Okie Update, Day 2

Eric, afternoon of day 1. His color is much better now. He is also not nearly as swollen.

Our record has been 8 bags of solution and 2 IV stands. You should have seen them trying to move him around with all this stuff hooked to him!

Yes, his name is "Okie." An old e-friend of mine has a daughter who received a kidney transplant 2 (?) years ago. She informed us last night that we really MUST name Eric's new kidney. Her daughter has a name for her kidney and they pray for the kidney by name. They want to pray for Eric's kidney by name too. So...because the kidney came from someone in Oklahoma...Eric decided his name is Okie. So pray for Okie, Green family!!! ;-)

Eric is doing great. His kidney was a little slow to "wake up" after being on ice for several hours, but he's doing a great job now. Okie started out making only a little more than an ounce of pee per hour. At last count he was making 10 ounces of pee an hour!

Eric's creatinine (sorry not going to look up how to spell that) level was 6.9 when he came into the hospital with his old kidneys. This morning it was at 6.04 (you want it to go down). They were okay with that, but wished it was a bit lower. The goal is that it will be down to 2 by the time he leaves. As of 1pm his creatinine level was down to 5."something". So we're headed in the right direction!

At one point last night the pain was so bad that Eric said, "I know I won't say this in a few weeks, but right at this moment I am questioning whether this was worth it." I told him that for him to say that his pain level must be at a 10, and that he should accept the pain meds offered to him! He wasn't accepting the meds for some reason. He has since then, and doesn't, at the moment, feel that it wasn't worth it. =-)

He is in a tremendous amount of pain. He's got a big 'ol catheter in, he has a central line in his neck and IV in his arm. He's also got a drainage bag coming out of the incision site. Basically he's got tubes coming from everywhere and each tube comes with its own pain. In addition, the incision itself is really painful (about 12 inches, with lovely staples). He's got a very persistent and very violent cough, which makes him feel like his gut is splitting open.

It has felt like this day has lasted FOR.EV.ER! We both agree on that point. I don't feel that I have the right to complain at all (so please find some other word for what I'm about to do). After 2 nights with about 2 hours sleep each night, I'm dragging. I imagined all of this glorious time to read and catch up on AAI work, but the reality is that I'm too tired to want to do those things, but there's no way to fall asleep in this place. I also feel like I've been on a plane for the past 48 hours. The air in here is super dry but either very hot or very cold. And I swear my butt has never hurt so bad! Seriously! I am sick of sitting. My butt is sick of sitting! Okay, I'm done not complaining now. =-)

I went home today long enough to do a load of my laundry and love on the big pups. They are doing fine. We were lucky enough to find a foster family for our puppy Layla! An SPCA volunteer. SO very cool. This way she will get to continue her puppy training for the next month while we get through the initial transition with the transplant. It's not that she couldn't have lived this week with the other two dogs, but she would have lost all the progress we were making with her training. Anyway...small blessing, but a very cool and unexpected blessing!

Our neighborhood has been alerted that Eric has gotten his transplant. Our BEST neighbors called everybody to pray, and they are. They've been in the neighborhood since it was built in the 60s, as have many other families still living in the hood. We feel blessed to have been accepted into this long-standing group! I've been told that I must call ever few days with an update, which I will do with a thankful heart.

So many bloggy and internet and AAI friends are praying. We are so humbled by your prayers. We really believe in the power of prayer. Please keep praying. Things look good. Things could continue to look good or we could run into challenges.

One thing is for sure. The initial rush is gone. We're tired. We wish we could skip to week 2 of this journey. We miss our kids (but at the same time are SO thankful they aren't here!). We miss our bed. And the truth is, this is sort of hard. Okay, it's sort of hard for me and incredibly hard for Eric.

Thanks all!

Anita