Sunday, October 01, 2006
Kidney transplant, hospitals, home!!!
I am home Sunday morning already. Surgery was Wednesday but I'll start from the beginning when we got to hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
John was admitted first and we went to his lovely, private room with ensuite and met some of the staff. Had a 3 hour wait till I was admitted, and boy the time dragged. But at 4pm John and I went back to admissions and I was admitted. Off we went to see where I would spend the night - not such nice accomodation for the donor. I was in the old part of the hospital in a short term ward, 8 beds all full of people recovering from surgery, with only walking space between the beds. My bed was at least by the window, a better view than the naked butt of the woman in the bed next to me LOL. The nurses took my blood pressure and temperature and then told me to go and spend time in John's room until dinner at 5.30pm. So, I returned for my final meal before fasting, but wish I hadn't bothered. Instant potato that had so much butter mixed in it was yellow, runny white sauce with bits of chicken and carrot floating in it and a big cup full of mixed frozen veg. YUCK!!
After making an effort to make it look like I had eaten something I went back to sit with John until sleep time. Got back to John's room in time to hold his hand while the central line was being put into his neck. We had a quiet evening and chatted with various renal staff members until I said goodnight and went back to my ward at 9pm. Naked butt lady was getting dressed to go home YAY.
I slept pretty soundly from 10pm till midnight when the nurses woke me to see if I wanted another drink before fasting. I didn't and then I couldn't get back to sleep, so lay watching lights out of the window until 6am. Then one of the nurses asked if I wanted to see my husband before they got me ready. Short answer - "Yes". So off I trotted and spent 20 minutes with John before I had to head back for my pre-surgery shower.
I was cool, calm and collected until the nurse came to see me just before 8am and said they are coming for you in a minute. Sheer panic washed over me, this really was happening and really was scary. I lay there trying to breathe slowly when John, Linda our renal liaison nurse who has been walking us through everything, and a hospital orderly all arrived. I was still slightly panic sticken, but suddenly remembered I hadn't been given the surgical stockings to wear. So getting them and getting them on gave me something else to focus on. Then we were off, John was able to walk alongside the bed as I was wheeled through corridors and on and off elevators to the holdong bay. I was most impressed that he managed to push his drip and looked like a real patient.
We had a little while in the holding bay to hold hands and then it was time. I held it together a bit better than John, but it was definitely scary. Off into a rabbit warren of corridors, then into a little room with the "gas" team. Injections, calf massagers applied (to stop blood clots) and more chatting. By this time I was just hoping to breathe. A lovely member of the team held my hand and talkd quietly to me which was so calming, and then into theatre. The main gas man asked if I knew Monty Python and said he was hooking me up to the machines that say beep. My hand holder assured me I was ok and they would look after me....and then I woke up in recovery, to a nurse saying "we let your husband know that you are ok." Surgery took just under 4 hours.
From recovery where I was given one dose of morphine for pain I was taken to High Dependency, and my nightmare began. The surgical intern who saw me at pre-admission and wrote the order for post operative medications didn't stipulate a frequency for the pain relief, so the nursing staff couldn't give me any!!! In a short space of time I was in agony, couldn't breathe deeply and was at screaming point. The only doctor in the HD unit was doing a sterile procedure so couldn't sign anything and the nurse didn't know what to do. Luckily after a few hours Linda the renal liaison nurse came to see how I was doing. She hit the ground running, took the medication sheet and hunted down the renal doctors on another floor to get me medication.
I was not a happy patient. When John's renal specialist popped in later to see how I was I said "It seemed like a good idea at the time." He assured me I would feel ok soon.
One night in HD Unit, drain and catheer removed on the Thursday morning, up in the shower and then off again to another room. This time only one floor away from John and only sharing with one other patient.
Although I had been told the kidney was working I hadn't seen or spoken to John. Thursday afternoon Linda arrived with a wheelchair to take me to visit John. At that exact moment my oldest sister arrived, and though it was nice to see her I was disappointed as I asked no one to visit so that I could spend any time I had with John. But my sister came too, we both had to put on gloves and plastic aprons, then went and sat with John. My sister was good and just stayed a few minutes, so John and I got to spend some time together, alone except for the nurse who couldn't leave the room. For the first 48 hours John was nursed in isolation with constant one on one nursing. The room was hot and crowded with stuff and John was not looking great. I managed about an hour and then the pain was getting too much so I was wheeled back to my bed.
I was able to speak to John on the phone Thursday evening and spent 2 hours with him after I was discharged at 10am Friday. That was a scary time though as he had a heart episode and a whole team of doctors descended on the room with ECG monitoring and x-ray machines. I was moved out to the corridor while all was chaos. Eventually they worked out he was having an anxiety attack, everything calmed down and I went back in. My in laws arrived and spent a few minutes with us before taking me home.
I rested here all day Saturday, but am going back to visit John this morning. The kidney is still working and I spoke to John twice yesterday and he sounds a bit brighter. He has talked to the boys, but they can't visit yet as they have coughs.
I have 4 war wounds, one about 4", one about 3" and 2 little ones. All looks ok. Sitting, standing, moving all hurts but is improving. My lips, tongue and floor of my mouth are ulcerated but getting better and I have plenty of bruises, but it is all good. The boys and my in laws have been fantastic, I am just resting.
At least today I can hold John's hand without wearing rubber gloves!!!
I'll post another update after I've seen John.
John was admitted first and we went to his lovely, private room with ensuite and met some of the staff. Had a 3 hour wait till I was admitted, and boy the time dragged. But at 4pm John and I went back to admissions and I was admitted. Off we went to see where I would spend the night - not such nice accomodation for the donor. I was in the old part of the hospital in a short term ward, 8 beds all full of people recovering from surgery, with only walking space between the beds. My bed was at least by the window, a better view than the naked butt of the woman in the bed next to me LOL. The nurses took my blood pressure and temperature and then told me to go and spend time in John's room until dinner at 5.30pm. So, I returned for my final meal before fasting, but wish I hadn't bothered. Instant potato that had so much butter mixed in it was yellow, runny white sauce with bits of chicken and carrot floating in it and a big cup full of mixed frozen veg. YUCK!!
After making an effort to make it look like I had eaten something I went back to sit with John until sleep time. Got back to John's room in time to hold his hand while the central line was being put into his neck. We had a quiet evening and chatted with various renal staff members until I said goodnight and went back to my ward at 9pm. Naked butt lady was getting dressed to go home YAY.
I slept pretty soundly from 10pm till midnight when the nurses woke me to see if I wanted another drink before fasting. I didn't and then I couldn't get back to sleep, so lay watching lights out of the window until 6am. Then one of the nurses asked if I wanted to see my husband before they got me ready. Short answer - "Yes". So off I trotted and spent 20 minutes with John before I had to head back for my pre-surgery shower.
I was cool, calm and collected until the nurse came to see me just before 8am and said they are coming for you in a minute. Sheer panic washed over me, this really was happening and really was scary. I lay there trying to breathe slowly when John, Linda our renal liaison nurse who has been walking us through everything, and a hospital orderly all arrived. I was still slightly panic sticken, but suddenly remembered I hadn't been given the surgical stockings to wear. So getting them and getting them on gave me something else to focus on. Then we were off, John was able to walk alongside the bed as I was wheeled through corridors and on and off elevators to the holdong bay. I was most impressed that he managed to push his drip and looked like a real patient.
We had a little while in the holding bay to hold hands and then it was time. I held it together a bit better than John, but it was definitely scary. Off into a rabbit warren of corridors, then into a little room with the "gas" team. Injections, calf massagers applied (to stop blood clots) and more chatting. By this time I was just hoping to breathe. A lovely member of the team held my hand and talkd quietly to me which was so calming, and then into theatre. The main gas man asked if I knew Monty Python and said he was hooking me up to the machines that say beep. My hand holder assured me I was ok and they would look after me....and then I woke up in recovery, to a nurse saying "we let your husband know that you are ok." Surgery took just under 4 hours.
From recovery where I was given one dose of morphine for pain I was taken to High Dependency, and my nightmare began. The surgical intern who saw me at pre-admission and wrote the order for post operative medications didn't stipulate a frequency for the pain relief, so the nursing staff couldn't give me any!!! In a short space of time I was in agony, couldn't breathe deeply and was at screaming point. The only doctor in the HD unit was doing a sterile procedure so couldn't sign anything and the nurse didn't know what to do. Luckily after a few hours Linda the renal liaison nurse came to see how I was doing. She hit the ground running, took the medication sheet and hunted down the renal doctors on another floor to get me medication.
I was not a happy patient. When John's renal specialist popped in later to see how I was I said "It seemed like a good idea at the time." He assured me I would feel ok soon.
One night in HD Unit, drain and catheer removed on the Thursday morning, up in the shower and then off again to another room. This time only one floor away from John and only sharing with one other patient.
Although I had been told the kidney was working I hadn't seen or spoken to John. Thursday afternoon Linda arrived with a wheelchair to take me to visit John. At that exact moment my oldest sister arrived, and though it was nice to see her I was disappointed as I asked no one to visit so that I could spend any time I had with John. But my sister came too, we both had to put on gloves and plastic aprons, then went and sat with John. My sister was good and just stayed a few minutes, so John and I got to spend some time together, alone except for the nurse who couldn't leave the room. For the first 48 hours John was nursed in isolation with constant one on one nursing. The room was hot and crowded with stuff and John was not looking great. I managed about an hour and then the pain was getting too much so I was wheeled back to my bed.
I was able to speak to John on the phone Thursday evening and spent 2 hours with him after I was discharged at 10am Friday. That was a scary time though as he had a heart episode and a whole team of doctors descended on the room with ECG monitoring and x-ray machines. I was moved out to the corridor while all was chaos. Eventually they worked out he was having an anxiety attack, everything calmed down and I went back in. My in laws arrived and spent a few minutes with us before taking me home.
I rested here all day Saturday, but am going back to visit John this morning. The kidney is still working and I spoke to John twice yesterday and he sounds a bit brighter. He has talked to the boys, but they can't visit yet as they have coughs.
I have 4 war wounds, one about 4", one about 3" and 2 little ones. All looks ok. Sitting, standing, moving all hurts but is improving. My lips, tongue and floor of my mouth are ulcerated but getting better and I have plenty of bruises, but it is all good. The boys and my in laws have been fantastic, I am just resting.
At least today I can hold John's hand without wearing rubber gloves!!!
I'll post another update after I've seen John.
# posted by Sandy @ 7:13 AM 
