Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Home Life & Clinic

Well here we are....right where he wanted to be. Home. It truly is where the heart is, and where our babies are. That is the best medicine. Sleeping in your own bed can never be equaled. Neither can the simple act of sleeping all night without someone coming it to check your blood pressure or draw 4 vials of blood at 3am. We're enjoying sleeping together again.
Tuesday, 11/18/13, was our first clinic visit. We will go twice a week for at least a month. He had 4 vials of blood drawn, all his vitals were taken, and we talked a lot. A nurse came in to discuss all his meds and how much he's taking. We also reported his urine output, his liquid intake, and the amount of fluid still coming from his drain. Appetizing, I know. I told you I was going to over share! A doctor who is part of the transplant team talked to us about how he's doing and does he have any questions. The pharmacist came to talk to us about meds as well. To make sure we understood what they were all for and that some of them will be in constant flux. Prograf is the anti-rejection medicine he takes. Every time they draw blood they're testing for the level of Prograf in his system. If it's high they lower the dosage, if it's low they raise it. Simple enough. Thankfully they lowered his prednisone dosage today. He's been complaining of being hot, hot, hot and itchy. He can't wait to be finished with that for good. Hopefully only a few weeks more. 
We have to stay close by until his lab results come back. We don't have to stay in the clinic but we have to be close enough to return should they need to do something else or if he should need to be readmitted to the hospital. We went to Hanes Mall and walked around. I had my first Chick-fil-A peppermint milkshake of the season....Mmmmmmm! It was nice to just be out and about after being cooped up in the hospital for so long. Once we got the call that his labs were good we were free to come home. We met Anna for lunch at Hero House and then were on our way. Because we dilly dallied we didn't get home until about 3, but we could've been home way sooner. Hoping that's the case here on out. I don't want to be stuck in the clinic for longer than we have to be. Plus, when I'm not here someone else is taking my kids to preschool and library story time. Someone else is putting them down for naps and playing ball outside. I know it's their grandmother...but it's not me. I'm so thankful that Anthony's insurance allowed us to go to Baptist hospital. If we had to return to Duke for all these appointments it would probably be two overnight visits a week. That's a LONG drive for one day. That is entirely too much time away from my babies.
We left our clinic visit with about 15 other appointments. Several that take ALL day, and one more overnight stay in the hospital. Yuck. But he has to have his PD catheter removed Dec 3-4. That one he will be admitted on the 3rd and have to stay overnight. Observation I guess, he will be anesthetized only with "sleepy juice" but aware during the procedure. He also has to have a stint removed from his new kidney. Where it's connected to the new entrance to the bladder has to be held open. They have to go in and get that. I won't tell you how that's done. Let's just say he's NOT looking forward to it. At All! He feels like he's in a constant state of recovery. He gets several weeks to recover from the huge ordeal of the transplant then he has another procedure. He recovers from that procedure just long enough to be ready for the next one. More and more down time...on the road to recovery. 
However, we continue to be forever grateful and thankful that he has been given this opportunity. To be able to live his life without dialysis and spend more time with his family is amazing. To know he will be around to see his babies graduate and get married is humbling and amazing. Please continue to pray for Amy. She is recovering well but still also has a long road to go before she's completely well again. She was supposed to return to work today but wrote us to let us know she just couldn't. She had tried to push the envelope and go back quickly, but God had other plans and slowed her down. We are praying for you Amy!! Hope you're back on your feet in no time.
A HUGE thank you to our fabulous friends who have been treating us soo good! Jenn Rice brought dinner on Tuesday night, yummy penne pasta with sauce, garlic bread, salad, and cookies. It was so good Anthony went back for seconds. So did Aspen! Tonight we were blessed by Ellee Wallace. She fixed us ground turkey and black bean tacos. Amazing! Seriously, the best taco filling I've ever eaten! Not only did she bring dinner but she brought lunch and breakfast fixings too. I'm so thankful we have people who are willing to take time out of their busy lives to prepare a meal for my family, to show us they love us, and to support us. It's such a good feeling knowing I don't have to fix dinner at the end of a long day battling the kids and all there still has to be done around here. It truly gives me a sense of peace and allows me to spend more time on what matters most: our family.

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