August 28, 2010
Saturday
So, on the 23rd I went up to NAMC for the parathyroid scans that Dr. Moore needs to complete his consult for Dr. Lewis. And, this is the first time I've had available to post about it. Too busy this last week with trainings and prepping for the fall semester class.
I got there and Robert, the bomb diggity tech escorts me into the first scan, where he asks me to take off my shirt while he and Amy step outa the room and I say "that's okay; I ain't proud...". Well, just then he get called out and Amy just stands there as I de-shirt and gown up. Kinda funny. Then he returns and oils up my neck for a slow ultrasound of that whole area and is simultaneously instructing Amy, an intern from the Austin Community College program in X-ray Technology. She takes notes... I try to keep from swallowing... and we are done in about 15 minutes.
He escorts me on down the hall, where I see Mark, who calls out down the hall something like, "Hey; you're the web page writer guy, aren't you?" and I slowly translate that into "blog guy" and respond with a nod as they roll me into his room. On the way Dr. Lewis passes me and we salute each other. In the next room, Mark and I catch up (see # 338 & 383) and talk about my ongoing healing kidney and the other attendant things that keep popping up, like the current hyper-para-thyroid business.
Mark sets me up to receive a radioactive isotope (I think it is Tc99m-sestamibi) and then he injects it and I wait awhile til they can set me up in the imaging scanner, a gamma camera.
"By using a gamma camera in nuclear medicine, the radiologist is able to determine if one of the four parathyroid glands is hyper-functioning, if that is the cause of the hyperpara-thyroidism. Theoretically, the hyper-functioning parathyroid gland will take up more of the Tc99m-sestamibi, and will show up 'brighter' than the other normal parathyroid glands on the gamma camera pictures..."* This process is one of those where I lay back on a curved pad and a huge machine encloses a simultaneously moving imager that comes curving up from the right... right over my face and neck, at a height of about 2 to 3 inches. Mark asks me to stay still (but I can swallow when I feel like it) for the next 12 minutes that it takes to take the pictures it needs. I lay there. They have music playing... not my choice exactly. I lay there.
After 12 minutes the machines swing back and I get up, helped by Mark. I am done... for 2 hours. This is the finish of the pre-picture. In two hours I come back for the images of my neck with the isotope fully taken up in my parathyroid.
I had planned to hang out at NAMC, finish up the nuclear imaging, and then go over to the Transplant clinic for my meeting with Dr. Lewis. I'm itchy to DO something besides read so I head out to find a place to sit... so, on the way down the hall I decide to shoot down Mo Pac to my office and see what's going on...
Back at NAMC:
Back up to the X-ray waiting room, where Mark comes to find me just about on time. We return to the imaging room and I complete the next 12 minute stint in the gamma camera. Mark and I say our see ya's and I move on down the hall to the front of the hospital where I now have to be re-registered by a nice young woman who is doing her first registration. I think she does a great job and tell her so. Then it's down the hall again to the Transplant Clinic.
Walk in and expect to have to wait... and they surprise me with a room waiting. Maxine weighs me (176! that's UP some) takes my BP (130/72) and asks all the pre-doc questions. Yes I have been unusually tired lately... have had a few headaches... some bad indigestion twice or so... and nothing else to complain about. Then Lizzie shows up.
Dr. Lewis enters and says all the blood work is good and I continue to do great, based on what he can see. We talk about indigestion and he ponders that somewhat and decides he wants me to get another colonoscopy with Dr. Poreddy, who did my endoscopy years ago. I wonder if all the colonoscopies that Dr. Hanschen did can be used and Lewis says they were too long ago. He also wants me tested for 2 other viruses that might be involved so I go in for more blood work next Monday (later I find out that one test is for Epstein-Barr virus).
So, anyway, now I am scheduled for another consult with Poreddy pre-scheduling another colonoscopy and have another appointment, with its attendant lab work, with Dr. Lewis set for September 13th. The call back from Dr. Moore is still to come.
I am not too worried at this point. And, I am realizing there will be some more posts to come to the readers on this blog.
Notes:
* "Hyperparathyroidism" retrieved August 28 from Wikipedia, online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperparathyroidism
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query 338. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query 338. Sort by date Show all posts
3/20/09
347) Day of Gratitude
March 19, 2009
Thursday
Home: It's becoming a regular day... which is difficult to post about, since I don't really want a fluff blog.
Thursday
Its a regular day
what can I say
the dog thinks I hate her
just cause I can't play with her
she can't lick my face
what a disgrace
and when she pounces on my incision
I yell like a banshee
"NO...BAD Dog! Get out of my vision"
and she skulks away
confusion in her dog brain
what can I say
Its a new regular new day
<}o{>
what can I say
the dog thinks I hate her
just cause I can't play with her
she can't lick my face
what a disgrace
and when she pounces on my incision
I yell like a banshee
"NO...BAD Dog! Get out of my vision"
and she skulks away
confusion in her dog brain
what can I say
Its a new regular new day
<}o{>
Most of the day I spend writing thank you notes to all those who sent flowers, hugs, plants, services, cakes, light, candy, energy, a radio, spirited discussion and guidance, and as I do the blessings keep coming --> meaning more gratitude must be sent out... it's a cycle that we love right now... it makes us feel good.
Oh yeah: and Bernadette the PTC called and said Dr. Lewis said it is okay to use Neo-Synephrine for my bloody noses (HHT) AND stop the baby aspirin! One more med off the list... alright! And to finish off a perfect day, UT beat Wisconsin and moves on in the tourney, probably to meet Duke next. La vida es bueno!
Note: Pictures have now been added to Posts #338 through #342. Enjoy!
Oh yeah: and Bernadette the PTC called and said Dr. Lewis said it is okay to use Neo-Synephrine for my bloody noses (HHT) AND stop the baby aspirin! One more med off the list... alright! And to finish off a perfect day, UT beat Wisconsin and moves on in the tourney, probably to meet Duke next. La vida es bueno!
Note: Pictures have now been added to Posts #338 through #342. Enjoy!
3/16/09
344) The World According to P.
March 16, 2009
Monday
Morning: This morning we get finished with the morning regimen at 9:30! We are getting better at this, of course, we started at 8. Liz left to do a few errands for me. Came back and then later went up to UT to take care of some of her business. John got up and we ate lunch... blah blah.
The Rest of the Story is The Story of P.: Eat; P; rest: P; email; P; email; drink H20; P; Send Liz on some errands for me; P; Gmail; P; Facebook; P; drink H2O; P; Blog Comments; P; check vitals; P; Eval Call from Linda @ NAMC; P; hard boil egg; P; Photos Uploaded and 6 Edited; P; Photos put on #337; P; Fix Tuna-salad Sandwiches on RHY; P; Eat; P; Edit More Photos; P; Nap; P; Look at old photographs; P; Edit #338... based on John's Clearer Brain; P; Watch John Play Mario on our Wii; P; Call from Bernadette the PTC (Post Transplant Coord.); P; John leaves for College Station; P; Talk briefly to Marie the Neighbor whose Mother was @ El Milagro and has two brothers in dialysis... one at S. Austin where Herman is Admin. now. Marie loved Herman and James at El Milagro...; P; Doze on Heating Pad... Ahhhhhh...; P; Liz home and we discuss Bernadette's call and Liz calls Bernadette; P; Liz off to buy more supplies; P; Meds at 8; P; etc. etc. etc.... And we finally eat dinner at 9:30. BTW: We miss you Paul Harvey!
That's the way day two goes...
Note: This entry is noted in Bill Peckham's Reports, this time edited by Miriam Lippel Blum. She says, " This is my first stab at updating the blogs. It's an entire education unto itself of how people live, what they worry about, what they consider important and how they survive. A truly inspirational journey."... and then goes on to do a great job of hitting the basic topic of every update on 92 blogs since the last Report!
Monday
The Rest of the Story is The Story of P.: Eat; P; rest: P; email; P; email; drink H20; P; Send Liz on some errands for me; P; Gmail; P; Facebook; P; drink H2O; P; Blog Comments; P; check vitals; P; Eval Call from Linda @ NAMC; P; hard boil egg; P; Photos Uploaded and 6 Edited; P; Photos put on #337; P; Fix Tuna-salad Sandwiches on RHY; P; Eat; P; Edit More Photos; P; Nap; P; Look at old photographs; P; Edit #338... based on John's Clearer Brain; P; Watch John Play Mario on our Wii; P; Call from Bernadette the PTC (Post Transplant Coord.); P; John leaves for College Station; P; Talk briefly to Marie the Neighbor whose Mother was @ El Milagro and has two brothers in dialysis... one at S. Austin where Herman is Admin. now. Marie loved Herman and James at El Milagro...; P; Doze on Heating Pad... Ahhhhhh...; P; Liz home and we discuss Bernadette's call and Liz calls Bernadette; P; Liz off to buy more supplies; P; Meds at 8; P; etc. etc. etc.... And we finally eat dinner at 9:30. BTW: We miss you Paul Harvey!
That's the way day two goes...
Note: This entry is noted in Bill Peckham's Reports, this time edited by Miriam Lippel Blum. She says, " This is my first stab at updating the blogs. It's an entire education unto itself of how people live, what they worry about, what they consider important and how they survive. A truly inspirational journey."... and then goes on to do a great job of hitting the basic topic of every update on 92 blogs since the last Report!
3/13/22
472) Mordechai the Miracle Kidney ~ 13 Years in Service & Counting
March 9, 2022
Wednesday
Today we remembered that today is the 13th anniversary of adding a third kidney to bolster and take over the duties of my two cyst-crippled, broken-down kidneys ravaged by PKD. 
Read all about the transplant on this blog, in Posts # 337 and #338 through #340. This is the first time in several years that we remembered this propitious past event on the actual date!
And so we say a toast to Mordechai on this day: me with cran-raspberry juice!
10/24/09
383) My Cardiac Testing Adventure
October 21, 2009
Wednesday
NAMC: After my last Clinic meeting, Bernadette said she'd schedule me for the remainder of my Cardiac testing for up there at NAMC so we could get me in and out without having to find a Cardiologist to get involved... in other words, they'd do the stress test and then pull in a cardiologist who is on the floor to monitor it. So, she scheduled it for the 20th. Well, turns out I am in El Paso that day and when I figured that out and called Bernadette, she replied a little cooly, "Why don't YOU schedule it so you can work out a workable date for it?" and of course, I agreed. So, then I scheduled it for the next day (that would be today) at 7:00 am.
So, I get checked in and guided to the waiting room, and then taken to the exam room, where my old buddy, Mark, and I re-connect (see Post # 338) and he tells the nurse, Cindy (?) describes the nuclear cardiac testing they will do and I nod knowingly throughout, although I am listening for "exercise" and that never comes up.
They give me isotopes to drink (yum) and put me on the long board of a CAT scan (or some similar machine) that takes pictures of my heart thumping for 18 minutes as the tracer thingy goes with my blood thru my heart. Then I am out of that and ready for the doctor watching part.
Turns out the cardiac testing I am doing is where a medicine is put into me thru the IV that will stress my heart chemically rather than me doing is myself, muscularly. So, that's where the doc comes in to watch. He is nice and a good watcher, as he leans back against the cabinet, talking with me and the techs. Takes about 2 to 3 minutes and I feel like there is an invisible linebacker sitting on my chest briefly. I get a headache too, as a secondary effect. Then that part is done.
Then they send me to the cafeteria for a taco and after an hour I return and they take pictures of my heart again for 18 minutes. Then we all congratulate each other and the whole thing is done.
However I am supposed to do a training this afternoon, and as serendipity would have it, I get the time wrong, they can't do it this afternoon, and I just get to go home and take a nap... which lasts till after the sun has set. So, there ya go. Another calendar box "X"ed off.
If you have to go for one of these nuclear cardiac stress tests, it really isn't so bad, in my experience. And Mark and Cindy are happy to be mentioned up here in the blogisphere.
Wednesday
NAMC: After my last Clinic meeting, Bernadette said she'd schedule me for the remainder of my Cardiac testing for up there at NAMC so we could get me in and out without having to find a Cardiologist to get involved... in other words, they'd do the stress test and then pull in a cardiologist who is on the floor to monitor it. So, she scheduled it for the 20th. Well, turns out I am in El Paso that day and when I figured that out and called Bernadette, she replied a little cooly, "Why don't YOU schedule it so you can work out a workable date for it?" and of course, I agreed. So, then I scheduled it for the next day (that would be today) at 7:00 am.
So, I get checked in and guided to the waiting room, and then taken to the exam room, where my old buddy, Mark, and I re-connect (see Post # 338) and he tells the nurse, Cindy (?) describes the nuclear cardiac testing they will do and I nod knowingly throughout, although I am listening for "exercise" and that never comes up.
They give me isotopes to drink (yum) and put me on the long board of a CAT scan (or some similar machine) that takes pictures of my heart thumping for 18 minutes as the tracer thingy goes with my blood thru my heart. Then I am out of that and ready for the doctor watching part.
Turns out the cardiac testing I am doing is where a medicine is put into me thru the IV that will stress my heart chemically rather than me doing is myself, muscularly. So, that's where the doc comes in to watch. He is nice and a good watcher, as he leans back against the cabinet, talking with me and the techs. Takes about 2 to 3 minutes and I feel like there is an invisible linebacker sitting on my chest briefly. I get a headache too, as a secondary effect. Then that part is done.
Then they send me to the cafeteria for a taco and after an hour I return and they take pictures of my heart again for 18 minutes. Then we all congratulate each other and the whole thing is done.
However I am supposed to do a training this afternoon, and as serendipity would have it, I get the time wrong, they can't do it this afternoon, and I just get to go home and take a nap... which lasts till after the sun has set. So, there ya go. Another calendar box "X"ed off.
If you have to go for one of these nuclear cardiac stress tests, it really isn't so bad, in my experience. And Mark and Cindy are happy to be mentioned up here in the blogisphere.
7/7/11
420) Transplant Clinic Scare
July 6, 2011
Wednesday
After the clinic called last week and change my appointment, I arrived at NAMC this morning at 6:50 am. for re-registration (a task required every three months) and then labs, and then my usual clinic visit at 9:10 am. After lab work, I stopped in at the cafeteria for two breakfast tacos and coffee with my 8 am meds; and settled in to reading my new text for the Fall Semester SFBT class.
At the clinic things started being bothersome as Maxine hurriedly cuffed my arm and pumped me up for my BP while asking me questions and rushing through her tasks. My BP: 157 over 70 something... to which I mumbled something like, "probably cause I just sat down and am talking..." Then, after 10 minutes or so (reading time again), Bernadette enters and informs me that my creatinine is up to 1.7, my hemoglobin is down, and my salt is high. Great news!
"One point seven? That's not good. Whats up with that?" She shrugs... and we briefly discuss whether it is really a bad thing or not.
Dr. Lewis comes in and asks me how I'm doing... "okay" I say... "cept for my back pain... and, I know what thats from... hauling rocks the other day..." He has on the table, listens to my chest and back, asks about swelling, has me lay back on the table while he checks my groin and pokes at my new kidney and abdomen in general. Pulls me up to sitting and goes over to look in my record (All this is his usual protocol).
Looking in there at the most recent labs, he seems worried (to me) about it and shares, "After two years it is really too late to be rejection..." and I wonder if he is talking to me or himself. Rejection? Yikes? "So what do you think it's about?" I ask. He runs through a range of things (which I don't exactly rmemeber cause I'm freakin' out), such as "a fluke", "medication issue", or some other unknown problem. He excuses himself to go find the rest of my record and check this out further, commenting... "...they've thinned out your record... excuse me for a few minutes while I go find what I need..." and out he goes.
I sit there in my brain feeling guilty. I must have brought this on myself. I've been too late on my meds too many times... "I'm lazy and no good! (I hear in a parental voice in my head). "Boy, now I've done it... I've ruined my new kidney..." I fret. Then I try to clear my head, take some deep breathes, wiggle my sore shoulders... stand up to get my text book. "I can't focus on THAT right now!" So I sit back down and begin thinking along two channels: don't worry until there is something to worry about & boy, this is a GREAT time to end my anxiety meds!
Dr. Lewis returns and says he thinks he wants me to get two scans so he can look them over, and get scheduled for more labs in a couple weeks and then we'll see whats going on. He asks about my BP and I say it has been running in the mid 120 over 70's usually and he nods at this data. I ask about quitting the Paroxatine and we agree that this is as good a time as ever.
He honestly says he wants more data before making up his mind about the 1.7.
Maxine comes in and asks if I can hang around today and get the ultrasound and the DMSA renal study. "Sure." So, she goes to set them up while Bernadette works up my next appointments and med chart. Maxine returns: the DMSA is scheduled for 1 pm and the ultrasound they'll "squeeze in" before that. First I have to go back to the lab for another blood draw to check my iron.
After the quick lab I trek over to the imaging waiting room and munch on Lorna Doones, drink more coffee, and read another chapter of my text before they are able to "squeeze me in" for my ultrasound. The ultrasound goes easily... Robert the technician is training a young tech on the newer machine than she is used to and she tells me, "I've been doing these for years; he is just showing me how to use this new machine" as if to assure me she knows what she is doing. I'm fine... whatever. They talk about how to do this and that the same and differently while I lay there. She did use warmed lubricant, which I am in favor of. I had to fill my bladder with four large cups of cold water so I was shivering when I got in there. The warm goo and heated blankets helped me settle right in to a comfortable experience.
Then it was back to waiting for my 1 o'clock scan. I walked around in outside in the 99 degree sun for more warmth. The DMSA scan was conducted by Mark (See Post # 337 & 338, March 2009) and we spent some time catching each other up as he set me up for the scan. This scan takes 30 minutes of stillness and I fall into a slumberous meditation / sleep... and before I know it it is over and I am up and ready to head out. Mark asks me what I am driving these days (still the T-100 of course) and he wonders how I would compare F-150's with the Tundra before I leave.
Later: Bernadette calls me at home in the evening to say that Dr. Lewis looked at the scans and they look okay... is concerned that my cyclosporin (Neoral) is higher than it should be so he wants me to take off the little one (25 mg) at night and she'll set up labs for next Monday, five days from now. I ask about my scare and she seems to think things are A-Okay for now. Whew!
Wednesday
After the clinic called last week and change my appointment, I arrived at NAMC this morning at 6:50 am. for re-registration (a task required every three months) and then labs, and then my usual clinic visit at 9:10 am. After lab work, I stopped in at the cafeteria for two breakfast tacos and coffee with my 8 am meds; and settled in to reading my new text for the Fall Semester SFBT class.
At the clinic things started being bothersome as Maxine hurriedly cuffed my arm and pumped me up for my BP while asking me questions and rushing through her tasks. My BP: 157 over 70 something... to which I mumbled something like, "probably cause I just sat down and am talking..." Then, after 10 minutes or so (reading time again), Bernadette enters and informs me that my creatinine is up to 1.7, my hemoglobin is down, and my salt is high. Great news!
"One point seven? That's not good. Whats up with that?" She shrugs... and we briefly discuss whether it is really a bad thing or not.
Dr. Lewis comes in and asks me how I'm doing... "okay" I say... "cept for my back pain... and, I know what thats from... hauling rocks the other day..." He has on the table, listens to my chest and back, asks about swelling, has me lay back on the table while he checks my groin and pokes at my new kidney and abdomen in general. Pulls me up to sitting and goes over to look in my record (All this is his usual protocol).
Looking in there at the most recent labs, he seems worried (to me) about it and shares, "After two years it is really too late to be rejection..." and I wonder if he is talking to me or himself. Rejection? Yikes? "So what do you think it's about?" I ask. He runs through a range of things (which I don't exactly rmemeber cause I'm freakin' out), such as "a fluke", "medication issue", or some other unknown problem. He excuses himself to go find the rest of my record and check this out further, commenting... "...they've thinned out your record... excuse me for a few minutes while I go find what I need..." and out he goes.
I sit there in my brain feeling guilty. I must have brought this on myself. I've been too late on my meds too many times... "I'm lazy and no good! (I hear in a parental voice in my head). "Boy, now I've done it... I've ruined my new kidney..." I fret. Then I try to clear my head, take some deep breathes, wiggle my sore shoulders... stand up to get my text book. "I can't focus on THAT right now!" So I sit back down and begin thinking along two channels: don't worry until there is something to worry about & boy, this is a GREAT time to end my anxiety meds!
Dr. Lewis returns and says he thinks he wants me to get two scans so he can look them over, and get scheduled for more labs in a couple weeks and then we'll see whats going on. He asks about my BP and I say it has been running in the mid 120 over 70's usually and he nods at this data. I ask about quitting the Paroxatine and we agree that this is as good a time as ever.
He honestly says he wants more data before making up his mind about the 1.7.
Maxine comes in and asks if I can hang around today and get the ultrasound and the DMSA renal study. "Sure." So, she goes to set them up while Bernadette works up my next appointments and med chart. Maxine returns: the DMSA is scheduled for 1 pm and the ultrasound they'll "squeeze in" before that. First I have to go back to the lab for another blood draw to check my iron.
After the quick lab I trek over to the imaging waiting room and munch on Lorna Doones, drink more coffee, and read another chapter of my text before they are able to "squeeze me in" for my ultrasound. The ultrasound goes easily... Robert the technician is training a young tech on the newer machine than she is used to and she tells me, "I've been doing these for years; he is just showing me how to use this new machine" as if to assure me she knows what she is doing. I'm fine... whatever. They talk about how to do this and that the same and differently while I lay there. She did use warmed lubricant, which I am in favor of. I had to fill my bladder with four large cups of cold water so I was shivering when I got in there. The warm goo and heated blankets helped me settle right in to a comfortable experience.
Then it was back to waiting for my 1 o'clock scan. I walked around in outside in the 99 degree sun for more warmth. The DMSA scan was conducted by Mark (See Post # 337 & 338, March 2009) and we spent some time catching each other up as he set me up for the scan. This scan takes 30 minutes of stillness and I fall into a slumberous meditation / sleep... and before I know it it is over and I am up and ready to head out. Mark asks me what I am driving these days (still the T-100 of course) and he wonders how I would compare F-150's with the Tundra before I leave.
Later: Bernadette calls me at home in the evening to say that Dr. Lewis looked at the scans and they look okay... is concerned that my cyclosporin (Neoral) is higher than it should be so he wants me to take off the little one (25 mg) at night and she'll set up labs for next Monday, five days from now. I ask about my scare and she seems to think things are A-Okay for now. Whew!
3/13/09
338) In Which Jack Gets a Happy Button
March 10, 2009
Tuesday
Tuesday
NAMC: Waking up... from about 2:30 am til mid to late afternoon I am waking up... very groggy and spacey at first, when I can basically move my head back and forth, talk hesitantly, and think at about 2 wpm (words-per-minute)... but enough to realize I am still alive... and they are telling me bits of news that I can partly comprehend, like... you did gr
eat... the kidney is doing great...
eat... the kidney is doing great...
Johnny came in about 9 so Liz could go to Larry's to sleep: she had been up all night with me. So John watched over me while Liz was gone for a couple of hours or so, while I slept and we talked about fluff and I napped a little... I'm sure it was boring for him.Mark came and rolled me with John along and talked about his motorcycle trips... down the halls and around the corners to get a nuclear submarine... or something... where they put a IV radio isotope tracer in my central line and put me in a machine that showed the flow of urine from kidney to bladder which took 30 minutes... and them back thru the maze to ICU.
Liz came back, John left for lunch. John came back from lunch. I dozed.
Liz came back, John left for lunch. John came back from lunch. I dozed.
Pauline the 
Nurse (from Kenya) comes on and shows me to work the "happy button" which can give me an extra little shot of morphine whenever I feel the pain getting too great. I use it about two times and I can tell you that it sufficiently erases pain any thoughts of pain. And it turns out Paulineis great fun too... she is funny and laughy and makes funny jokes with us and we get to be grand friends and she and Johnny and I have a wonderful discussion about how hard it is to acculturate or keep to the native culture when you have kids and she tells some stories and I tell stories about folks I have known or worked with.
Bernadette stopped by and talked to me about the book that David brought in the morning and and went over the post-op information and then rushed off. Of interest we talked more about politics and her growing up in Switzerland.Liz has to leave again later in the afternoon again to get Shayna & bring her to see me and do her homework under the guidance of MOM. David the Social Worker came to find out how I was doing and I wanted Liz to be here while he was giving info cause it'll all be about insurance and stuff that I want her to know. So I ask David if he can come back when Liz is here and he says, "Sure".
At about 4:30 Pauline gets nervous about getting us up to 4N, the transplant floor. How many have they done recently? Four transplants in three days! That is a lot. Right before we leave to have Loretta the Nurse, who is NOT a gurney driver, take me upstairs, I give the button one more last punch for the road. We pile all my stuff onto the gurney and off we go careening thru the halls and bumping into corners to the elevator UP. Of course Pauline can't come to stay with me in 4N and that is too bad cause I perceive us as great friends already. As we pull up to the room they stop the bed and move it over close to the wall to figure out how to get me in and transferred to my "cheaper" bed, etc. So, I am laying there bored and I move my head to the right and right there, between my railings I see Carol standing back in a little cubby hole between a stack of pull out beds and the wall. "What are you doing in there?" I cry out. "Nothing...waiting for you.." she replies. Huh, well can you come out? Then the nurses move the bed and Carol comes out from her brief entrapment and comes into the room with a 4N nurse Eadi, the two ICU nurses... and we transfer me from the million dollar gurney to cheaper floor gurney. Then John come on and immediately leaves to find the girls. Within three minutes in come John, Shayna, Liz, and Michele! Soon the ICU nurses sign off, then Michele leaves, then Carol and it's just us and the kids and Edie and Lanette the Tech.
Nurse (from Kenya) comes on and shows me to work the "happy button" which can give me an extra little shot of morphine whenever I feel the pain getting too great. I use it about two times and I can tell you that it sufficiently erases pain any thoughts of pain. And it turns out Paulineis great fun too... she is funny and laughy and makes funny jokes with us and we get to be grand friends and she and Johnny and I have a wonderful discussion about how hard it is to acculturate or keep to the native culture when you have kids and she tells some stories and I tell stories about folks I have known or worked with.Bernadette stopped by and talked to me about the book that David brought in the morning and and went over the post-op information and then rushed off. Of interest we talked more about politics and her growing up in Switzerland.Liz has to leave again later in the afternoon again to get Shayna & bring her to see me and do her homework under the guidance of MOM. David the Social Worker came to find out how I was doing and I wanted Liz to be here while he was giving info cause it'll all be about insurance and stuff that I want her to know. So I ask David if he can come back when Liz is here and he says, "Sure".
At about 4:30 Pauline gets nervous about getting us up to 4N, the transplant floor. How many have they done recently? Four transplants in three days! That is a lot. Right before we leave to have Loretta the Nurse, who is NOT a gurney driver, take me upstairs, I give the button one more last punch for the road. We pile all my stuff onto the gurney and off we go careening thru the halls and bumping into corners to the elevator UP. Of course Pauline can't come to stay with me in 4N and that is too bad cause I perceive us as great friends already. As we pull up to the room they stop the bed and move it over close to the wall to figure out how to get me in and transferred to my "cheaper" bed, etc. So, I am laying there bored and I move my head to the right and right there, between my railings I see Carol standing back in a little cubby hole between a stack of pull out beds and the wall. "What are you doing in there?" I cry out. "Nothing...waiting for you.." she replies. Huh, well can you come out? Then the nurses move the bed and Carol comes out from her brief entrapment and comes into the room with a 4N nurse Eadi, the two ICU nurses... and we transfer me from the million dollar gurney to cheaper floor gurney. Then John come on and immediately leaves to find the girls. Within three minutes in come John, Shayna, Liz, and Michele! Soon the ICU nurses sign off, then Michele leaves, then Carol and it's just us and the kids and Edie and Lanette the Tech.
The nursing supervisor stops in and we get into a conversation. He is Jeffrey the Super and is curious about where I came from... El Milagro... and then he says, "Isn't there a guy over there that does a blog?"... and I enthusiastically say, "THATS ME!" and then he tells me his wife, Kim, works there and I did a sketch of her and I reply, "Wow. She was the first person who ever cannulated me! ...And I'm ending this whole circle with you being my Nurse Super. Serendipity! " So I feel an immediate bond with Jeffrey and that is good cause my bloated scrotum and painful penis are taking some close investigation and Susan the Night Nurse from Boerne seems just a little too young and cute to make me feel comfortable messing with the family jewels. Jeffrey says he understands completely and we make a little agreement that he'll take care of that specific area while he is here. Right in here sometime John splits.
The regimen up here on 4N is to get weighed and checked on at 6 a.m. (+BP,blood sugar prick), meds @ 7, various other checks & balances til about 10 or 11, when Bernadette stops in for some education, checking up on me, and Q&A. Nursing shift is from 7 to 7 and each new team comes in to check on me and writes their names and numbers on a white board on the wall: our Nurse is Susan from Boerne (whose aunt owns a condo at River Inn and we talk and come up with the question of Jack's river swimming and rafting for Bernadette. The Tech is ___.
It has been a long day with me being Wacky Jacky and Liz being my wonderful 
Companion, the Voice of Reality and as the day wears down we are TIRED! They bring in a chair for Liz that has a Simmon's Hide-a-bed inside and we make ready for sleep time. Susan and ___ are very helpful, gentle, and professional.
Companion, the Voice of Reality and as the day wears down we are TIRED! They bring in a chair for Liz that has a Simmon's Hide-a-bed inside and we make ready for sleep time. Susan and ___ are very helpful, gentle, and professional.
We turn in and I sleep pretty good, given that the team is waking me up every so often. Liz sleeps like a log!
Tuesday ~ Late Night: It was about 24 hours ago now that Dr. Lewis (assisted by Dr. Sankora) added a new young kidney to my old bubbly polycystic ones and I am dozing along peacefully when Kristy the Nurse (why she came on awake and pondering: I am here in peaceful at 2 is a mystery to me) comes in to check my vitals and see how I am doing. Kristy leaves after telling me that she is married to a guy who has been on the list for 7 years! He had one transplant already and is awaiting his second after the first was taken after a bout with Lupus. She turns off the TV and lights and leaves me quiet in the dim outdoor light filtering in thru the blinds, realizing just how lucky I am to be able to continue on the planet with my work, my wonderful partner and great kids and I just sigh and take it all in until I doze off again.
Tuesday ~ Late Night: It was about 24 hours ago now that Dr. Lewis (assisted by Dr. Sankora) added a new young kidney to my old bubbly polycystic ones and I am dozing along peacefully when Kristy the Nurse (why she came on awake and pondering: I am here in peaceful at 2 is a mystery to me) comes in to check my vitals and see how I am doing. Kristy leaves after telling me that she is married to a guy who has been on the list for 7 years! He had one transplant already and is awaiting his second after the first was taken after a bout with Lupus. She turns off the TV and lights and leaves me quiet in the dim outdoor light filtering in thru the blinds, realizing just how lucky I am to be able to continue on the planet with my work, my wonderful partner and great kids and I just sigh and take it all in until I doze off again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)