Well folks, Saturday was a busy one for all of us. We started out going to Tristan’s Pinewood Derby with the Cub Scouts! He was so excited about it. I was grateful that I could carve out the time to make his car with him and get it ready to race. It took a bit over the week, but we got it done and we raced!
It was fun for Leatha, Cameron and Grandma Kelly as well. One blessing we have got from the COVID stuff over the year is the ease of technology. Leatha was able to get on Skype from the Pinewood Derby, to Brenda and Amelia up at the hospital. They got to talk to all of us, and see Tristans car race as well as a bunch of the other silly cars there. It was great that they could be there and share the experience while still being in the hospital.
Amelia did pretty good yesterday at the start. They continue to watch her blood pressures and labs and try to keep them in the proper ranges. It is a bit of a challenge, the new kidney has it’s own ideas apparently. She is up and down on some things and it may be a few weeks before it is all completely figured out.
She did get out of the room for a while and go for a ride over to the clinic side, which was closed. She still has to avoid a lot of people because she is much more immunocompromised than she was before.
It is nice to be able to go over there because it is all closed on the weekends. She took another trip on Saturday night over there and we only saw 2 other people…one of them being her doctor! That is where the nephrologists offices are.
Amelia has had a good time talking to the kids over Skype and the phone, and arguing over cats with Leatha. Some of the things related to the transplant, and the surgery itself are hitting her hard, and she is a bit overwhelmed at times with all of the doctors, tubes, and people congratulating her for her kidney. She is usually a very private kid and would rather have all of this attention just go away for a while. But we will get through it, She will get through it.
Amelia is one of the strongest people I have ever met. She spent yesterday with her pain growing but not wanting to bother the nurses too much. She hides a lot from the outside world so they don’t worry so much about her. She has had friends in school that didn’t ever know she had her first transplant. She is a trooper and just wants to be normal.
She was in fairly good spirits earlier last night, even to the point of arguing over the cats with Leatha. It was a funny conversation over pretty much a non-issue.
Later Saturday was a bit more exciting. He blood pressure decided to crash a bit and she felt terrible. They figured that, even though she drank a bunch yesterday, her new kidney was pumping it off too fast and making her somewhat dehydrated. She needed fluid via IV. That helped her blood pressure and heart rate. Her labs this morning showed more ups and downs, so she has some diet adjustments to try and get more magnesium and potassium.
Right now, she is finally down to one IV tube. She has had quite a few over the past few days. Down to one now. ONE! She was able to get up and actually get dressed in more than a hospital gown for the first time since Tuesday.
She is looking forward to going home for sure. What is needed for that? I’m glad you asked. The answer is, it depends. It depends on her blood pressure being stable, her being able to go the bathroom consistently on her own, and some of her other labs. She gets to have labs twice a week for the next month, as well as twice weekly clinic visits. They keep really good track of new transplant patients. We did the same thing12 years ago with her first transplant, but she doesn’t remember any of that. We are hoping that she will be able to go home tomorrow, but it could easily be Tuesday, it all depends on wht her body decides to do. Hopefully all will go well tonight and into tomorrow morning.
Thanks again to you all, there will be more to come as we know it.
Still coming to you live, 5 days into the new kidney,
-Justin
