Thursday, December 12, 2013

Biopsy

Today we sit here at the hospital again. But thankfully it's our last time!! Today is Anthony's one month check-up and his biopsy on the new kidney. It's a routine check up procedure performed on every transplanted kidney patient. Just checking to make sure the kidney is working properly and is showing no signs of dying tissue or rejection. 
We were admitted around 8:30 this morning and sat doing practically nothing until they came to get him at 11:40. The procedure is quite easy: they use ultrasound to see exactly where they want the needle to puncture. Using a spring-loading needle they insert the needle into the kidney and take a small sample. The whole procedure lasted only about 2 1/2 hours from when they took him away from me and brought him back to his room. He's only got a bandaid to show he had anything done. He's not in any pain, the nurses still have him hopped on some good pain meds. 
He has to lay still for 2 hours and then have another blood panel drawn. Once those results come back and are good we're free to go. Hopefully it won't be too late before we get home. I hate leaving the babies for so long so often. They love spending time with Grammy and Dadaw, and the grandparents love to have them, but I hate that we're not spending the time together. If I was going to spend this much time away from them I'd sure rather be doing something fun, not just sitting at the hospital all day. But we'll all make it through.
Since he's a month post-transplant I guess it would be nice to just give a general update. Last week he had his PD catheter, stint, and staples removed. He left the hospital a free man! That was our last overnight stay here...and we're glad of that! 
Overall Anthony is doing well. He's had a lot more good days than bad. Sometimes he still has pain and it really gets him down, physically and emotionally. One of his biggest problems has been that his hemoglobin is running low. This makes him tired and exhausts him easily. He's been trying to work up his endurance by walking with the kids up and down the development. He is definitely able to do more around the house like helping to cook, or helping do the dishes. He's playing with the babies more and even changing diapers again!! He still can't pick up anything more than 10 pounds. That makes it difficult on me because it means I have to lift everything, especially Aspen. I have to put her to bed, get her out of bed, put her on the changing table, get her in and out of the high chair. I won't let him carry two gallons of milk, and he's only allowed to take out the trash if it's light enough. 
He's only taking Tylenol for pain now, and that's really more discomfort than anything. He's not sleeping well..having trouble getting comfortable still. We still go back to the doctor twice a week...but since today is his one month mark he's now going to once a week. What a difference that will make! Less time away from the kids, less time driving, less gas. Hooray!