Day Two/Day Three - Good Bye ICU...Hello Neighbor Dan!

Sorry I did not update yesterday. It was a LONG day! I intended on writing last night but once I laid down I was asleep in no time!

Day Two/Day Three

Sleep was not in the cards for Doug on Tuesday evening due the large amount of steriods that he was given during and after the transplant. I spent the night with him and everytime I looked over he was wide awake when in reality all he needed to do was sleep and rest. It didn't help that in the ICU they check your vitals every hour so he would have been up anyway. At 5:00am the nurse was in to get Doug out of bed for a weight check and sit him up in a chair. The doctor(s) eventually came to visit and said that everything still looks great with the kidney, it's producing a ton of urine and that his blood creatinine was now a 2.45. Creatinine is an indicator of how well the kidney is functioning. A normal blood creatinine range is from .6 to 1.2. When Doug arrived for the transplant his creatinine was around 7. I can't remember the last time we saw a number in the 2 range. We just had a visit with our coordinator who said that today his creatinine is 1.2! THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!! His pain was manageable throughout the day yesterday so he was taken off the morphine drip this morning and is now on oral pain medicine. Wednesday was a day filled with meeting our doctors, social worker and also the post-transplant coordinator, who will be helping us manage his labs and new medicines after we leave the hospital which right now seems overwhelming and very scary but I know in time it will become routine, our "new normal." Dan is doing good but still in a bit of pain as they told him day three would be the worst day. He was able to keep the morphine pump until this afternoon so now he is on oral pain medicine. Thankfully, his nausea has subsided after receiving an anti-nausea patch. I think byfar the best part of yesterday occurred after Doug was moved out of the ICU to a room two doors away from Dan who happened to be his first visitor. Dan was saving his first walk to come see him. It was a special moment for all of us! Although it was a short 15 minute visit it was so good to see them together, now bonded for life...literally! They have seen each other a few times today and I am sure more walking/visits are on the agenda for later in the evening. Last night also brought three little visitors for Doug and Dan. Claire, Tanner and Quinten were excitied to come see their Daddy's to make sure they were ok! It was so good to see the kids with their dads and it was definitely a bright spot in the boy's evenings!

I know that Allison and I have been asked when Doug and Dan will be released. Right now we do not know and we can only assume. They have talked about Dan possibly leaving tomorrow but he can only leave if his pain is manageable. The staff talked to Doug yesterday about leaving tomorrow but he did not have a good night last night and after getting sick this morning he is now back on a liquid diet meaning they will not let him leave until Saturday or Sunday. There are a few other minor not so pleasant details with Doug but I will spare you those...you can thank me later! :)

Hopefully, I will have time to update later this evening on the rest of the days happenings! Until then thanks for following our journey.