Week at the hotel

Jake tested positive for C.Diff., so he'll probably in the hospital until Friday. It's a Thanksgiving party on the renal floor! He's tired, but generally improving. Kidney is still strong.  

Over the years, I have developed a taste for the Flanigan's Thanksgiving special:

I think it's dine-in only, but I'll check.  It's not really logistically possible or enjoyable to eat a full Thanksgiving dinner in a hospital room.  

Before this week's events, I mail-ordered this monstrosity --the "Pie-Caken" --  from Goldbelly:

 

It's like a turducken, except its a pecan pie, a pumpkin pie, a spice cake and an apple pie layered together with cinnamon buttercream.  It arrived at home today.  I'll bring it to the hospital on Thursday.

Morning report from the barristas

No definitive report this morning.  Kidney numbers are still very good.  Heart rate is back down to reasonable levels. Still some achey pain, but nothing piercing.  No C. Diff. test results. That test takes a little time to run,  so it's not likely that we would have a response today.

My job is to bring the oat milk iced lattes from the hospital coffee shop.  They have a neat machine that seals the top of the cold drinks.

Looks a bit like a reel to reel tape player.  For you kids, that was the pre-cassette tape mechanism for high fidelity. 8 track was lower fidelity. (Do I own a reel to reel deck? Of course I do.) The drinks come out like this:

You get a straw with a pointy end so you can pierce the top.  As an experienced hospital dad, I'd say their coffee vendor is pretty good.  For some reason, I give extra barrista points when the coffee vendor is a kiosk/cart as opposed to a permanent installation.  

C. Diff.? :(

Jake's getting re-admitted back into the hospital.  It appears that he has C. Diff (not certain, but possible). That's a hospital-bourne bacterial infection that causes bad colon stuff.  It's a common but unfortunate side effect of being in the hospital.  I'm sure there are a number of previous 2007 and 2009 blog entries about C. Diff.   Yuck.

I'm sad. On the other hand, if that's what has been causing his discomfort, it's good to have an answer and a solution. Jen will do the today and overnight shift, and I'll do the tomorrow shift. 

Jake has fewer medical issues than our older dog. Since this is a last minute thing, the dog will stay home and I'll give him his meds and shots.  Last week, it cost $500.00 a day to board that dog, due to all the medical requirements. His younger brother cost $50.00 a day to board.

 

Checkup

Jake went back to the transplant clinic for a checkup. He feels pretty crappy, but most of the blood tests are pretty good. A few medicine adjustments, a stop off at Jimmy Johns, and heading home. If he can eat Jimmy John's, he can heal from surgery.

One surprise. They want Jake to do a press conference tomorrow.  Details to follow.

Family (part 2.)

 He's home. He's stable. Hopefully no more hospital visits until the Monday scheduled checkup.

I only have one picture from the family lounge in the hospital. Thanks Alex!

 and, as promised, there's one video of Jake walking in the hospital - with sound!

A hot ticket

We spent the morning in the ER, but we are now home.  His blood tests show that the important things are working well.  There's no good explanation for the pain and discomfort.  We shall see. 1500cc of IV saline for good luck, and he was discharged.

We got there around 8am.  By the time we left at 2pm, the ER was completely packed.  There were beds and triage chairs in the hallways. None of that was there when we started.  Apparently Saturday morning ER is a hot ticket. Maybe we could have sold our spot on Stub Hub.

Back in gray.

Tough night. Feels yucky. Back in the ER for tests and such. A bunch of blood diagnostic tests this morning, but all blood tests are good and normal (so the kidney is OK).  His long awaited and one-year backlogged Yu Gi Oh ceramic pots arrived yesterday. To feel sick in the face of that acquisition is a downer.

PS - I have a hard time deciding whether to spell it gray or grey. 

The Eagle has Landed..

 Or Shady's back.  Whichever.

They took the catheter out of his chest today. It had been there for several months, and was quite painful.  That felt like the end of a long journey.

Once that thing was out, he had a few hours of recovery, and then it was time to go home!

Now it's time to celebrate with America's greatest national treasure (Liberace).

 

Slow and steady

 One of the many medications looks like honey mustard dressing. Gross, but tasteless.

Foley catheter is out. Dialysis catheter to be removed today. Hopeful for a hospital discharge today, but it could be tomorrow.

Bad news- since Jake and the other transplant patients are immunosuppressed, the hospital's emotional comfort dogs (Freedom and Honey) aren't allowed to visit. Maybe if we dress them up like medical staff?  Once they get to the room, they can reveal their true identities.

Hospital Status

 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.

Cruising the floor.

Jake's been doing laps of the floor every few hours.  But he hasn't been racing against the other patients.

 The rules of the floor are clear. No wagering.  On the other hand, there are no rules against Zamboni racing.

The winner gets something from the ice cream machine, which has a very odd selection of treats.

Morning report - (spoiler alert)

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.

I am starting to obtain some of the in-surgery pictures.  The kidney would have fit neatly into one of the pneumatic containers.

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.

 

Candace Cameron Bure says...

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).  

Is that the DOOM soundtrack I hear?

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.

I have video of him walking, but I couldn't decide what background music to use, and got stuck in a creative blockage.  You can hum either the guitar solo from Freebird or the DOOM soundtrack.  Your choice.

Meanwhile, Remy is doing amazingly well.  Their family is chillin':

It looks like Remy will go home today.  Amazing.

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.   

In the Room

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. 

 

Post-op report

 

Jake is out of surgery. It went very well. The kidney is already working, which is a big improvement over last time (where it took weeks to kick in). 

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.

Wanna see something cool? A kidney on ice!

 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?

 

Waiting - Deja vu

Waiting for them to begin the procedures. No sense of timing yet. I'm a little suspicious about one item. Back in 2009, I discussed the merits of the Big Texas cinammon roll from the hospital vending machines. You can see the 2009 version at

 https://jacobsrecuperation.blogspot.com/2009/05/getting-ready-for-check-in-tomorrow.html

The Big Texas is still in the vending machine. But the label doesn't mention any of the previous honors. It used to be four-time vending machine "Pastry of the Year" champ - it said so right on the label. Now - nothing.

Meanwhile, here's Remy and Jake together (how awkward that they showed up in the same outfit):

And here's the superhero and the superheroine surgeon:

Family...

So - there's stuff going on. The quick version - 1. Jake graduated from college with a double major in Philosophy and Theology in May 2023. Yay.

2. After graduation, his kidney started to fail pretty rapidly. So he eventually went on dialysis.

3. We are blessed to have a kidney donor, and Jake's going in for kidney transplant surgery tomorrow. His donor hero is Remy Cross, who grew up with Jake (and who is a proud Duke grad). They have known each other for a VERY long time. Remy is far left, Jake is far right.

4. The donor organ removal surgery starts at 9am. Jake's transplant probably starts around noon or so. Details will follow.

5. I was talking with Jake about how we could strengthen the family bond while he's stuck in the hospital. As a result of his previous medical travails, he's got an incredible resistance to anesthesia, and will be sleepless. Therefore there's only one obvious way to celebrate family in the proper sense - a commitment to watch all ten Fast and Furious movies in a row.

Quick update...

I was reading the blog for the first time in a while, and came across the initial Neurologist prognosis (after the strokes) of a future in "special ed". Jake just submitted his application last week for a Fulbright Scholarship. Pretty cool, eh?