On the 3rd Day, They Slept

I have been trying to get these two little monkeys to take a nap for three days. It finally happened.

Breaking Dawn at Midnight?

As those who know me well know that I haven't read much since about the 6th grade. The only thing that snatched me out of that I-hate-to-read mind set was the Twilight Series/Saga or whatever. So OF COURSE, along with the thousands of other crazed lunatics, I had to have the book at midnight last Friday. I've neglected my home and family long enough to finish it and it was wonderful. But the book, be it wonderful, is NOT what this post is about. It's rather about what I "overheard" while waiting in line to purchase it. :) While we were sitting in line at Wal-mart (after seeing the madness at Barnes and Noble) I just happened to over hear a conversation behind me. A woman, way cute by the way, was spilling out a deep dark secret to her friends. I attuned my newly acquired vampire listening skills to them. She mentioned that a while back she had wondered what it would be like to kiss Edward. Isn't that something we ALL wonder? Being braver than most women would be about divulging their secret fantasies, she made a small request of her husband. She asked him to suck on some ice and lay one on her. Apparently it was pretty fantastic. If I only knew where this lady lived... I'd probably pick up a bag of sonic ice and deliver it to her doorstep.

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!!!!