Dana Daily

So much has happened in the last few days. The surgeon wanted to discharge Sal on Friday, but I hated that idea because I wasn't confident he was feeling all that great, that issues had truly been worked out, and I had concerns that we wouldn't be able to get in touch with anyone over the weekend if something went wrong. They discharged him on Monday instead, September 27, one full week after his transplant. He seemed pretty Monday evening. He wanted a wheel chair to my car, and that seemed reasonable to me. He had been in bed for a week so it made sense. I got him home with no problems and Seth was ecstatic to see him. He complained of some pain, but that was to be expected. On Tuesday, he was "okay." Still complaining of pain, but getting through the day. The Home Care nurse stopped in, took a look at everything, checked his meds, got us in the system, and I had no cause for concern. On Wednesday, Sal woke up with a fever of 99.8 on one thermometer and 100.1 on anot...

This morning we had a 9am meeting with the the in-patient transplant coordinator and the pharmacists. My fears that morning would not be the best time for Sal were realized. When I arrived he had a headache, probably a side effect of Cellcept, one of the anti-rejection meds. I could tell me he wasn't going to participate in this meeting, and having us in the room was only going to make things worse. I told the coordinator we needed to find another place to talk. She resisted at first wanting him to also hear what she had to say, but he wouldn't have been able to focus anyway. We went through a packet of information, and while it's a lot much of it wasn't new. The difference is now this is becoming a reality instead of an eventuality. The pharmacists went through his list of medication again and talked about dosing and frequency. They have cheat sheets to make it nearly foolproof.  He will have HomeHealth nurses for an as-of-yet unspecified period of time based on insura...

I talked to Sal's nurse and finally him about 9am this morning. He is tired (duh 😛) He was woken up every hour overnight as they checked his vitals and other numbers. Potassium was a bit high and magnesium was low. Until they're able to get that balance back he is going to feel kind of blah. Not to mention, recovering from major surgery. He's sore, but the incision looks good and seems to be healing. They want him getting out of bed, walking around the room, sitting in a chair. That part is a whole lot like my c-section recoveries, which makes sense - transplanted kidneys are placed in the lower abdomen for several reasons; namely proximity to the bladder and easy access if problems arise. Anyway, I stayed with him for a couple hours, and he carried on a conversation, but I could also tell he was ready for me to go. I think he's as much mentally exhausted as anything. It's a lot to process. You have no time to wrap your head around the fact that you're getting ...

At approximately 2am, Sal received the call we knew would be coming but weren't expecting. . .there's a possible kidney available for him at Allegheny General Hospital. The caller advised him to finish dialysis, and then head on over to the hospital with an overnight bag in the morning. He woke me up to relay this information. Then, he went back to sleep, and I did not. I am not so worried about Sal. He's doing great on dialysis and can continue with it, if this donor is not a match. However, I am heartbroken for the family. I know Sal would willingly continue dialysis if this child could live. Once again I question and ponder the fairness of life, and why. The possible kidney is coming from a "very young" child. Based on what we know, this means one under the age of 5. Since this is a pediatric donor, they must first see if the kidney can be "split." We're not entirely sure what that means. However, he was told upon arrival at the hospital that they...