Thursday, January 2, 2014

This week...

 We have taken a couple of big steps of progress here in Iowa City since the start of the week.  On Monday, Blake's nephrostomy tube was pulled from his kidney.  They put some contrast in and everything looked healed up.  The nephrostomy is the drain that has been in his kidney since the return trip to the OR the week after his transplant. 

We then had to wait a couple of days to just make sure nothing crazy happened.  Normally, people wouldn't be worried and probably have put his port in on the same day, but this is Blake.  If we've learned anything, it's that our Blakers doesn't follow a rule book. ;)
Because of the holiday, we had to wait to get his port put in today (Thursday).  The port is needed in order for him to get adequate nutrition at home and also will be such a huge lifesaver for the frequent lab draws that he has.  No more pokes!!  We (Aaron, Blake and I) were getting pretty frustrated with lab draws and the lack of ped-friendly lab people.  UGH...  
 The port placement went beautifully.  By the time I got up to recovery he was awake and staring and the door waiting for me to get there.  I thought he would be groggy, but he wasn't.  Blake gave me the, "Seriously, I'm in this place again?!" look. They took us down to our regular room after about 20 minutes.
 Oh and yes, Blake is a fall risk since he hadn't walked for so many days.  He is walking short distances now holding onto our hands.  He is still weak and SKINNY.  Seriously skinny.  He is usually around 15.5 KG and he is down to 13.5 KG (That's 4.4 pounds lighter than normal and that's a lot).  I'm so excited to start the IV nutrition and get him back up to fighting weight. :)
 We were told 5-7 days after the port placed we could go home IF everything was going well and his labs looked good.  He goes off his anti-biotic that he's been on since the scary day, so they will be watching his infectious numbers very closely after he goes off that.
 Other than that, he is doing just so incredibly well.  Considering where we've came from, he is making leaps and bounds.  He is happy and smiley and wants to go for walks and sit on the couch and play the drums and give the nurses the stink eye!

1 comment:

Mary or Jerod said...

Love to see his ornery face :) Cailyn told me the other day that, "Blake need come home, he not like doctor, he not like shots. My friend Blake come home." And she always remembers to ask God to take care of Blake at dinner every night. She misses him, I miss you, we all miss your family!! Hoping and praying that everything continues to go well for him so that you all can be together under your own roof again!