Home Sweet Home

Things are going well, finally.

I am back at work a lot, and Gail is staying at home with the pups. She is still really tired and low-energy, but she is not in much pain. She takes herself on a little short walk most days. She has to have blood drawn locally on Mondays and Thursdays, and that is time-consuming, but not a big deal.

So things have settled down. I think now she just has to recuperate from the surgery itself. The transplant center says all her blood numbers are perfect.

Things will be blissfully boring for a while, we hope!!

Headed home

Headed home
Originally uploaded by gr8what

Gail came home on March 23rd wearing the socks Sarah knitted for her so many months ago. She is doing great. Our deepest thanks go out to all of you who wrote and called and visited. Your support made all the difference!

And words cannot express our gratitude to the person and his or her family who donated her new kidney and pancreas. The expanse of our joy was deepened by your sacrifice.

Look ma! No central line in my neck!!

Look ma! No central line in my neck!!
Originally uploaded by gr8what

We measured the success each day by how many lines and tubes were removed. This was a great day, because the central line was removed.

She walks!

She walks!
Originally uploaded by gr8what

Notice she has her glasses on! Nothing wakes you up quite like having your glasses on!

She did a good amount of walking around on the floor, building up her strength so she can come home. Everywhere she went, she had to drag the IV pole around, so that sort of slowed her down a little.

Proboscis

Proboscis
Originally uploaded by gr8what

Here is Gail a day or two after surgery! She is out of the ICU and in a regular patient room on 9 Long, the kidney/pancreas/liver transplant unit. She has an oxygen tube, a nasal/grastro tube (to keep her stomach empty), and a central line into her neck to deliver drugs.

In the ICU

In the ICU
Originally uploaded by gr8what

Here is a picture from March 17th or 18th. Gail is in the ICU, sitting up. She has many inscrutable tubes going in her and out of her. She enjoyed having friends visit her, even tho she got pooped out pretty quickly!

We're Number 1!

We talked to our transplant coordinator yesterday, and he said there has been a little movement on the list. A man got called for a transplant yesterday, and once his transplant happens, Gail will be number one on the regional list.

Now you may have thought she was already #1 on the list. Well, she was at the top...among the handfull of people at the top of the list. But now, she really is the first name; assuming the other transplant happened.

So, my little statistician brain tells me, if they did 19 kidney/pancreas transplants all last year, and Gail's blood type (A) is 34% of the population in the US, then...ticka ticka tocka...she would be an appropriate recipient for 6.5 transplants a year, which is ... one about every two months.

So, statistically speaking (aka: having nothing to do with the real world), she should get a call in two months, which would be in the end of April, which would really comply with the Principal of Inconvenience. That alone give great credence to my prognostication!

However, there are few things in the world quite as random as the availability of organs, so we'll keep our suitcases packed and ready.