Monday, March 2, 2009

Orders from OR received!

Well I am not exactly excited about Harlan County Schools having yet another snow day today, but being home did allow me to receive all of the phone calls from UK today and to spend some extra time with Mark Thomas! We are scheduled to be at the hospital on Wednesday at 12:00. Mark will be admitted so that the Transplant Team can do some final testing to make sure all of his levels (i.e. potassium, blood pressure, etc.) are as low as possible. He may have to complete an EKG as well. I will not report to the hospital until Thursday morning. I have been given instructions of how to prepare for the big day. I can't eat at all on Wednesday and have to use a special kind of soap when showering on Wednesday and Thursday morning. If all goes well, I will be discharged on Saturday or Sunday. Mark will stay in the hospital for seven to ten days depending upon how his body responds to the new kidney. Much to my disappointment, the nurse from UK did not have the report about our final HLA crossmatch when she called this morning. However, she assured me that if we had received bad news (positive crossmatch), she would have already known and would have been calling frantically to let us know what had happened. I really wish I would have heard a definite answer, but I guess this will have to do for now! We will be leaving Harlan on Wednesday morning. We'll be checking our answering machine, but the best way to reach us after Tuesday night will be through our cell phone or email.

At this point, we are in "crunch" mode trying to pack all of our things and make arrangements for Mark Thomas. We have decided to take him with us on Wednesday. Initially, we were going to leave him with Rachel, our babysitter, and have my sister or brother spend nights/evenings with him until I was released from the hospital. Although this would have preserved his day time routine, his night time routine would be drastically different (he has only spent the night away from us on about five occasions and they were always with my mom or Mark's mom). Also, we are a little uneasy with him being so far away from us. So, Mark made the decision for him to come along. Of course, I didn't object. The difficult part now is planning who will take care of him and what they will do with him. At this point, my sister and brother-in-law will be caring for Mark Thomas on the day of the surgery. He is going to have a blast with them (they have plans to take him to Chuckie Cheese or Lexington Athletic Club's Kids Place)! After the surgery, my parents and Mark's parents will take turns caring for him. My brother and Mark's sister and her family will also be in Lexington until Sunday to help with Mark Thomas. I'm sure everyone will keep him occupied! I'm hesitant to let him visit the hospital-it is really germy and I'm afraid he may get upset when Mark and I can't leave with him. But, I can't promise that he won't make at least one trip to see his "DaDa" over the several days Mark will be recovering.

Please continue to pray for us and please forgive us if we haven't returned your call or email. It is a wonderful problem to have when so many people are calling that you can't return all the calls in a timely matter!

4 comments:

Margaret M said...

Kellie,
It sounds like you have a plan for the plan. I would not expect any less of you. I know that you are stressed as you make the final preparations to travel. I hope that you can relax and let go and let those that love you and Mark take care of Mark Thomas and all of the details. The children and I will be praying for all of you!! hugs dear friend and let me know if you need anything.

Anonymous said...

Good luck. I'll be praying that all goes well.

Anonymous said...

Kellie;

We are thinkin and praying for you!! If you need anything let us know....we are right across the street
Carl

Ump-Attire.com said...

I'll be thinking about you guys on Thursday. Good luck 2 you both!