So, I said I'd come back and post more about the surgery.
On Nov 15th at 5:05pm, a mere 23 days after being put on the transplant list, my hubby got the call that there was a donor match and that he had to be on the road for a 4 hour drive by 6pm because they needed him there by 10pm.
I was working and while I could have made it out of town in less than an hour, it really wasn't practical, so one phone call later to a friend whom I now call an angel on earth and they were on the road by 5:50pm!
A mountain of phone calls later to make arrangements for my students, packing a couple of bags (since we didn't do that before then because...we had LOTS of time to wait while on the list), getting some cash from my parents, get gas and I too was on the road. The 4 hour drive for me was more like 3 hours with 2 stops for gas. Yes. That's right. I had to make 2 stops for gas. Driving at a deathly fast speed on the highway at night seems to use a lot more gas that usual.
I admit it now on the other side of things that I definitely wasn't the person to be driving my husband to the hospital, but at the time the call came, all I wanted to do was be the person to drive him to the hospital! You see, there was a binder that we got when we met with the team in Halifax. There was a part in the back that gave a bit of information on how to prepare yourself and we hadn't gotten to that part of the binder yet. Hell, we hadn't even looked at the binder yet. We had lots of time to wait! So, we were supposed to discuss and decide on things like who would drive him/me/us and contact people and have them all agree about driving in advance. We were supposed to discuss things like what do we need for finances for living away from home for what was supposed to be an extended period of time (we were told at the meeting by the team the average is 3 months in hospital, but if there were complications up to a year in hospital), what our plans were if things went well and if they didn't go well, such as what the person wanted for a funeral as well as sign forms and fill in paperwork to be given to them upon arrival of things like alternative decision maker, contact person, etc. So, um yeah. I wanted him to fill that out as I drove him down, but it didn't work that way.
So, our angel on earth got him safely to the hospital with me a mere 30 minutes behind them even though I left 2 hours after them! LOL! I can not stress enough that you should NOT drive alone. There was no way anyone else would have been driving me. They would have been far too slow for my anxieties, but it would have been nice to have something other than only my dialogue rolling around in my head. :P
After numerous delays (including a fire in the hospital) he was taken to surgery. I missed him being taken down. I won't go in to the gory details, but let's just say the fact that I missed him going was NOT a pleasant situation or sight as my GA disorder was in high gear. The nurses will not be forgetting THAT scene for a while, nor will my other angel on earth whom I hadn't seen since high school who showed up at the hospital that night just to sit so I would no longer be alone. Poor thing just had NO idea what happened, what I would do or how fast I can really walk! LOL!
Anyway, I am thankful to say that the implantation of a kidney and pancreas went well and they functioned within 24 hours. Things have not been perfect - he lost his sight after the surgery and it has slowly been coming back and the bottom part of the incision split, so he is still 7 weeks after surgery still dealing with an open wound to the fascia and has a machine on 24/7 trying to speed the healing process, but he has had no pain medication since the day after surgery and his blood work has stayed relatively stable. We are currently dealing with a potential kidney issue, but he thinks he knows why the blood work has gone sky high and he has to go in for emergency blood work in the morning, so hopefully we will know more tomorrow. If not tomorrow, Monday at the latest as that is when he has his regularly scheduled bloodwork.
But, there have been blessings and miracles all around. He got both organs. There was a fellow who ended up being a room mate for a few days who went in to surgery expecting a kidney & pancreas, but come out only to be told the pancreas wasn't viable. How devastating it was for that family. We were truly blessed that not only did he get both organs, but that both worked right away. He has been 7 weeks without needing to take any insulin. He was sent home for Christmas. Truly, miraculous considering he was minimum 12 weeks in hospital and he was home in 4! That's not to say that he is home to stay, though I hope he is because that means no serious complications, but anything can happen and he may have to go back to the surgery city, but for now we is healing slowly, finding more stamina daily and the organs are still working. Not much more we can ask for.
We can only hope that your Christmas/holiday season brought happiness and miracles for you & yours as it did to us! Here's hoping for a happy & health-filled 2012!
2 comments:
I'm not sure your "angels on earth" would consider themselves that. They may think of themselves simply as having done what any friend would do in the same circumstance. They may be grateful that they could help, and made a difference, and that you are happy with the service they provided.
I hope that your husband's recovery continues to be without major incident and that it winds up helping to get him back on his feet and doing what he (and you) want to do.
It was much more than a service provided. It was a large gift of time as they lost time with their family and from work with no advance warning. They could feel resentful for being asked without prior discussion because I do think that it's hard enough to say 'no' to people, let alone when they ask you to help them save their life but they haven't given any indication of that and most of all, the driver kept my hubby cool, calm and collected which is something I could never have done in that time and in the place, which all rolled up together make them both unequivocal angels on earth.
Post a Comment