Day One

We made it. We survived the first day at home. Together. Our night was pretty good. Anthony got up several times to pee and at one point his drain site leaked and got him messy. He had to get up and change his shirt and clean up a little. I woke up every time he got up and it felt almost like having a new baby in the house again. Fun. But thankfully Anthony did get sleep and we were together for the first time in several nights. Anthony always says he doesn't sleep if we're not together. 

The day went pretty well. We spent a long time lounging in our pajamas with the Disney Channel this morning. Quality family time. Lincoln's doing really well with Anthony's wounds and drain. He is being very easy and isn't hugging him tightly or running into him. Aspen on the other hand just wants to roll all over him. There has to be a lot of supervision with her. It was so beautiful today that he even managed to come outside with us for a little while. Sunshine makes everything feel a little better.

He has to measure his urine output, take his blood pressure, record how much his would drains for a while. Tomorrow is our first clinic day where they will do blood work to see how his kidney is doing and how his body is reacting to the anti-rejection meds he's taking. I'm hoping we'll get more information tomorrow. It seems like everyone in the hospital had different opinions of what he can and cannot do now that he's a transplant patient. We're hoping for clarification and somewhat "official" word on some dos and don'ts. 

It's really hard to be Mom and Dad at the same time. And to have to take care of Anthony and the kids is tiring. Anthony can't pick up more than 10 pounds for at least 6 weeks. He can't drive while he has staples. That means he's dependent on me and I'm the one who has to do nearly everything. I'm sure I'll be leaning heavily on our parents for help with the kids. A big big thank you to Michelle Smith for delivering a yummy dinner tonight! Lincoln was starving and she rescued us just in the nick of time!

Settled

He's free!!! At 2 this afternoon Anthony was released from the ICU. This is his nurse, Sara. She took great care of him...us really. 

He was more than ready to get out and be in a regular room. I was very much looking forward to having some room to settle and spread out. 

We have landed on the 11th floor of Ardmore tower. We seriously got the penthouse!! It's the largest room in the whole hospital! It's amazing. Windows on both sides with a beautiful view of downtown Winston-Salem. The lights tonight are beautiful. 

Anthony is doing OK. Right now he's reached his emotional limit. He's overwhelmed. It's been a very emotional and tiring two days and he's just on overload. He doesn't quite feel like himself. The nurse has shared tons of information he's not so happy about. The pharmacy team came to talk to us about the meds he's going to be on forever. Then pharmacy delivered our first month's supply.

He got up again tonight and walked in the room. He made one and half passes through the room before settling back into the bed. He stayed up in the chair for several hours. Anna came to take me to lunch and dinner today which was great. It's nice to have someone here for me, too. It's nice to have someone to eat with and talk to and walk around the hospital with. 

He's hungry. Or as Sara said this morning, he's "hangry." He's on a clear liquid diet and is very unhappy about it. He's had chicken broth, jello, Italian Ice pops, apple juice, and some pink lemonade. Since Wednesday at 5pm. He's also not slept well. ICU is not for sleeping and they took his blood pressure automatically every hour. The nurse also came in to check on him every hour...between the blood pressure checks. He slept about none. Right now he's trying to rest enough to close his eyes and sleep. He can't find a comfortable position. He's also quite upset. The new nurse after shift change doesn't know his story and she's treating him like he doesn't know what she's talking about and that he doesn't understand. He asked if they could do something to get his bowels moving since he hasn't passed gas or gone poo yet. He's frustrated they won't let him have anything to eat until he does. Hopefully they'll bring him some laxative so he can get his insides moving enough to eat. Man needs some food!

Please continue to pray for him. He needs rest and peace right now. He's frustrated and quite unhappy. He's emotionally drained and at the end of his rope. Pray that he sleeps well tonight and gets rest.

Recovery

I'm always amazed at who the Lord puts in our path. And how a few simple words can make such an impact on someone. Tonight as we met the new nurses after shift change in the ICU Anthony and I started talking to our charge nurse, Josh. Simple small talk lead to asking where we lived and we discovered that Josh is almost our neighbor!! He lives in a home only a few houses down from Anthony's grandmother's old home. He lives only a mile from our house. Amazing. Crazy. One of his first questions was, "What church do you go to?" We answered that we loved our Whitnel Penticostal Holiness Church family. He said he didn't get the opportunity to go to church because he works a bailor position and works every weekend. Josh only mentioned that he wished he had the time and a church of his own. He was completely amazed by Anthony's kidney journey and has been nothing short of fantastic.  Anthony shared his blog with him and hoped he will read it. I certainly hope that if Josh is wanting a relationship with God he reads Anthony's story and is touched.

Anthony has still been asking, nay, begging for water! Josh also told him no initially. Little did we know he made the effort to call Dr. Rogers to see if he could be allowed some fluids for Anthony's parched throat. Not only did Josh go out of his way to request his liquid diet he walked himself down to the cafeteria and got Anthony a big glass of sweet tea! Such a small act....but SO huge to someone in Anthony's position. It was truly precious. 

Before shift change Anna came back by and took Mom and me to dinner. We headed upstairs to see Amy first. She's doing great! She's sitting on the top floor just resting. She's finally got her ice pack that evidently took an act of congress. Not unlike it took 3 hours to get Anthony a pillow! She's using her own pain pump and doing well. They'll get her out of bed tomorrow as well so she can start moving around. They've estimated that she will get to leave on Saturday. That's amazing to me. She just gave a way a part of her body and now she's about to go home.

There are so many things I want to say to her. I haven't had the strength yet. I'm going to write them all down in a nice long letter and send it to her. I can't get through it in person...if you know me then you know how easily I cry. There's no way she would understand what I was saying. What a selfless gift. What an amazing selfless act.

Dr. Rogers came to check on Anthony a few hours ago. He said he was looking great and was glad all went well. He was also pleased that Anthony is making so much urine. They're pumping him full of fluids...what comes out must go back in. It's the color of a dark strawberry lemonade still. The nurses say the more he goes, the less red it will be. He also has a drain bulb on his side coming from his incision site. Stephanie, our nurse tonight, drained it a while ago. Yum.

Anthony's pain pump is full of Delodid and he is enjoying it. Though he's being a big stubborn about using it. He doesn't want to over use it and then regret it tomorrow when they take it away. He said his current pain level is Pi. His throat seems to hurt more than his side for now. When Josh got his liquid diet approved they showed up with a tray full of beef broth, sweet tea, and a lemon Italian Ice. That certainly made his day better and he thoroughly enjoyed his ice. (Picture to come tomorrow!)

The plan for tomorrow is to have an ultrasound on the abdomen to check the kidney and surrounding area to make sure all is well. They'll look for excess fluid or bleeding. As long as his night goes well and his ultrasound is good he will be released from ICU to be put into a regular room up on the 11th floor with Amy. Those rooms are SOOO nice and I'm looking forward to have a place to settle. They will also send PT for him tomorrow to get him up and moving. He's already looking forward to that. He wants to make sure all is well with himself and get everything working again. 

It's 10 pm and I'm back at the hotel...being up so early and having so many emotions mixed with adrenaline means I am exhausted. He's in very capable hands for the evening and he needs to rest too. I'll make my way back over to him in the morning for another fun day at the hospital. Maybe our friend, Tori, will even come visit!! (hint, hint) I also have a super funny video of Anthony begging for water and making deals with the nurses Anna and Melissa when he first got to the ICU. I'll work on posting that here as well!!

Incision

I got a call at 9:10 am that they had officially made the first incision on Anthony. We're sitting in the HUGE surgical waiting room with tons of other people who are waiting patiently for news of their loved one. 

I am surrounded by love and prayers. My company: Anna, Mom, Anthony's parents: Carroll & Toni, one of our pastors: Gray Williams. 

I kissed him goodbye from the anesthesia holding room at about 8:00. I requested they give him the "loopy" medicine so I could make fun of him before he left....it didn't work out that way. :)

They said the entire process should take until about 1 or 2 pm. That sure is a long time to wait. 

The hardest part is not having a "home." There's nowhere for us to leave our stuff or Anthony's stuff. We have to just keep it here with us. Thankfully we're all here together and can take turns going to the restroom or grabbing food. 

The OR will call us again around 10:30 to give another update. They make an announcement on a loud speaker for Anthony Vance's family and all we have to do is pick up a phone to talk to them. I think that's really awesome. They called Amy's family up at the same time they called us at 9:10 to say they were about to remove her kidney for him. 

What an amazing act of kindness.