Let's Do This!
Greetings from Barnes-Jewish Hospital! Our adventure started this morning at 5:00am when we picked up Dan and Allison. Although, I think we were all nervous there was a sense of calm in the car. My wonderful friend, Kim who is a minister at the church where Doug and I were married met us at the hospital at 5:30am to pray with us before everything got started. The boys checked-in together and we were whisked off to the surgery pre-op holding area. They changed into their fashionable hospital gowns, IVs were started and both of them were giving the nurses a hard time, more so Dan which was expected. Low and behold Doug's pre-op nurse shared with us that her son received a kidney from his father when he was 18. Her son is now 35, a father of two and doing very well. Once again, yet another story of how kidney disease and organ donation has touched so many lives. We met with our respective surgeons, anesthesiologist and nurses with the transplant team who discussed what would happen throughout the surgeries. Dan was taken to surgery around 7:30am and as he was wheeled by Doug he said "Love ya Buddy!" raised his hands in the air and said "Let's go!" I am still amazed that this man is giving my husband the gift of life!!! He is nothing short of amazing. Doug was taken to surgery at 8:30am. We were updated consistently throughout both surgeries. After the surgeon assessed Dan's left kidney to assure it was suitable for donation they started Doug's surgery at 9am. When we received news that Dan's surgery was finished and he was headed to recovery we all breathed a sigh of relief and shed a few tears. Allison was able to see Dan shortly after he was transferred to recovery where he was already cracking jokes with the nurses and pressing the morphine button as often as he could...every 10 minutes. Dan asked Allison how Doug was doing and he was very teary-eyed to hear that Doug was out of surgery and all was well. We were told that Doug's surgery was going to be very lengthy around 4-6 hours but a little before noon I was paged to the desk and was told that the surgeon would be with me shortly. Doug's mom, Becky and I waited for what seemed to take forever but when the surgeon finally arrived he stated "Surgery went well, he is doing great and everything is working. He will be moved to recovery shortly and then to the step down ICU." Literally that was it!!!! We thanked him and as he turned to leave the room I said "So the kidney is working?", just to clarify as the surgeon was a man of few words. He said "Yes the kidney is working." Doug's main concern was the amount of space that they had to work with as his native kidneys are quite large but we were assured that the new kidney fit and all was well. We also had a visit from the anesthesiologist who was gracious enough to take a picture of the kidney that was removed from Dan and now lives in Doug. It is a beautiful, healthy kidney with no cysts. Tears once again filled my eyes knowing what Dan has done for Doug. Becky and I were able to see Doug in recovery around 2:15pm. He was awake, alert and saying his pain was a 3/10. He asked how Dan was and he was relieved to hear that he was doing well. The nurses and doctors are keeping track of his urine output which is a ton at this point, why...because now Doug has a working kidney!!! YAY for urine!!! Around 2:30pm Doug and Dan were moved to the 16th floor which is the renal floor. Dan is now in quite a bit of pain and really nauseated from what they believe to be the morphine so he is being given anti-nausea medicine to counteract the pain medicine which he needs. Doug, at the moment is sitting up reading all the wonderful texts and Facebook messages that we have received throughout the day but the reality is that he is really worried about Dan. He was even able to talk to Claire and Tanner on the phone, who are too young to visit him right now. They will continue to fill Doug with IV fluids as they need to really make his new kidney work and plan on having him up at 5am to sit in a chair. They don't mess around here! Although we are happy to have the surgeries behind us all, now comes the hard part of recovery and healing. THANK YOU for all of the messages we have received today. Even though Allison and I have not been able to respond to all of them please know that we have read them and appreciate every one of them. As the boys start the next phase of their journey please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers!
*On a side note, I left out a very important Thank You on the last blog entry when discussing our children, Claire & Tanner. I want to give a BIG thank you to the parents of our children's friends!!! Forgive me for not naming everyone but there are way to many to do so! These parents have offered to let our children spend the night, let them come over for play dates, take them for ice cream, and have scheduled dinners for both of our families when we come home! From the bottom of my heart thank you friends!!!!!
