Annual Fishing Trip

In April, Derrek went with his friends to Port Aransas for their annual (and extremely competitive) fishing trip. I'm happy to say that my man's team won. Again. I'm sad to say there was only one picture that was blog appropriate, thanks to our dear friend, Tony. That's all I'm going to say about that.

A Look Back

I've wanted to get these pictures up for a long time (since we knew the tranplant was going to happen) and reading Cassell's blog today finally inspired me to get it done! Here's a look back at Chris and Derrek from the beginning.

Over the Hump...We Think

Well Derrek has had a rough couple of days since we've been home. I've kept him on pain medication every four hours since Sunday. He's also taking a medication for gout that they prescribed at the hospital. However, today he is getting everywhere on his own (with crutches). He showered!!! (It's been a week.) The swelling in his knee went down. We took a drive. Although his day got off to a very rough start (long story) there was definite progress today.
We did get into our local doctor on Monday. I had to have my cousin/brother-in-law (yeah, its weird, I know), Adam come help me get Derrek to the car and into the doctor's office. He was so weak and on the verge of passing out all morning so I needed a big guy to catch him!!! I feel like I was failing him as a nurse because I couldn't get him to eat or drink enough!!! In fact, he's still not. It started with his fear of having to go to the bathroom and anticipating how we were going to get him there (it was scary every time!) and I think all of the medication is affecting his hunger too. I was really wishing Monday morning, he still had an IV pumping fluids through him. Dr. Peet was great and very thorough and ran some blood tests. Derrek's levels of uric acid (the acid that crystalizes in your joints to cause the excrutiating pain they call gout) weren't even as high as the last time he went to see Dr. Peet for gout in his toe. His kidney & liver function were off or low or something. For example his creatinine is at 1.7. Dr. Peet scheduled an appointment with a kidney specialist that comes to Fredericksburg every week or so. At first, we were alarmed and scared and thinking that the transplant hospital did not cross all of their "T"s. BUT when you stop and think about it, there's no way Derrek's kidneys and bodily function, at this point, could resemble normal. To me, it makes complete since that his gout has flared up because gout is directly related to kidney function. We just don't know how our nurses and surgeon and last doctor (Dr. Obeng) didn't assume the same thing and know exactly what to do to make Derrek comfortable when it happened. So, we just felt like we could have been educated a little better about all of it.
Well, Derrek called Chris because, really, he's like our nephrologist (kidney doctor) at this point. He's well educated and we don't know anything. Chris consulted with his doctor at the hospital and reported back that what's happening to Derrek is normal for a donor. We're just not sure why they sent us home to go to our own doctor for the gout. Even better, Chris' nephrologist called Derrek first thing this morning and told him there is no reason for him to go to another specialist especially two weeks from now and that he would see him tomorrow. So, we're headed back to San Antonio tomorrow but this doctor said he would get the gout cleared up and explain what's going on. Derrek's gout is getting better by the hour now but we still have alot of questions about controlling his gout from this point on. Chris has been a great help!
Now, an update on Chris: he's still in the hospital. They hoped he would be out on Monday but they're closely monitoring him. He's still feeling pretty good, I think, and they let him take walks outside now! But, from what I understand, his new kidney is producing too much urine and they're working on tweaking his medication to control it. We're excited to see him tomorrow!!!
Derrek is pretty exhausted after his outing today. Here he is on our trip to Sonic...
His color is still off and he is suffering cold sweats off and on all day long. I still cant' get him to drink or eat enought BUT I have good feelings. I think he'll be well on his way to feeling good by Saturday, which also happens to be his birthday!

It's Official

Derrek and I were able to come home late last night (I could go on and on about the efficiency, well, INefficiency of our nurses on the 5th floor - 3rd floor was the place to be; keep that in mind if you ever donate or receive an organ at the Methodist Specialty & Transplant Hospital!). Here's the best part. Earlier yesterday, Chris sent a text to Derrek. A nurse had just stopped by to give him a report on some test results. Now, I have no idea what either of these are exactly but here are the numbers:

Createnine (normal is .6 to 1.3) - Chris was a 5.0 on Tuesday and was at 1.9 yesterday!
GFR (normal is 60) - Chris was a 12 on Tuesday and was at 43 yesterday!!!
His next text said "Basically that means it is working great. Its official, you saved my life. Thank you."

Man, it's still making me cry. That news put a HUGE smile on Derrek's face on a day where smiling was difficult. The gout came back, as you know. That first night with gout (Friday) was so miserable. The nurse would not give Derrek any pain meds. It was quickly becoming the worst gout flare up he's ever had. It usually flares up in his right toe but this was in his left knee and by 7 or 8 pm or so his knee had become really swollen and the pain was reaching an unbearable state. We started asking for pain medication around 7 because I just knew it was going to be a long night. It was throbbing with every heartbeat by 9. The nurse gave him TYLENOL and said she'd check back in an hour. Then she asked what we usually do for a flare up at home. I told her he takes Advil and soaks in the bath tub if its really bad but its never been this bad. I could type all night if I went into all the details but long story, short: after tears and begging Derrek got one dose of Demoral at midnight. It was awesome...until it wore off two and half hours later when we were told he couldn't have any more. I told her that if we had gone home that day, we'd at least have the pain meds that were prescribed for the surgery pain. She said she wasn't seeing it on his stupid chart. Okay, trying to keep it short. Anyway, Derrek essentially went from 3 am to 11 am without a lick of pain relief. Wait maybe there was a worthless Tylenol in there. During that time, Dr. Vick did come in and was upset with all the confusion (apparently, he told the nurse we could have the prescription). So we got the Darvocet but Derrek's pain was so severe at this point that it didn't really do much. It did stop the throbbing but didn't give him enough relief to get any good rest. Also, for almost 12 hours, at this point, he was almost completely immobile. Dr. Vick sent in another doctor, Dr. Obeng to look at Derrek's knee. He came in around lunch time and it was nice to finally be in the room with someone that was trying to fix the problem. Because Derrek had a fever (it went up to 101.4 during the night) he drained his knee and sent it to the lab to make sure there wasn't an infection. *short story* * short story* *short story* In the end, there was no infection but no conclusive report that it was gout and they sent us home. Good news because we had stronger pain meds at this point but discouraging because we're home now and dont' really know what to do. We're going to try to get into a local doctor here tomorrow but Derrek is still immobile. We had to have alot of help getting him into the house last night.


The good from this experience still FAR outweighs the bad but it's really hard to see him in this much pain. Sometimes, if the knee bends or straightens when we have to move him, he'll turn white and almost pass out. It's that level of pain. However, Derrek's parents brought over a recliner before we got home so he is very comfortable 98% of the time (the other 2% is bathroom breaks, etc.) I'm keeping him on a tight schedule with his medicine and not giving him a chance to hurt whatsoever.
It feels good to be home and I can't believe what our friends and family have done for us. I won't have to cook for days. Derrek's family cleaned and organized our house, bought groceries, brought over the recliner. It's so much easier to completely focus on Derrek when the rest of the house is in some sort of order.
Rosie is glad to see Derrek too. She's not really leaving his side...



As good as it feels to be home, it was sort of difficult to leave Chris. He's doing great so it wasn't because we were worried, but I guess it just had to do with that fact that this huge thing we've been anticipating was done. And it was successful. Poor Chris is having trouble focusing on his great health right now because he's so worried about Derrek. But we did it! Chris is going to be with us for a long time. Derrek's kidney gave him life and we all get to move forward together as a family. I'm so incredibly proud of my husband. He is brave and selfless and I only hope that I would be as sure and strong in a similar situation. I am also so happy for Chris. He's been strong as well throughout this ordeal and I realy can't put into words how amazing and wonderful I think this is. It's almost hard to believe that Derrek's kidney is inside of Chris and making his sick body well. Did that really just happen?

The Grout Is Back

I forgot to post this one on Friday night...so read it like its Friday night:)

Last night when we got back to Derrek's room after visiting Chris, Derrek was WIPED out. His stomach was still full of pressure (even though he took a walk with Chris) and his incisions were sore. He'd been fighting the gas pressure for about 10 hours and felt like he could have walked miles without it helping. Then when we got back to the room he started feeling nauseous because he was using some morphine to try to get more comfortable. So, I asked the nurse for some Phenegran in his IV. As soon as she put it in the tube, his IV started burning in his arm. Not in the vein just locally in his arm. So, either the vein had worn out or the needle had moved but they had to completely start over on the IV. It was such a long day for poor D.



Unfortunately, another day has come and almost gone and Derrek's run of bad luck continued.

The morning was actually okay again. The gas pains had subsided quite a bit and his incision wasn't sore like he thought it was the day before. He used a little bit of morphine to sleep through the night. I ran to Patti's (Chris's mom) hotel room with Wanda to take showers and get some breakfast. While I was gone, tough guy decided to take a walk by himself and it was pretty hard on him. That's when he started noticing the gout was creeping back into his knee. When I got back he was pretty tired again but it was still much better than yesterday.



Around lunch time, my dad, Sandy (stepmom), and Kay (my aunt) came to visit for a while. Derrek was in good spirits but I could tell the gout pain was getting worse. I left with the others to grab some lunch and when I got back I had missed Dr. Vick! He told Derrek he could go home if he wanted (Derrek asked to stay because he's just still so uncomfortable). I wish this had been a sign for the dr. to give him some sort of exam or probe with more questions but he didn't. Just told him to stay and get some rest. But he instructed the nurses to take out his IV. I'm not sure why it makes me so uncomfortable but it does and I'm just a worry wart and I feel like no one really listened yesterday. Anyway, about an hour after they took out the IV, they came and checked his vitals and now he had a low-grade fever (100.1 then, last time they checked it was 100.5). A nurse came in and said he needed to do his breathing exercises to help get the fever down. Then the gout kicked in. It kicked in fast and hard. Hopefully we can get some pain medication soon.

Honeymoon's Over

Derrek had a great day of surgery as far as those go. He was looped up and funny and, well, not really in any pain. He was really tired last night after having visitors all day. Here he is when his family was here, trying to stay awake as they watched his surgery video.
This was when Jayne and Patrick came to visit and brought him some magazines. He was feeling pretty good.
Then, here he is this morning. We got to put his pajama pants on him so when he walked around (to work out all the air they had to pump in him during surgery) he wouldn't have to worry so much about showing everyone his backside. He did walk once last night and then he's walked five times today. Two times were this morning when he was still feeling good.

This afternoon, the pressure in his stomach has been alot to bear. The morphine doesn't really help gas pains like that either. They just tell him to keep walking but all the walking still hasn't done anything significant in the last 10 hours.
Unfortunately, the kids came this afternoon with Mike & Patsy just about the same time that Derrek's stomach pain started. They were hyper! Luckily, we have a fairly large room for them to stretch out and play and Derrek decided to have some morphine so he slept through the craziness. They were really into blowing up the latex gloves and coloring them like chickens then bouncing them over their heads all over the room. Derrek still felt good to have them around.
This morning we got word that Chris was being transferred out of ICU. We were very excited to go see him but the hospital was out of beds and he had to wait until about 7 pm this evening to get into his room. Derrek felt up to it just enough to go visit him. Wanda, Patti & I went out to run a few errands and left them to hang out. They went for a walk (Chris made most of the lap around the floor with his gown open in the back!) and then watched some TV. Derrek was wiped out by the time we got back. But he was so glad to see Chris. Especially since Chris is getting around better than he is. His color has returned to normal already and he's in virtually no pain and on no pain medications. Oh wait, he has a sore throat so he has to suck on some cough drops every once in a while. Derrek really felt sorry for him.

Transaction Complete

So, Derrek is out of surgery. He actually got out around 9:45. He ended up getting a private room on the 5th floor where kids are allowed! So we don't have to worry about Blake tomorrow. he can come right up to the room. Also, I can stay with him and I'm really excited about that. When we (Adam, Destiny, Mike, Patsy, Lea, Alli and I) met Derrek in his room, he was LOOPY and really funny. He was crackin' all kinds of jokes about his strong kidney and his "grout" toe (we had a bad night last night with the GOUT - he spent the night on the bathroom floor on a pallet of pillows and hotel sheets with his feet in a hot bath). However, Wanda called in the middle of it all when Chris got out of surgery and Derrek heard me on the phone. I told him the news (he'd already asked a couple of times) - that Chris was out and everything went well. He was crying and just asked if "it was working yet." Then, of course, we were all crying. We changed the subject and got him to relax a little bit but he's as anxious as anyone to see Chris. He's sleeping now but here he was just a few minutes ago trying to get some broth and jello down. Oh and he's being so sweet on this morphine! I want to take the drip home with us!


Chris is still in recovery but the family has been moved to the ICU waiting room to wait for his transfer to ICU. He'll be in there one or two days but we did hear that the kidney was producing urine before the surgery was over! I know he's not in the clear but it's a good sign! And Derrek is relieved to have some details.
Here are some pictures from the morning. Derrek and Chris were both a little nervous about the anesthesia and just going under. Luckily, they got to hang out together in the pre-op area. So they were cracking jokes and entertaining us all morning. Here's a few pre-surgery pics:

One of the highlights of the morning has been watching other people watch Derrek's surgery on video. The surgeon burned a copy of it for me before coming down to let me know how Derrek was doing. I'm a little squeamish about that stuff but Lea, Cassell, Adam, Destiny & Alli toughed it out. I'm glad I didn't watch!

Another positive note is that Willa seems to be feeling better!http://sproutingdaisies.blogspot.com/2008/09/breakfast-with-girls.html
Here she is in the waiting room after a little catnap. She's a little sweaty because her fever broke!

The goods

I have a longer post pending right now but just to give everyone a quick update...

Surgery is starting at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Derrek and Chris have to be there at 5:30! Chris will get started around 8:30 or 9. All of it should actually be wrapped up by lunch or a little after! We're feeling great about everything but stay tuned (you may have to read below because I've started the post and it may post below).

Derrek will not go to ICU but he will probably be in a shared room so I can't stay with him! But we're working on that.

Chris will be in ICU and I'm not sure how long. So keep checking back tonight...we have to go eat really quickly. The last meal!

Oh and if anyone would like me to pass on thoughts and prayers to Chris and Derrek...please leave a comment! Also, ask questions! I may leave some things out. My brain is all messed up these days.

"Just a Donor"

Today was a long but good day. Derrek and Chris quickly wrapped up their tests by mid morning and then they each met with their surgeon, a resident and a nephrologist. Derrek's meeting with his surgeon, Dr. Vick was quite interesting. First of all, we didn't know who "Dr. Vick" was, he was just on the schedule they gave Derrek this morning. In the waiting room, here's what we saw:

It was a little unnerving for Derrek since we had no idea why we were here. Then, the lady at the reception desk had Derrek sign in and when going over his appointment she said, "oh you're just a donor?" So, after all these weeks of feeling kind of special, he was officially downgraded. The meeting with Dr. Vick went well too. First of all, he let us know that he is Derrek's surgeon. He is extremely confident and is quite certain everything should be fairly simple in the morning. We asked how long the surgery would take and he said, "Maybe two hours. I can do it in 45 minutes but we have to wait on them". "Them" means Chris's team of doctors. Some may say he's cocky and it would be true. But he's a really nice guy. Easy to talk to and approachable. He definitely made us feel at ease.

We had an hour or so to hit up the nearby Taco Cabana (where there was some fantastic people watching). When we returned to the hospital, we got a tour so we know where to park, where to check-in in the morning, where we'll wait, and where the guys will be. They'll go in together and be in pre-op together until Derrek goes in.

After the grand tour, Chris & Wanda went to "class" to learn about the medications he'll be taking and how to take care of himself after surgery. He learned he'd be saying good-bye to sushi and grapefruit and rare steaks forever. At least as long as he's on the anti-rejection meds and they prepare him to do that the rest of his life. He's not worried about it but it was new information.

Derrek and I met with a nurse from the transplant center (the one filling in for our beloved Tina). She answered alot more questions for us and went over what Derrek should expect after surgery and discharge procedures. He'll probably get out of the hospital on Saturday. There's a chance he could leave on Friday but we'll just have to see. I don't have the details on Chris yet but, those will come.

Derrek and I also found out he'll probably be sharing a room with someone else (we're going to work on that tomorrow morning) so I won't be able to stay with him tomorrow night! The most devastating news, however, is that Blake may not get to come to Derrek's room. There are too many patients on anti-rejection medications making them extremely susceptible to infection so kids under 12 (I'm sure Ashley will pass) are not allowed on the floor. We're hoping if we can secure a private room, we'll have a better chance at letting him in for a few minutes. Mike and Patsy are planning on bringing the kids to see him Thursday after school. If they don't let him up, we'll wheel Derrek to him. This surgery has been such a topic of conversation everywhere we go and we want Blake to see him okay on the other side of it since he's heard so much about it.

We were free to leave the hospital after those meetings and we went to get our new snazzy rooms. Chris & Wanda hung out in their room and Derrek and I ran some errands. A minister from our church met us back at the hotel to pray with the four of us. I won't go into details of what was shared but those few minutes in prayer with those four people will go down as one of the most significant spiritual experiences of my life. I'll never forget it.

So now we've had dinner and showers and we're going to bed for a few hours. Tomorrow will be a tough day but just the beginning for Chris and his new life with Wanda and her children. Please send up your prayers for a speedy recovery and that Chris's body accepts that kidney.

(P.S. That kidney may be a guest on the Whatever Chronicles sometime this week. I'm just sayin'.)

Upgrade!

Oak Hills Motor Inn:

the room - see the stains on the carpet? the outside of our room - so inviting

Trusty Ol' Courtyard Marriott:

our cozy room with pillows a-plenty and warm inviting light!our poolside view
our little porch where we've enjoyed this new almost-fall weather this evening.