Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Home before bedtime

I was able to collect Irving from the 9th floor around 6 pm this evening and take him home, along with his faithful foley catheter. Docs decided to start him on a new med this evening in advance of the catheter removal tomorrow afternoon in the transplant clinic office.

He is very tired after waking up at 4 this morning. His heart biopsy was done by 9 am - a nice change from the 3 pm time slot he got last week. He spent the day in his room reading and napping. The prograf (anti-rejection drug) is causing him to become increasingly shaky, apparently more than is normal. So that will be looked at in Thursday's heart transplant clinic visit.....the drug is essential, but the shaking and dropping things is very frustrating to him.

We were delighted to discover this afternoon that his second leaky spot had magically dried up, so now we just have to deal with the kidney incision. I was taught today how to change the dressing so that it will stay fairly dry and heal well. Very glad that no surgery was needed to deal with this situation, and that his new organs are performing beautifully. Just need to get past the little surgical annoyances and deal with the drug side effects, which will happen eventually!
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownMarch 4, 2010 at 12:06 PM

    Bob & Cheryl,

    Congrats on your new organs and welcome to the transplant community. I received a new heart on May 11,2007 and so far I am doing pretty well. I saw the note about "the shakes" and I tell patients (I volunteer at my TX center) to not eat peas with a spoon because you'll put someone's eye out and never eat soup without wearing a raincoat. Mine tremors were also frustrating to the point where I sat on my hands a lot. Hang in there, it all gets better with time.

    I wish you well.

    Don

    http://My2ndHeartBeat@Wordpress.com

    My2ndHeartBeat@Gmail.com

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RJ/Bob/Irv is a 61-year-old beloved husband, father, uncle, brother, motor racing fanatic, and Livermore resident who received a heart and kidney transplant in February of 2010. Bob's recent years have been defined by his health, which forced him into early retirement. Unfortunately, many of his days were spent in a dialysis center or at various medical appointments, primarily due to his living with diabetes for over 40 years. Numerous were panic visits to various Emergency Rooms all over California for treatment of chest pain. But now no more dialysis and no more late-night dashes to UCSF! The main focus of Bob's family, friends, and doctors has been a prompt transplant, so that he can get back to traveling with his Sweetie, driving fast cars, enjoying great music and laughing with his friends. This blog will function as a way to communicate with all interested parties and to keep everyone informed. And hopefully it can serve a great purpose also, in making people more aware of the importance of organ donation and how each life saved has a positive effect on dozens of related friends and relatives.