Joey’s back at the out-patient physio gym now. He is slowly trying to build stamina again. This has been the only place where having loads of extra fluid has come in handy; he doesn’t need any leg weights yet, the fluid is doing that job for us.

Dialysis is ongoing five days a week. He still has quite a bit of weight to take off, but he’s getting there.

K & J  

The man from the Red Cross has come with all of the equipment. I pretty much need a stepping stool to pee on my toilet now, but hey, it’s easier for the J-man now. Also could do gymnastics on the bar sticking out of the bathtub. Could…but won’t.

Have written out med schedule to keep it sorted in my head, but still tough to remember everything. Hard to juggle; there’s so many that you can’t take this one with that one, yada, yada, but we’ll get it sorted out once we figure out the new routine.

Lounging today, dialysis tonight.

K & J

He’s home!!!!!

Been very busy trying to sort out his meds just for tonight and tomorrow morning. This is going to take some serious getting used to. Also trying to sort out all of the stuff we need to monitor from now on and order tomorrow to make our place more accessible for Joey.

So that’s it. He’s home, we’re tired, and are going to bed as soon as we get tonight’s stuff sorted out.

Kirstin

So the plan is for Joey to get discharged tomorrow. They have it set up for him to continue going to dialysis 6 days a week as an outpatient (3 days hemodialysis, 3 days ultra filtration). I guess tomorrow we’ll be packing up and moving out of the hospital at some point during the day. Party!

Occupational therapy will be doing an assessment on him and will hopefully hook us up with all of the necessary equipment so that he can function at home more easily.

Other good news: urine output is increasing. Still nowhere near normal, but less miniscule than it was a few days ago. Celebrate good times, come on!

Kirstin

The rest of the week has been super busy. Joey’s been out of the hospital on day passes quite a bit; motoring around slowly, but surely. He dragged me to a movie (getting out of the seats at the theatre was interesting…thankfully there was a helpful usher handy and I learned some physio moves earlier in the day) and dinner.

Other exciting news: the transplant team said that as soon as Joey’s mobility improves enough that he is able function more independently, he can get discharged from the hospital! (I.e. getting out of seats, off of toilets, being able to do any stairs). We did a trial night at home yesterday, but it doesn’t seem like he’s quite ready yet. Joey should get more mobile once he gets more of this fluid off (he has about 25-30 extra pounds sitting in the lower half of his body). We’ll talk to the team in the morning and see what they think.

So that’s the score for today. Hope everybody has been having a fabulous weekend!

Kirstin

Joey was able to come home for dinner tonight. First time since operation #2! We are pretty excited. Surprised-but very happy-that he could get in and out of the car to make it here.

He also managed to do 20 minutes on the exercise bike today. A new, new personal best. (He was pretty darn stiff after he got off the bike, but hey, he did it).

Kirstin

Photos:

1. Kirstin, Joey and two of the surgeons who did Joey’s operation: Dr. Boasquevisque and Dr. Yildirm (AKA: the Turkish Delight). Contrary to what you might think, they don’t carry that “Hero” bugers sign around with them, we just bumped into them at the food court and forced them to pose beside it.

2. Joey’s room. Holy card stock Batman! Thanks for all of the well wishes.

Joey went to the in-patient gym for physio today. First time since his bowel blockage a couple of weeks ago. He walked there himself and did 10 (that’s right, 10) minutes on the bike. A new post-transplant record! (Cue applause).

Kirstin

The rest of Joey’s week has gone well. He had dialysis every day with the exception of today. There is still quite a bit of fluid to come off, but man is his upper body skinny (the fluid tends to sit on the lower half now because of gravity). It’s a good thing that he’s starting to get a bit of an appetite. Gotta start fattening him up for winter!

Last night he went on a short walk (to the elevators) without the walker for the first time since his second surgery! We are very happy about that. It is hard work for him, but he’s going for the gusto again.

Kirstin

The dialysis sessions have increased, Joey’s weight has decreased, and so has some of the pain caused by the swelling. He is by no means all the way there, but he has come a long way since Monday. He’s also been in much better spirits for the last couple of days. I think once the progress is more visible to him he feels better. It is so good to see him smile again!

Getting some of the weight off is also allowing him to be more active. He went on a short walk to the hospital elevators yesterday, which he hasn’t done since the first surgery. Appetite is also increasing. Our fingers are crossed that things keep going in this direction.

Kirstin

Joey had dialysis today and yesterday. It should be scheduled for tomorrow too. Looks like he’ll finally start getting some of the water weight off. Hopefully by stepping up the number of dialysis sessions he has his weight will go down and his pain will decrease. I guess we’ll see how the rest of the week pans out, but so far, so good.

Kirstin