Oh what do YOU do in the summer time...

When all your friends are asleep?

NOT for the faint of heart

If you tend to get queasy looking at stitches, incisions and the like, you're probably not going to enjoy the following pictures. Let this be your warning. :)

This is the IV where Tim had fluids, anti-rejection meds, pain meds, anti-nausea meds and anything else you can think of pumped in to him. There was a tube, probably about 6 inches long, that went in to his neck, held in place with stitches around the light and dark blue box looking things. I guess the veins in your arm aren't big enough to handle all the stuff they had to pump in there, so they hit the jugular. This was the source of a lot of Tim's discomfort. Everything pulled on it. His gown, the nurses, rolling over, turning his head... not fun.

This is Timmy's incision. It's about 10 inches long and on his lower right abdomen. (I think I counted 31 staples, yowza!) His new kidney sits in this little pocket next to his hip. I like to think of it as an ovary. They leave his other two kidneys where they are, and eventually they kind of shrivel up like raisins. Unless they start releasing funky toxins in to his system, they don't bother with them.

This is Kim's tummy. Her incision is right above her belly button, about 4-5 inches, with two smaller incisions towards the left. Rumor has it the surgeon put his left hand in the incision, and moved her intestines and anything else that was in front of the kidney. Then with scopes through the other two incisions, cut the connector thingys (yes these are the medical terms, something also about veins, arteries and ureters) Then slid the kidney out just above her belly button. She definitely had the worse of the two surgeries. While we were in the hospital, she said if felt like she got punched in the stomach.

Those curly-que wires? That's a lovely contraption, an ON-Q (sp?) ball, that delivers anesthetic directly to their incisions. They both had this little fanny pack/purse that hung out with them, just dripping in the good stuff. It was pretty cool to see them take it out. We thought the wire would be 2 or 3 inches going in to their tummy. Nope! More like 6... 8... it was freaking long.

Needless to say, I'm sure both our patients are more than thrilled to not be hooked up to all that stuff anymore.

Home

He's home. We survived our first night without nurses, doctors, vitals, weight checks, monitors, beeps and buzzing. It was nice. It's good to be home.

The First Rough Day

Tim has not had a good 24 hours. His levels are still where they should be and the kidney is still functioning great, but he's not feeling as well as he has been the last couple days. Last night, when I thought we were home for the night, he called and asked me to come back and stay with him at the hospital. I'm so glad I did. He was nauseous and in a lot of pain. Finally at about 1am things were under control and he was able to sleep. Unfortunately his discomfort has carried in to today. His dad and former bishop came earlier this afternoon and gave him a blessing. Shortly after, he began to feel better and was finally able to sleep. Please keep him in your prayers. We've been so blessed over the last few days with everything going so well, and are so very grateful for the prayers and thoughts going on our behalf. In better news, Kim is doing FANTASTIC! She was able to start taking her pain medication by mouth and even walked all the way down to Tim's room by. her. self. WAY TO GO KIM!!! We are absolutely ecstatic that she's doing so well, and feeling so much better today. We just love her so much!

1.7

1.7!!! This morning his creatinine is 1.7!!!!

Day 1 After Surgery

Well our patients made it through what is supposed to be the hardest day of recovery. Tim is doing SO well. His creatinine has reduced to nearly HALF of what it was going in to surgery. WHICH IS FANTASTIC!!! Going in to surgery it was 6.2. The first labs post surgery was 6.0. The doctor thought today he'd be somewhere in the 5 range, but he was wrong. It was 3.5!!! (A healthy level is .7 to 1-ish, for those who are wondering just why this is so fantastic) Both Tim and Kim were up and walking today. They each made 4 trips. If you circle the transplant floor, you walk 1/10th of a mile. On one of Tim's sessions, he made 3 laps. He can't eat anything until his insides are back functioning (in the bowel department) and they said the quickest way to make that happen is by walking. And we all know Tim loves him some food so he had some good motivation. Alyssa came to the hospital today to see her daddy. I was worried that she'd be scared when she saw all the stuff he's hooked up to, so we talked about when Curious George goes to the hospital after he swallows a puzzle piece. She liked that idea and was only a little apprehensive when she saw Tim. We said he was so lucky to have a bed like George. She agreed. Tim will probably be able to come home Monday or Tuesday. He'll have about 30 pills to take when he first comes home and a filing cabinet of instructions to follow. Being that his immune system is suppressed, we'll have to stay home from church for 6-8 weeks and Tim won't be able to go see the new Batman movie. No enclosed or germy places. Which ALSO means I'm going to be taking a can of Lysol and a bottle of bleach to my house in the next couple days to get rid of anything that may be lingering. I'm off to get rested up for another day at the hospital. Thanks again to everyone checking on us and helping us out. It's nice to feel loved. Thank you.

Whew!

I am pleased to share that the surgery is over. Tim and Kim (the most wonderful organ donor on the planet) are both doing well. The surgeon told me that both surgeries were text book. No complications, no surprises. They even said that the kidney started producing urine before they had completed attaching it! AND it is producing "perfect pee." Tim's creatinine was already improving less than an hour after the transplant. They did an ultra sound of the kidney and the technician showed me where there was fluid flowing through and everything was functioning as it should. As far as pain goes, I believe both Tim and Kim are feeling ok. Very sore, very tired, but managing the pain. Tim even said it's not as bad as he thought it would be. I'm sure there are more details to share, but our little Alyssa has been tossed around all day and has some serious puzzle doing and story reading to do with her mama before I head back to the hospital to deliver Lord of the Rings and Arrested Development to my little patient. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and phone calls. We appreciate them so much.

Movin' Up

Well, the transplant has been rescheduled. To Friday. This Friday. The 18th. "Just four days" sooner than before. (Four days can be a BIG deal people!) Luckily, everything worked out for our donor and us to be able to have the surgery done sooner. Kids are taken care of, food is prepared. Now we just have to mentally be ready for Friday. The thing that has amazed me the most throughout this process, is how selfless some people are. To even seriously consider donating an organ to someone, to me, is amazing. To actually go through all the testing, do all the research and still want to help? Knowing the sacrifice you're making for somebody else? There are no words. "Grateful" doesn't seem to adequately describe what we're feeling. The only thing I've been able to compare these feelings with, are the thoughts and feelings we have for Alyssa's birth mother. We have been blessed to know two remarkable women. One who gave us our daughter. Another giving Tim a kidney and a certain quality of life most of us take for granted. Nothing we can do will ever repay what has been given us.

All My Love

I love her.

8 Things

I was tagged by my friend Brittney a couple weeks ago. It's about time I responded. So here are a few things about little ol' me. 8 Things I Love/Am Passionate About Alyssa Tim My Family Adoption Friends Scrapbooking Cafe Rio Pepsi 8 Books I've Read and Enjoyed Twilight New Moon Eclipse The Host (Wait, was that only 4?) The Monster at the End of This Book My First Counting Book Little Miss Spider The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (As told by the wolf) 8 Phrases or Words I Say Often Um... whatcha doin' Alyssa? Be careful. Sit down please. Do you want to sit on the potty? Give me kisses. Oh my hell. I just love you so MUCH! Did you poop? 8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die Take Lys to Disney Land Acquire one more baby. Go on some exotic vacation. Clean my scrapbook room. Finish our basement. Improve upon some relations. Finish Alyssa's quilt. Have enough $$$ to pay someone to take care of my yard. :) 8 Things I've Learned or Remembered This Past Year You can live with a lot less than you think you can. This too shall pass. There are some things you just can't do anything about. Either dwell on it and be miserable, or get over it. Kids grow up WAY too fast. There are a lot of good, selfless people in the world. You can shove a lot of dirty dishes in a laundry basket, if the oven is too full. Two year olds are a lot smarter than they're given credit for. Other people's opinions don't always matter. 8 People I Want to Tag Angela Jen Kaarina Kim Kim Leisha Leslie Sam

July 22nd

Kidney transplant day. We have a donor. A FREAKING AWESOME donor. So much love. So much gratitude. So much more to come when I can make sense of the thoughts and feelings I'm trying to encompass in my little head. Thank you.