room.    Matthew, meanwhile, has recovered enough to be transferred to a room, but has been waiting for more than an hour for a room to be available. But a friend of Kellyann's who works at the hospital just snuck him his phone, so you may start getting texts from him soon.

I just heard from the doctor, who said that everything went well and the kidney was big and healthy, as they expected. Matthew is in their post-op room and I'll see him in a couple hours. The other doctor is still sewing Tim back together but that's going well too. 

Kellyann has just told me that Tim has gone into the operating room. Its weird to me that they start operating on the donor so much earlier than the recipient,  but I suppose it doesn't make sense for Tim to be waiting under anesthesia while Matthew's kidney is slowly coaxed out. For now, Kellyann and I are calming our nerves with cups of tea.

After what felt like 100 doctors and nurses introducing themselves and asking if we had any questions, or did we want to back out of donating now, Matthew has finally gotten his first dose of anesthesia an beed moved into the surgery room. The surgery is supposed to last about 6 hours, so it may be some time before I post again. I haven't seen Tim or Kellyann yet, but I have to assume they're here somewhere. Meanwhile, check out those stylish pajamas!

About a mile from our house is an ice cream stand. It's good that it's not closer, because undoubtedly we'd go too often. But once in a while we walk down for a treat. And since stress has been high in our house lately, and because soon Matthew won't be allowed to eat (pre-surgery water-only) and he certainly won't be up for a hilly 2 mile hike for a long while, we decided it was time for a treat.

 We have to be at the hospital at 6am. Our dear friends invited us to come and stay with them, and I've got to thank them for their foresight in choosing a home so close to the transplant hospital! So now we are waking up at 4:45 instead of ...2am? Thank you, D&A! Yesterday we dropped off the dog at the boarder, just 3 days after we picked her up from our vacation travels. I felt bad about that, and worried about how she'd react, (she's a very scared puppy) but it turns out she was delighted to go back, and reacted to their staff member in a way I've never seen her do for anyone except...well, me. (I'm secretly a little jealous!) So now I'm in the kitchen waiting for my toast, and trying to be as quiet as I can because there are 4 sleeping children upstairs, and two sleeping adults down the hall, and I want to stay in their good graces for at least the next week. Meanwhile their cat, who has never paid me an ounce of attention before, is suddenly...