One of the many medications looks like honey mustard dressing. Gross, but tasteless.
First and foremost, 13 minutes of Veterinarian's Hospital:
Now that's done.
Jake is supposed to have both his chest dialysis catheter and his other (more painful and awkward) Foley catheter removed tomorrow at 7am. Go ahead and Google/Bing "Foley catheter for men.".... Yup. It's like stepping on a Lego, but as a medical treatment.
Jake's been doing laps of the floor every few hours. But he hasn't been racing against the other patients.
The winner gets something from the ice cream machine, which has a very odd selection of treats.
The head transplant doctor came and said that Jake is on transplant "cruise control". That's a good thing - it means that everything is going according to plan. It was a bad thing when my high school academic advisor said that I seemed to be on academic cruise control and not improving. Context matters.
Later today, they are planning to take out his dialysis catheter that he's had for the past few months. That's welcome news - it's very uncomfortable.
I'm back to observing some of the unusual sights in the hospital. First and foremost, I want any excuse to play with the pneumatic tubes that connect the different parts of the hospital.
Yes, that's the actual new kidney! As you can see, you need to work through my dumb humor to get to the good stuff.
Afternoon quiz. For each quote - is this a quote (1) during our hospital stay, or (2) from a Hallmark Movie?
1. The question isn't who's going to let you. The question is - who’s going to stop you?
2. If you see a man drowning, you must try to save him, Even if you cannot swim.
3. That’s what Big Tex wants you to think.
4. Now you have my Kidney. Keep it next to yours and bring it back to me.
5. Eleanor Roosevelt once said a person is like a teabag. You never know how strong they are until they're in hot water.
6. You’re my superhero. I wouldn’t be here without you.
7. It's one of the great mysteries of life. You never know quite what's going to happen next.
8: Go towards the light.
9: I am so grateful to all of you for giving me this second chance for life. I will forever be grateful to all of you, my superheroes.
10: There’s real magic helping other people.
Now for the answers - two hours later.
The numbering got screwed up in the initial version. The hospital quotes are 3, 6, 8 and 9. The rest are Hallmark (they said heart in the original #4, but this was better).
Things are going well. Jake's BUN is normal and creatinine is 2.1 Those are his best numbers since 2007! His online chess rating is still stuck in the 900s, but he's working on it (he started last month). I offered to help him cheat against the grandmasters, but he was unwilling to make the full commitment (obscure chess humor-https://kotaku.com/youtube-chess-anal-beads-magnus-carlsen-hans-niemann-1851020457).
He walked the hall this morning. It hurt a lot, but he did it.
Thank you for all the messages of support on the various social media platforms. My Myspace page is lighting up! Pro tip - If you leave a message on this blog, it shows up as "anonymous" unless you type your name.
We are in a patient room (713) in the renal transplant wing. Remy is in the adjoining room, and is recovering well. The staff may have the patients get up and walk the floor as early as tonight. We shall see. We'll all be here for at least a few days (probably).
I found some good video of the hospital experience.
On a related note, I also found an article exploring issues of segregation in that same hospital (and throughout society). https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/12/28/inequality-and-segregation-in-the-workplace-lessons-from-richard-scarrys-what-do-people-do-all-day/
Important note - Jake will be immunosuppressed for the foreseeable future. So (unlike the video) he can't have visitors, and can't receive fresh foods or flowers.
It looks like it hurts a lot (because it does):
When the surgeon came out to give us the report, she said that he told the surgery team "I love you guys. You are saving my life." And then the anesthesia knocked him out. She said that nobody had ever told her anything like that before, and that the surgery team was choked up.
We are waiting to get moved out of post-op into a room. That may take a few more hours. Or not. Jake is texting his friends, so he's mostly awake. He did note that he'd probably have to skip yoga class today.
Here are some pics from the kidney removal procedure, including a kidney on ice:
That's the kidney (on ice) that the surgeons are poking in the last picture.
Who is the bravest? The donor, the recipient, or the dad who was willing to eat the stuffed cabbage special in the hospital cafeteria?
When your kid isn’t feeling well, the best temporary medicine is to get them talking about something that really interests them. All of a sudden, their eyes open up wider, and they show a spark.
Jake’s been out of school for over a month. He’s been achy and nauseated. Luckily, there have been two separate events that have kept him from sleeping 12+ hours each day – the release of Pokemon Black and White on October 7 (he finished it in a week), and the release of Skylanders:Giants on October 21.
Since he’s my kid, he compulsively multitasks while playing his Nintendo DS/Sony PSP games. He usually listens to and watches a sitcom on the iPad via Netflix streaming while playing his game. He plowed through 12 full years of SNL episodes, and has now gotten through 3+ seasons of Monk (the Tony Shaloub show). Is there any other 12 year old who watches Monk?
After a month of pleading, Jen agreed with me and we’ve taken Jake off the insulin. He’s has the same blood sugar spikes that he had when he was on the medication. If the medication wasn’t going to change anything, I didn’t want it.
We’re hoping he starts back in school tomorrow. He lasted through 3.5 hours of Bar Mitzvah party on Friday night, and 4 hours of Yu Gi Oh tournament on Saturday. He’s felt crummy today, but I’m still hopeful for tomorrow.
Jake’s been on the mega steroid program for a few weeks. It seems to have stalled the kidney issues, but it’s made him diabetic. He’s been on a 5-times-a-day blood sugar testing schedule with three insulin injections a day. The combo of the steroids and the insulin have made him bloated and have caused him to feel lousy. He’s missed three weeks of school. He feels so bad that he doesn’t want to sit at his computer and play his games.
So what’s he been doing, you ask? He sits in bed and plays old Pokémon Gameboy games. He’s trying to improve his Pokémon scores on his Gameboy. This will allegedly help him when Pokémon Black and White 2 comes out on October 7.
Since he’s a born multitasker, he does this while listening to old Saturday Night Live episodes on the iPad. He’s plowed through dozens and dozens of episodes – mostly in the Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon eras. Yuck.
