The "Plan"

Aaron has cabin fever bad and rightfully so. He has found how difficult it is to get any rest in a hospital and the better he feels, the more he is ready to leave the hospital. The plan at this point is for him to leave the hospital tomorrow but stay at the hotel a few days. He will see the doctors in the transplant clinic and then have labs drawn later in the week. Also during this time we are being educated in many areas. We have met with the pharmacist to learn about his meds and today met with the post transplant coordinator. These ladies are the first line of defense if anything goes wrong or if we simply have a question concerning his health. If they can't answer our questions, then they will talk with doctors who can answer them. And thank goodness they are available 24-7.

All of our health care providers have been wonderful and taken such good care of Aaron. One can easily tell that Duke holds their healthcare providers to very high standards. No wonder they are ranked 6th in the nation. God really provided when He brought us to Durham VA ten years ago to their nephrology department. That was our connection to the transplant here at Duke ten years later. How could we have ever known the future of Aaron's health issues and many times we were ready to throw in the crowd. We have alot ahead as all is not clear sailing but much is now behind us too. Thank you again for all the prayers, texts, cards, phone calls.

Until later....

Barbara

A Brighter Day

Today has been a progressive day with Aaron getting food (broth) for the first time since Monday evening. He has also been disconnected from some things although he's now getting 2 units of blood. The surgeon said he didn't lose much blood but needed a little boost, thus the "red" juice. Today we met with the pharmacist to begin learning his medicine regiment. That will definitely take some learning on our part. Tomorrow should be another step in the right direction with solid foods hopefully. That will make life so much easier. His creatine is 1.2 and got to that point very quickly after surgery. His sugar level has been 80-100 and absolutely no insulin. He is still pinching himself that they are checking glucose once per day as he would stick those fingers 4-5 times per day. We feel so very blessed to have even had this opportunity. Thanks to all again for all the prayers and phone calls. We especially thank our family for their caring & the many phone calls plus texts from them. And we also are grateful for our six grandchildren for their love and calls. Mostly we are grateful to the Lord and the family who donated their loved ones organs for this to be possible. We pray for comfort for them.

Until later...

Barbara

Bump In The Road

Aaron has done great since surgery with the exception of some serious nausea. Wednesday night & most of Thursday morning were spent with a container in his hand. And of course this was not a pretty sight or a wonderful feeling with abdominal surgery but goes with the territory. Dr. Collins is trying hard to get the nausea under control thus changing Aaron's pain meds plus trying all kinds of meds for the stomach. Late Thursday was an improvement and Aaron walked another lap & today looks a little brighter. If they can get this to pass then they will begin removing all his connections. Right now he has a mainline access in his neck, 2 accesses in his arm, an NG tube to the stomach & catheter still connected so walking is not the easiest thing to do as you can imagine. Tomorrow we meet the pharmacist to learn this great regiment of drugs that he will be taking and hopefully he might leave the hospital mid week but remain in Durham a few extra days. With transplants there are so many possibilities of returning to the hospital, some more serious than others, that they want us to be close by for a period of time. Hopefully none of those occur but better safe than sorry. The good news is his creatine (kidney function) is 1.2 (5.2 prior to surgery) and his sugars were 89 this morning & no insulin since surgery. We appreciate all the phone calls, texts but most importantly the prayers. They have literally carried us safely through the storm and will continue to do so. Thanks also to my cousin, John (a kidney transplant) who lives in Durham for helping us both and to Camille & family for visiting and helping. Our family has been wonderful taking care of things at home and we appreciate them so much and we hope to Skype with family from the hospital soon. And a special thanks to Carolyn Miller for all the "many" things she has done to help us. Also, thank you, Donna Wiles, for taking the load off me at church by having a "plan" for my absence. And thank you to all who have prayed. God is good and His blessings are countless.

Until later.....

Barbara

1-11-11

After 6 calls to Duke for a transplant we have a go and January 11, 2011 will always be a memorable and blessed day for us. We thank God and all those who have prayed so much and been such a support system for us. On Monday the snow fell faster and deeper and we knew it was getting worse with every hour so of course I was praying that we didn't get a Duke call until after the winter storm but we did. Does that go with the scripture "O Ye of little faith". Who was I to think the Lord couldn't bring us through the storm safely. We were first put on standby at 10:30am. There was a person in need of a liver/kidney transplant who would come before Aaron if there was a match (and that was ok with us as the need was obviously great). We went through the day convincing ourselves that it was going to be that way but no, it wasn't to work that way. About 4:30pm, the coordinator called again to say that the liver transplant did not match but Aaron matched all crossmatches that they do. Still the surgeon did not want us on the road as he had to fly to get the organs. Within 10 minutes she called again to tell Aaron to eat & get on the road. We hurriedly changed to our 4wheel drive as we now had about 8 inches & we knew we were headed with the weather going eastward. If driving in that weather doesn't increase your prayer life, nothing will. Yet, there was a peace about us both as we drove 40/hr on I40 for 5 hours to get to Durham. It normally takes us 2 1/2 hours and Greensboro had icy roads along with freezing rain falling. The coordinator had still not called again as we pulled into the hotel parking to get settled so Aaron talked with her after unloading all our things and again she said wait, the surgeon has not called back yet.

The "little faith group" began to doubt that the organs could be procured & get back through the weather to Duke but alas, again this was not to be the case. Ten minutes after that phone call (and me getting ready for some much needed rest) the coordinator wanted us at the hospital and by 4am Aaron was going into the operating room. By 11:30am, he was being moved into ICU & the new day began with kidney functioning well & sugar levels normal (and no insulin). You can imagine how that is to Aaron after 24 years of insulin shots (over 25,000 shots) and 10 years of kidney failure. We still cannot believe that this has happened, realization hasn't set in yet.

As most post-surgical patients, he is encountering pain and nausea but the doctors & nurses at Duke are wonderful & keep telling him how well he is doing. He is presently being moved to a step down room (2311) from ICU after having walked a lap around the 2nd floor at noon today. Yes, that is 24 hours after surgery. Of course, he had a walker dragging all his attachments and 2 women (the nurse & his wonderful wife) helping him as he walked.

Please keep praying for his recovery that all those little things that are stumbling blocks will just be removed. And also pray for the family of the donor who is now a part of Aaron.

Until later.....

Barbara

Flying Standby

We have now discovered a new way of doing this - standby. Flying standby means you go to the airport and wait for a seat on a particular flight, hoping someone won't show. Standby for Duke Medical means staying home by the phone until they call. That's where we were from 8am until 5:30pm Tuesday. And that's after being at Duke all night Sunday night. They called to tell us they had a possibility of a donor in Tennessee and in state hospitals there had first choice for the organs. Of course we jumped every time the phone rang & for some reason it rang alot yesterday. After waiting for their decisions all day, Duke called us back to say they didn't accept the organs after the Tennessee hospitals turned them down. At least we did this from home this time since they weren't going to work anyway. No complaints from us no matter how they handle it. And please pray for families losing loved ones this time of year especially.

Until next time.....

Barbara

Round "3"

I'm writing this from Durham as we were called to Duke at midnight, arrived about 2:30 and were "dismissed" about 5:00am. Seems they not only crossmatch blood type but also numerous markers in the bodies such as antibodies. One of these little rascals clashed with the donor's typing & could have resulted in failure almost as quickly as they hooked it up.

We did make it to the pre-op area this time (we're getting a slow guided tour of this huge hospital) and this time a valet took our car as we entered ER (ooh!) & picked us up at the front door as they kicked us out. So we entered through the back & left at the front. Moving on up!!! Everything was a go until the crossmatches & the donor was even near by this time!! But God knows best & is training us well. Hopefully, we are not too tired to get here when the time is right. Again we returned to our hotel to get some sleep. I was out like a lightbulb but Aaron said he didn't sleep (or very restless sleep) so he's snoring big time as I write. We will again head westward toward home unless they turn us around & back to the hospital again before we leave. Don't laugh, they told us of several cases in which the patient was paged going out the door as another possibility had arisen suddenly. We again pray for the families of those losing loved ones during this time of year. That has been very much on our minds. We love you all.

Until.......

Barbara

To The Edge of the Cliff

That's where we were about 2:30am Tuesday morning when another transplant try failed. On Monday afternoon Duke called us to Durham with a very "promising" chance for transplant. We arrived about 8pm and were told the team had already flown out of state to get the organs. Aaron was tested, prodded, questioned and probed by 3 or 4 doctors. Everything seemed to be just a waiting game until the organs arrived but early Tuesday morning the coordinator called the room to tell us the kidney had failed. The pancreas has been the organ the transplant team worries the most about but both of Aaron's tries have ended with a failed donor kidney. Imagine that!!!

Once again we both had to stop and think about the family who was losing a loved one and pray for them in the midst of our excitement.

As our balloon deflated once again we returned to the hotel and tried to get some much needed sleep. There wasn't much until about 7am other than dosing due to the adrenaline high we both reached. Tuesday afternoon was dreary & cold as we returned home, then much bad weather with a tornado watch in our area much of the night. Today has been a much better day as we caught our breath for the next run. Until then.....

Barbara