In the eyes of a child

I guess you never know how a parent's illness affects a child. It is difficult to know what you should share with your child. You don't want to say too much and you don't want to say too little. Mark and I have a tremendous support system in our family who does a great job at helping us with Mark Thomas when Mark is in the hospital. Although we don't ever have to worry about his care when we're away, I often worry about how he is processing it all. Yesterday, Mark Thomas looked at Mark, patted his face, and said, "Oh Daddy, I love you. I want you to be here forever." These words were so sweet and caring, but were also heartbreaking as they evidence Mark Thomas' worry and concern for his father. Childhood is not the time for worry and concern. I envisioned Mark Thomas' childhood as a carefree time of laughter, learning, and fun. For all of our blog followers who pray for our family, I'm asking for prayer for my precious baby boy. Please join me in lifting up Mark Thomas...may he feel secure and loved through a difficult time.

Report from Cystocopy

Mark had cystocopy this afternoon to determine the cause of the hematuria. The results indicated the presence of several blood clots in the transplanted kidney. This confirmed that Mark's body had started rejecting the transplanted kidney since being taken off the anti-rejection medications. Thus, the Transplant Team started Mark back on the immunosuppressive medications this evening. Although we feel blessed the cystocopy did not show something worse than clots, the fact that Mark will be on immunosuppression while he is on peritoneal dialysis is worrisome as it will make it more difficult to avoid infection (peritonitis). In addition, if the medications aren't effective, removing the transplanted kidney may be necessary. This is especially worrisome as Mark most likely will not be able to use peritoneal dialysis while healing from the surgery (nephrectomy).

Mark was scheduled to see the Cardiologist this morning regarding the clots in his heart. Obviously, we couldn't make it to the appointment. The Transplant Team arranged for the echocardiogram to be completed while Mark is an in-patient. They were hopeful the echo could be done after the cystocopy so we could go home today. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. So, we'll be here until tomorrow. We're hoping that Mark will get the echocardiogram early in the morning and that the Cardiologist will come and speak to us soon after so we will be discharged soon. As you might imagine, we are so eager to see Mark Thomas! Also, tomorrow is my niece's first birthday and Goggie and Pappy are coming home from Naples for the summer. So, we want to be home ASAP!

Admitted to UK due to clotting

Mark was admitted to the Transplant Unit early this morning after being in the ER last night. Last week, Mark noticed blood clots when urinating. He was being trained on a new dialysis machine and was seen by the dialysis Nephrologist in Hazard on Thursday and Friday. Mark's Nephrologist had instructed him to monitor the clotting and to go to the ER if the clotting worsened. We called the Transplant Team yesterday and were told to come on to the ER as clotting can be a sign of rejection. Although the transplanted kidney isn't fully working and Mark is no longer on immunosuppressive medications, he could still reject the kidney. The other potential cause of the bleeding could be some type of structural problem within the urinary tract. We were scheduled for an endoscopic assessment this morning in which a camera is used to detect any obstruction or structural problem. However, we kept getting bumped as more urgent cases were getting priority in the OR. So, Mark is on the schedule for the procedure tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, the assessment will give the physicians the information about how to treat the problem. Things are kind of up in the air in that we could be discharged tomorrow if the assessment shows no huge problem and the Transplant Team thinks that use of immunosuppression could make the clotting stop OR we could be here for a while if the assessment shows the need for some type of more invasive procedure to fix any obstruction or structural deviation. Mark will go under general anesthesia tomorrow. Please pray that he won't experience any adverse reaction to anesthesia as he has in the past. We are trying to keep a positive attitude....it is just so hard to believe that Mark was at UK this time last year for the second transplant!