Bruce was taken to ICU early and taken off breathing machine and sedation at 8am. He did very well and was aware of the time so first thing he wondered was what took so long and how in the world it was 8am. So I told him a little bit but the Dr. and I filled him in more later.
The Nephrologist that was the one concerned about the kidney not reacting like it should came to see us this morning. He was basically the one who pushed to do the surgery thinking something wasn't right. Not everyone agreed. He said he felt confident in the outcome now. He mentioned how much work the surgeon had to do to the kidney and that it can take it awhile to wake up and function. It could be hours or days. Bruce may need a dialysis treatment tomorrow if his blood levels look worse in the morning. Today his levels were not that bad considering what he went through. He actually started making urine again already....so that is a great sign. And his BP is normal. As in normal for the general population, not normal for Bruce and that never happens. The weird thing about it is that he was not given as much BP meds as he was getting the day before. It could be the pain medicine but I don't remember that ever making a difference before. So it is remarkable if that is because of the kidney working. We will soon see...
Basically he is starting all over like last week never happened. So today was the typical day of narcotic pain meds for the intense pain that makes him not want to move an inch. He only got liquid diet and slept most of day. Pain should get better by friday and he should be up again moving by then. The big deal is the creatin level but it may take awhile to see a drop in it after putting the kidney through shock.
Around lunch time they put in request to move back to the transplant floor to a new room. At 10pm tonight, it had not happened. I hope they don't do it to him in middle of night. No matter what, it's a good sign that he is stable and doesn't need the ICU monitors. I tried to nap in ICU today and it was like being in the middle of the ER tv show. Mostly because of the people working there being so loud, constant yelling, socializing, banging things around right in front of the room. I thought the ICU was a quiet place. Poor Bruce, he will have a horrible night. They also kick you out, no visitors can stay at night.
Tomorrow I am positive he will feel better from the pain and hopefully he progresses quickly.
Easter Everyday
8 years ago
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Now you know why I have always said that hospitals are no place for sick people. It seems that at night there is constant noise, movement, talking, alarms going off, and people being paged in those hospitals that still use the "broadcast sound" systems. Being a retired nurse I am too familiar with all this and always try to get sent home asap, but in some cases that is not always advisable. ICU's are the worst because of the degree of illness of the patients it seems there is always some crisis being handled, and thus people, machines and noise. Hopefully this is the last setback in this scenario and Bruce can proceed with a rapid recovery. The normal BP is such a great sign. Keep focusing on whatever positive things are happening and you will soon find your family will be adapting to its "new normal" which at least will not include dialysis, hypertension, headaches, nausea, seizures and all the other negatives you all have been enduring.Many many thanks to your wonderful and generous donor.
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