Home Sweet Home

This will be my last blog entry.  Josh and I flew home from Seattle yesterday, so our kidney adventure is over -- I hope! -- and it's time for us to start planning for the next one...

Friday was our last full day in Seattle.  It was gray and rainy, so we weren't as eager to get out and see the sights.  We spent some time re-packing our suitcases and preparing for the trip home, and then ventured out in the late afternoon.  We stopped by the Leschi Marina to check out Ken's sailboat, the Grauer Geist (that's 'Gray Ghost', in German).

After that, we stopped at the University Village shopping center to run a few errands and pick up dessert for dinner at Ben's house.  Laska's 14th birthday is Tuesday, and they hadn't really had a chance to plan anything in between dealing with the kidney transplant and her high school applications, so we thought we'd celebrate while we were still in town.  We bought a cake, ice cream, candles, and a card, and enclosed some cash to put towards a new bathing suit and other necessities for her upcoming trip to South Africa with her friend Sophia's family.  (Lucky girl!)

We had a nice dinner at Ben's with Priscilla and Ken, and of course, everyone was happy to have cake and ice cream for dessert.

Josh, Larissa, Laada, Ben, Priscilla, Ken, Laska (the birthday girl)

It was hard to say goodbye to everyone after spending three weeks in Seattle, but we were ready to come home by the time we left on Saturday morning.  I tried to pack as much as possible into our suitcases so we wouldn't have much to carry on the plane, since Josh isn't supposed to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds for the next month or so.  We used our stash of frequent-flyer miles to get first class seats on the way home, which made the trip much more pleasant and comfortable than it would have been otherwise.  I was a little nervous about flying through Chicago, which is notorious for weather-related delays and cancellations, but everything went very smoothly.  In fact, both flights left on time and arrived early.

We landed at National airport a little after 11 pm last night, and were picked up by our friend Patrick, who helped me get our bags into the house.  Josh didn't have any problems on the trip home, and I think we both slept pretty soundly.  We didn't wake up until the phone rang at 10 am. 

Josh still has several weeks of recovery ahead of him, but as long as he takes it easy, he should be mostly back to his old self by the time we move to London at the end of March.  We've got a lot to do over the next couple months, but we're looking forward to our next big adventure -- which should be a lot more fun than the last one.

Thanks again for all your support!

Flights of Fancy

Today we twisted uncle Ken's arm ever so slightly to take us to the Museum of Flight, since Josh has been itching to go ever since we arrived in Seattle.  We didn't make it out of the house until noon, so we took a detour to West Seattle for lunch first.  We took a scenic drive along the waterfront, which had a fabulous view of downtown Seattle across the water, and ended up at Alki Beach, where we ate at Spud Fish & Chips.

Looking back towards downtown Seattle

The West Coast Statue of Liberty

The 75+-year old Spud Fish & Chips

Then we wound our way back to the Museum of Flight by Boeing Field.

Josh alights from Air Force One

I think Josh and Ken could have easily spent two full days there, but they closed at 5 and Ken & Priscilla had plans for the evening.  After they headed out, Josh and I walked to a little Italian cafe around the corner and had a nice dinner before settling in back at Priscilla's house for a quiet evening.  Since Josh was up late last night doing work, and didn't get a nap today, I'm hoping he'll turn in early.

Out on the Town

I realize that as Josh improves, this blog has evolved from updates on his recovery to more of a travelogue.  For us, that's great, because it means our own focus has shifted quite a bit over the past two weeks as well.  I figure I might as well keep it up until we leave Seattle this weekend, since I still seem to have time to kill while Josh is napping.

I should backtrack a little to Monday, which we spent with our friends Rob & Diana, who were visiting from DC.  We had lunch with our friend Elizabeth's younger sister, Susie, and her boyfriend at the Oddfellows Cafe, after taking a tour of Susie's coworking space, Office Nomads.  Very cool.  After lunch, we browsed around the Elliott Bay Book Company and then stopped for some fantastic ice cream at Molly Moon's.  Then Rob had to go back to their hotel and do some work, so Josh and Diana and I walked around downtown for a couple hours.

No, Josh is not shrinking.  Diana is standing on the curb, and Josh is on the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the evening, we had dinner at Shuckers in the Fairmont Hotel.  It was pretty good, but not quite as impressive as the dinner we had with Rob on Saturday night at Blueacre Seafood.

Yesterday was a Bad Day -- as you know from my previous post.  In addition to that, Josh had some bowel-related difficulties, despite all the medications he's taking to keep things moving along comfortably, so he was not feeling great.  It was also cold and rainy, so we spent the day laying low at Priscilla's house and did not venture out until the evening to have dinner at cousin Portia's house. 

This morning we were woken up by a strange bright light shining through the curtains.  The sun!  Long time no see...  That perked us up a bit, so we ventured out with uncle Ken to Seattle Center to check out the Battlestar Galactica exhibit at the Science Fiction Museum. 

Proof that we're really in Seattle! (Don't be thrown off by the blue sky...)

We had no idea that Ken was a fellow Sci-Fi geek, but I think he was happy to find someone who was not only willing to see the exhibit with him, but was actually just as interested in it as he was.  It wasn't a huge exhibit, but they did have some full-size spaceships as well as costumes and other props from the original series and the 2003-2009 version.  I liked this diagram that attempted to sum it all up:

And these signs on the floor around the spaceships (which are only funny if you are a BSG fan):

After touring the rest of the museum, which is mostly from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's personal collection (the world's richest geek!), and grabbing a quick lunch, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and headed over to the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park.  It's an oddly-shaped site that crosses a major street and the train tracks, but it has spectacular views and some great outdoor sculpture -- some of which were similar to those at the National Gallery sculpture garden in DC.

That's Mt Rainier off in the distance

Fun with shadows

Every sculpture garden should have a Calder

Josh and Ken enjoy the view

Art imitates Life

We got home around 4:30 and Josh took a nap to recover from all the walking and stairs.  I woke him up a little before 6, and we headed up to Ben's house for dinner, where the two brothers celebrated the 2-week anniversary of the kidney transplant.  Ben is still doing well, although the doctors are making him pee every 2 hours (24/7) so his bladder doesn't get too full while the connection to the new kidney is still healing.  That can't be fun.  He has to keep track of his fluid intake and output, so he drinks all his beverages out of a pyrex measuring cup, and...  well, there's another larger container in the bathroom along with a logbook.  Ben has his weekly checkup tomorrow, so we should get another progress report before we head home on Saturday.

Sad News

We just got word that Josh's uncle, Pista 'Steve' Geiger, passed away this morning -- just a few days shy of his 80th birthday.  Josh and I were very fond of Steve and his wife Kris -- Lynne's sister -- and we just spent three nights with them in Palo Alto at the end of December before we came up to Seattle.

Steve had been diagnosed with "walking pneumonia" when we saw him three weeks ago, but at that point it seemed more like a nasty cold.  He kept his distance from us as he didn't want to risk getting Josh sick right before the kidney transplant, but we still had a chance to catch up with him and talk about his upcoming birthday celebration.

After we left, he apparently took a turn for the worse, and was admitted to Stanford hospital.  He did not respond to treatment, so they put him in a medically-induced coma while they ran all sorts of tests to pinpoint the cause of the problem.  He hung in there for over a week, so we were hopeful that he would pull through -- which made it especially devastating to hear that he lost the battle this morning.

We loved Steve dearly and will miss him very much.  Our hearts go out to Kris, Marc, Nikki, Jen, Jess, and the rest of the family. 

Baby Steps

Saturday night Josh and I tested out sleeping in the same bed for the first time since the surgery.  While we both slept a little fitfully, Josh was finally able to sleep on his side for a little bit.  I had propped up the head of the mattress in the twin bed Josh was using at Ben's house, and while that made it easier for him to get in and out of the bed, it probably made it more difficult to sleep on his side.  Now that he's more comfortable getting in and out of bed, a standard queen-sized bed seems to be working just fine.  Another small milestone!

We were also able to unpack Josh's suitcase into the top two drawers of a dresser in our room, so now he can reach his clothes and dress himself rather than having me pull things out of his suitcase for him every morning. Not sure if that's necessarily a good thing, considering Josh's lack of fashion sense, but it does make things a little easier for both of us.

Rob's girlfriend Diana flew out from DC Sunday morning (she hosted a bridal shower on Saturday), so they picked us up on their way back from the airport and we all went out to lunch.  Priscilla and Ken recommended some places nearby, and we headed off to an Italian place that had a nice view of downtown.  Unfortunately, it was closed, for no apparent reason, but we still got to enjoy the view from a little park a few doors down.

We found another place for lunch and caught up with Diana.  They dropped us off at Priscilla's around 3 and headed back downtown to do some sightseeing.  Josh and I went for a short walk down to Lake Washington and back and then he took a nap while I helped Priscilla with dinner.

We had a fun family gathering Sunday evening with Ben, Laada, Laska, and Larissa; cousin Portia and her husband Luke and baby Nora; and Priscilla and Ken.  After dinner we tried taking a group photo with Ken's camera, but by the time he got the timer working properly, some of us were all a little punchy...

Looking forward to spending some more time with Rob and Diana today...  Happy MLKJ Day!

There's an App for That

The reason I haven't posted anything for a couple days is that we've actually been able to get out of the house and do stuff, so I haven't had much leisure time to spend with my laptop.   So, where did I leave off?

Thursday evening we picked Ben up at the hospital and all went out to dinner at a local Thai restaurant.  It was great to get out of the house for something other than a trip to the hospital or grocery shopping, and the food was good, too.

Friday Josh and I borrowed one of Ben & Laada's cars and I drove Josh to a nearby barbershop (which turned out to be across the street from the Thai restaurant) to get a much-needed haircut.

This has been one of those trips where I don't know how I could have done it without my iPhone.  Not only is it invaluable for keeping in touch with people via phone/text/email, but I was able to use the Yelp app to find a barbershop near Ben's house with good reviews that only charges $15, and then use the GPS to map out a driving route.  I don't enjoy driving in general, so driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar city when it's raining is even less appealing, but it was a lot less stressful being able to figure out exactly how to get where we were going first.

After the haircut, we took a little walk, which brought us to Top Pot Doughnuts. It shares a similar claim to fame as Ray's Hell-Burger in Arlington, in that President Obama paid a visit when he was in town.  After letting one of the employees talk us into buying a dozen donuts, we stopped at a cafe across the street for lunch, and then picked up some groceries on the way home.  Josh was pretty wiped out after all that, so he took a nap as soon as we got home.

Meanwhile, Ben was trying to find a way to keep track of his diet on his new iPhone.  He has to eat a lot of protein, but needs to watch his potassium and sodium intake.  He was initially looking for a way to download a spreadsheet program, but I suggested he look through the app store to see if they had some kind of diet tracker app.  Of course he found dozens of them.  While he was trying to sort through all the options, I booted up my laptop and searched through the app store myself.  Sure enough, there's an app called KidneyDiet.

While Josh was sleeping, Laska and I tagged along on a trip to the mall with Josh's aunt Priscilla and cousin Portia and baby Nora.  It was nice to have a little time off from tending to the kidney brothers.

In the evening, Josh and I went out to dinner with our friend Rob, who flew out from DC for the long weekend.  It was fun to catch up with him and hear about the various goings-on that we've missed while we've been on the West Coast.

This morning we went on a family expedition to a funky neighborhood of Seattle called Fremont, which is apparently the Center of the Universe.  Who knew?  They have a troll that lives under the bridge and eats cars (that's a VW Beetle in its hand).

  Here's Josh and Laska waiting for a chance to pose in front of the troll -- it's a popular thing to do...

After a quick lunch, we piled back into the car and drove to the Crest theater to see Megamind, which  I think we all enjoyed.

When we got back to Ben's house, Ben and Josh promptly fell asleep, and I got to work packing up our stuff and loading it into one of Ben & Laada's cars, which they lent us for the rest of the week.  I dragged Josh off the couch around 5 and drove us down to aunt Priscilla's house.  While we enjoyed spending time with Ben, Laada, Laska, and Larissa, after two weeks at their house we were ready for a change of scene.  And I'm sure they were glad to have the house back to themselves, since they had already had two weeks of house guests before we even got there.

We had dinner with our friend Rob again this evening.  It was a lot of activity for Josh for one day, but he did great.  He's still improving day by day.

Back to the Hospital

Ben and Josh and I did manage to go for another walk along the Burke-Gilman trail yesterday afternoon before it got dark.  It was a little wet and slushy out, but not raining and a little warmer than the previous couple days.  We were probably only walking for 20 minutes or so, but the last bit was all uphill, so they were pretty tired when we got home.

Josh's weird bubble popped just as we were sitting down to dinner last night.  Gross.  Laada and I helped clean him up, cover the area with gauze, and get him into a clean shirt, and then we were able to carry on with dinner.

Laska (almost 14) got home from her first school dance just as we were finishing dinner.  She was part of the group that helped plan the dance, and it sounded like it was a big success.  Not only did everyone actually dance, but a couple of the popular football players showed up with a bunch of glow sticks and necklaces, which they passed out to all the attendees.  While the interpersonal drama remains much the same, things sure have changed since I was that age...

Before we left DC, I discovered that with Verizon FiOS, I can access our DVR remotely through my computer.  It finally occurred to me last night to check it to see if it was filled up -- which it was.  We can't watch recorded shows remotely, but we can delete and cancel recordings.  Josh and I spent a couple hours last night watching some of the shows on my laptop via Hulu.com and then deleting them from the DVR to free up some space.  The wonders of modern technology!

This morning was a bit chaotic, especially for Laada.  Ben had to be at the hospital at 7:30, Laska had to be at school by 8:15, Larissa had to be at school by 9:20, and Josh had to be at the hospital at 10:30, so Laada spent most of the morning shuttling everyone around.  Meanwhile, Lynne had a 10:45 am flight back to DC, so Priscilla came by at 8 to take her to the airport.  After Laada dropped us at the hospital at 10:30, she had to deliver a couple of Laska's high school applications and then teach a class at 1:30.  She's the only one of us that has to deal with work, on top of everything else.  I don't know how she does it.  It's a lot to be juggling at one time!

Josh had to get some lab work done before his 11 am appointment, which took all of 5 minutes.  While we were in the waiting area in the transplant clinic, Ben came out from his appointment and sat with us.  The new kidney is still doing great, but his T-cell count was high, so the doctors said they were going to readmit him to the hospital for a few hours so they could administer a dose of immunosuppressants intravenously.  They didn't have a room available until 2, so he hung out with us until Josh was finally called in a little before noon.

Josh's surgeon, Dr. Baktha, came in to see him first.  He said the incision was healing nicely and that the blister was nothing to worry about.  He gave us some gauze and tape and encouraged Josh to keep it clean and dry.  Josh's blood test results looked good, but they didn't have the urine results yet.  There's a slight risk of a urinary tract infection, but Josh hasn't had any symptoms.  They'll call us if the results show any sign of infection and prescribe some antibiotics.  Dr. Baktha said we could fly home next week if we wanted to, so we might try to see if we can get an earlier flight.  We're currently scheduled to fly home on the 22nd, but we're getting tired of living out of our suitcases, and we have A LOT of things to do to prepare for our move to London.

Josh's transplant coordinator nurse also came by with some paperwork so Josh could have copies of his medical records from the transplant sent to himself and his doctor in DC.  She also gave him some gifts, including this sweatshirt:

It says "Got 2 Give 1: I'm a Living Kidney Donor"

And this license plate frame:

Not sure if we'll put this on our car, since we might be selling it in a couple months.  On the other hand, this might help us sell it.  Who wouldn't want their fellow drivers to think they were brave and altruistic?  Maybe we should put a "Harvard" sticker on it, too.

Ben was still in the waiting area when we were done with Josh's appointment, so we all had lunch together in the cafeteria and he hung out with us while we waited for their friend Clarissa to pick us up and give us a ride back to Ben's house.  We were bummed that Ben had to spend the whole day at the hospital, but at least he had the foresight to bring his laptop, medication, and stuff to work on while he's there.

Our friends Rob & Diana are coming to Seattle this weekend, so we are looking forward to venturing out beyond the hospital while they're in town.

Slow and Steady

Not much to report on the recovery front, other than Josh and Ben are both doing well and getting a little better every day.  They both have a long road in front of them before they are back to their old selves physically (or even better than their old selves, in Ben's case), but they are making good progress.

Yesterday Josh suggested taking an 'expedition' to get out of the house for a little bit.  We're getting a little stir crazy since we've spent the past week and a half confined to the hospital and Ben & Laada's house.  His aunt Priscilla invited us over to her daughter's house for lunch, where she was babysitting her granddaughter.  That was a good first outing, since Josh hasn't yet reached a point where he feels comfortable wearing real pants -- just sweatpants -- while his abdominal incisions are still healing, and he gets tired easily if we have to do a lot of walking.  So until he's up to wearing jeans or khakis, we probably need to limit ourselves to visiting friends and family or extremely casual venues.  No trips to the opera or fancy restaurants.  We had a nice visit with Priscilla and baby Nora and made a quick stop for groceries on the way home.  It was nice to have a change of scenery -- hopefully we'll get to see Josh's cousin and her husband sometime soon.

In the evening, we had a visit from Lynne's cousin Laurin, who some of you might recognize as the  minister who officiated at our wedding 10 years ago. 

Josh, Laada, Larissa, Laska, Ben, Laurin, and Lynne

He lives an hour north of Seattle and had come into the city for the day to attend a meeting at the university.  It was nice to catch up with him.  He mentioned that the kidney transplant had served as inspiration for many of his recent sermons, and shared an incredible kidney-transplant-related story.  One of the members of his congregation suffered from kidney failure and needed a transplant.  Another member of the congregation, a very fit man in his fifties, offered to be tested as a donor.   His own father had died of heart disease at age 40, so this man had done everything in his power to avoid that by living a healthy, active lifestyle.  He passed all the necessary kidney-function tests and was approved as a donor, but the nephrologist insisted he also undergo extensive heart testing, due to his family history, before she would go forward with the transplant.  It turned out his arteries were 80% blocked and he could have died at any minute -- he was in surgery within half an hour.  His selfless desire to save someone else's life ended up saving his own instead. 

(Unfortunately, we didn't hear what happened to the lady who needed the kidney transplant, but let's assume another donor was found so that this story has a happy ending all the way around.)

We got a few inches of snow last night, followed by an inch of rain, so most of it had melted by the time we got up this morning. 

The view from the back deck.  The rain washed all the snow out of the trees, but it was pretty late last night.

Since it doesn't snow much here, the schools were on a 2-hour delay this morning, which seems unnecessary, even by wimpy DC standards.  But Seattle is very hilly and they don't have the equipment to treat or plow the roads in residential areas, so it probably was tricky for some people to venture out this morning in the slushy mess.  It looks like it will be a bit warmer (40s & 50s) and rainy for the next several days, which is typical for Seattle at this time of year.

Not sure if we'll be able to venture out today, but hopefully we'll figure something out.

A Walk in the Park

Ben had to go in to the hospital early this morning for lab tests and to check in with the doctors.  While he was gone, the doorbell rang.  I was in the shower, so Josh answered the door, and was greeted with a huge bouquet of balloons.  They were from my sister, Sonia.  Since I had advised everyone not to send flowers, as they pose a health risk to Ben, she sent balloons shaped like flowers (and, inexplicably, an owl).

That funny-looking balloon in the middle is actually Josh's head.

Speaking of balloons, Josh noticed a little bubble that had formed near one of his incisions, which didn't hurt or look infected, but still caused some concern.  He talked to his transplant nurse coordinator on the phone, and then we emailed her a photo.  Influenced by our archaeological backgrounds, we remembered to include a ruler to show scale.  Sorry if this grosses you out...

She emailed back to say that it was nothing to worry about and that it should eventually pop on its own, so just keep it clean and dry.  Ick.  Josh has a follow-up appointment on Thursday, so we can have someone look at it then if need be.

Ben and Lynne came back around noon with a bunch of groceries.  Ben said his meeting with the doctors went well, but they made some adjustments to his medications, so they had to make another trip to the pharmacy.  His recovery is more complicated than Josh's as he has to take a bunch of different medications to prevent rejection, most of which cause troublesome side effects.  He also has some complicated dietary requirements (lots of protein) and restrictions (limit salt and potassium) which don't necessarily help with the digestive processes.  Nevertheless, he did have some success in that area today, which was cause for more celebration.

After lunch, Josh and Ben and I went for a more ambitious walk then the one Josh and I took yesterday.  Ben's house is a block away from the Burke-Gilman Trail, so we walked down the hill to the trail and followed it a short distance to Matthews Beach Park, on the shores of Lake Washington.  It started snowing a little while we were walking, but it was nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air.  I got a good photo of the brothers down on the beach.

You can actually see a bit of Lake Washington from Ben & Laada's house.  Particularly at this time of year, when there are fewer leaves on the trees, they have a nice view from the back deck:

Oh, and I keep meaning to take a photo of this.  It's a toy kidney that our friends Rob & Diana gave us to give to Ben for Christmas.  It's the most adorable kidney I've ever seen -- although I didn't get to see Josh's during the surgery.

It came from this web site, which has a wide variety of internal-organ-related gifts.  Not sure if there's a big market for these, but they are kinda cute.

That's all I have for today.  The brothers get a little better every day, and enjoy hearing from family and friends.

Ben is Home!

Lots of new developments this afternoon.  Laada just brought Ben home from the hospital.  Yay! 

Earlier this afternoon, Josh and I went for a walk around the block.  While it's a relatively short distance, it's a pretty strenuous walk, as Ben's house is on the side of a hill, so most of it is either uphill or downhill.  We took it slow, and Josh made it all the way around without stopping.  That must have helped kick his digestive system back into gear, because when we got back to the house, he headed straight for the bathroom and had his first bowel movement since Tuesday.  Normally, this isn't the sort of thing I'd care to blog about, but it's a major milestone in recovering from surgery and a serious cause for concern if it doesn't happen in a timely manner.  In fact, half of the meds the doctors prescribed to him are for pain management, and the other half are for... let's say "bowel management."

After all that, Josh is literally pooped out, so he's having a lie-down and listening to his iPod while Ben gets settled back in at home.

Meanwhile, Josh's aunt Priscilla came by this afternoon with some food and took charge of Larissa (age 6) for the afternoon.  Larissa has a busy schedule this weekend -- she was invited to a birthday party yesterday and another one today.  Since we all have our hands full taking care of Ben and Josh, Priscilla generously volunteered to take care of Larissa so she didn't get underfoot or feel neglected.

Ben has to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning to meet with his doctors, and Josh has a post-op appointment on Thursday morning, so we haven't seen the last of the UW hospital.  Here's hoping they'll give us the all-clear to fly home on the 22nd.

Home from the Hospital

Josh decided to check out of the hospital this afternoon, so he let the doctor and nurses know and they got the ball rolling.  They had to remove the IV port from his hand, send his prescription orders to the pharmacy, and print out his discharge instructions.  That took a couple hours, during which Josh took a nap and I finally had a chance to read one of the books I got for Christmas.

Once all that was taken care of, I ran down to the pharmacy to pick up Josh's prescriptions while he said goodbye to his brother, and a volunteer came by with a wheelchair to help him to the main entrance (which is on the 3rd floor).  Lynne and I gathered up all the bags and flowers and we paraded to the elevators.

Josh and his mom, ready to go home!

Laada and the girls arrived to see Ben just as we were leaving, which was perfect timing.  Ben wasn't left alone, and we had the house to ourselves while Josh got settled back in.  I kind of lost track of time, but I think we made it back to Ben's house around 7.  Lynne started on dinner while I tidied up our room and got the spare twin bed made up for Josh.  Laada's mom and grandmother stayed in the room before us, so they had it set up with a double futon and a twin bed.  Josh and I had just been using the twin bed as a place to set our suitcases, but we decided it would be safer and easier for him to have his own bed for the next few days while he's adjusting to being out of the hospital.  He can get out of bed OK, but still needs help getting in, as it's hard to get his legs onto the bed without using his abdominal muscles.  I'm sure that's just one of man little challenges we'll face.

Lynne and Laada spent some time cleaning the house today, as both Ben and Josh will be at risk of infection.  They were instructed to use clean towels and sheets every day, and of course, wear clean clothes.  Looks like we'll be doing lots of laundry!  We're hoping Ben will be able to come home tomorrow, but the last I heard, it was looking more like Monday.

It's nice to have Josh home from the hospital, although I'll be even happier when we're back in our own home.  Living out of a suitcase is starting to get old after two weeks, and we're only halfway there...

On the Road to Recovery

Josh is doing much better today.  He woke up with an appetite, managed to get himself out of bed, and ordered a full breakfast, which he ate with gusto.  The nurse said it was OK for him to take a shower and brought him some fresh towels and a clean hospital gown.  I had to assist a bit with the shower, but overall it went pretty well, and Josh definitely felt better afterwards, since he hadn't showered since very early Wednesday morning.  He decided he was up to watching a movie, so I put one of his Lord of the Rings DVDs on for him, and he seems to be pretty happy now.

I stopped by to check on Ben on my way down to scrounge up some breakfast, and he was up in his chair checking email on his laptop.  He also looked a bit better, although he said he's been having trouble with his blood pressure and fever at night.  He seemed pleased to finally be free of all the tubes and wired that were connected to him for the past 3 days, and said that despite the other problems he's having, the new kidney is performing like a champ.

A team of doctors came by to check on Josh this morning.  They said he could go home this afternoon if he wants to, but it's up to him.  He may want to stay in the hospital until he's sure his digestive system is back in full working order, because that could potentially cause some serious problems if it isn't.  And if Ben's going to be here another day, he may also want to stick around to keep him company.  Josh is still weak, although the walks don't tire him out as much as they did yesterday, and he needs to take it easy to give the abdominal incision a chance to heal properly.

While voluntarily spending an extra day in the hospital might sound crazy, this is actually a pretty nice place, as far as hospitals go.  The rooms are relatively large, the staff is friendly and helpful, and Josh can order from a pretty extensive room service menu whenever he's hungry -- which I'm hoping will be more often now.  They also have an impressive art collection -- particularly textiles -- on display  throughout the building, including the patient rooms.  On occasion they even have live music on the main level -- one day there was a harpist, another a flautist, and yesterday a violinist and pianist.  The only problem I've encountered here, besides the dry air, is that the place is like a maze.  I think the building was designed by M.C. Escher.  The first, second, and third floors all have street-level exits, and it is very easy to get lost and disoriented in the halls where the patient rooms are, since there are NE and SE wings that are otherwise identical.  They could have at least used a different paint color!  It also somehow takes twice as long to walk from the Cascade elevators to the Pacific elevators on the first floor as it does on the third floor.  I've noticed they have maps available at the info desks and by all the elevators, so clearly lots of people have trouble finding their way around.  After spending several days here, I can at least find my way to the cafeteria, tea room, gift shop, pharmacy, and ER (and back), but I'd be hard-pressed to give someone else directions.

As long as we can find our way out when it's time to check out, I'll be happy.

The Hallway of Brotherly Love

I'm just about to settle in for another night in Josh's hospital room, but I thought I'd post another update since I've had a few requests for more photos.  I don't like taking (and especially posting online) too many photos of Josh and Ben in the hospital.  While they are both handsome guys, they aren't exactly looking or feeling their best right now.  Before the surgery, they were both somewhat ambivalent about my writing this blog, as they are relatively private people (neither of them is on Facebook) and didn't necessarily want all the details of their experience shared with everyone they know.  (Trust me -- there are plenty of details I haven't shared, and many more that I haven't even tried to find out for myself!)

However, after a couple days of walking around in nothing but hospital gowns and having a parade of nurses and doctors poking at them and discussing their bodily functions, their attitudes towards privacy seem to have loosened up a bit.  This evening Josh decided to go for a walk down the hall to visit his brother.  Just before we turned the corner towards Ben's room, he came around the other side of the loop towards Josh's room.  If we had left a few seconds later, we may have missed him entirely and ended up walking in circles trying to find one another.  They decided to continue the walk together, and agreed to pose for a photo:

Josh and Ben paid several visits to each others' rooms today.  I think the walking AND the visiting did them both some good

I also took a photo of this little doohickey.  It's called an Incentive Spirometer, and both brothers have been instructed to use this device as frequently as possible:

You're supposed to breathe in through the mouthpiece and make the yellow cup float to the top of the enclosed tube.  The deep breathing exercises the lungs and helps keep them clear of fluids.  It can also help prevent pneumonia and other respiratory infections.

Josh has made some good progress today, both mentally and physically.  He walked around quite a bit and spent most of the day in his chair listening to his iPod and talking to visitors rather than sleeping or just sitting with his eyes closed.  He did have a bad experience getting into bed this afternoon so the nurse could do a bladder sonogram, but getting out of bed wasn't much of a problem, and getting back into bed this evening was a piece of cake -- although it still required 2 nurses to get him positioned comfortably.  He managed to eat a variety of solid food, despite not having much of an appetite, and can brush his teeth without assistance.  Now that the catheter has been removed he can even get himself to the bathroom to pee, although they are making him pee into a urinal jug so they can monitor his output.  And perhaps his greatest accomplishment of the day: he's passed gas at least 4 times!  Never have so many people been so proud of someone farting.  It's a sign that his digestive system is waking up and functioning, although it may be a while yet before he reaches the ultimate goal -- a bowel movement.

Depending on how things go tomorrow, Josh could be released by the end of the day, but his coordinating nurse told him this morning that he shouldn't feel pressured to go home, and that he was welcome to stay through Sunday if he wanted to.  That's probably quite different from most people's hospital experiences, where they seem to want you out of there ASAP.  Living donors must get special treatment -- deservedly so.  I'm very proud and humbled by what Josh has done for his brother, and I try to remind him of that whenever he seems overwhelmed by his own misery.

Oh, and Sonia, let's hope neither of us has to go through this for one another.  I promise to take good care of my kidneys and liver (the only organs you can donate while living) so they'll last me a lifetime, and I'm sure you'll do the same.

Disconnected

OK, I'm back.  Where was I?  This morning Josh seemed to be doing much better.  Ben's nephrologist came by to check in on him and thank him again for giving his brother such a wonderful gift, and some other doctors stopped by as well.  Being in the hospital makes you very popular, especially for a kidney donor.

They have Josh on a different pain medication today, which seems to be working better and making him less groggy, so he's more talkative and engaged that he was yesterday, but still pretty low on energy.  He's mostly content to sit in his chair and listen to Lord of the Rings on his iPod [thanks, Sonia!], but he has managed to go for a couple walks, so the nurse finally removed his catheter about half an hour ago.  He is now fully self-contained -- no more tubes or wires -- so that should make it a lot easier for him to walk around.  He's also managed to pass gas a couple times, which is a major cause for celebration around here.  I've been keeping track of his emissions on the whiteboard in his room.

Meanwhile, Ben is still doing well, but the cocktail of anti-rejection drugs they have him on have had some troublesome side effects.  His blood sugar, blood pressure, and temperature were all elevated last night, so they are monitoring him closely.  Unlike Josh, he still has to wheel around an IV pole with a multitude of bags and machines that are all hooked up to him.  Still, his kidney function is great -- even slightly better than Josh's at the moment, which is not unusual -- and he's got a good attitude.  It sounds like me may not get to go home until Monday, though, so they can keep an eye on him at the hospital.

We had a visit from the two surgeons that performed the transplant this afternoon.  They came by Josh's room around 2:30 to see how he was doing.  It was the first time we'd seen them together, since the two surgical teams remain pretty separate up until the operation so they can each focus on the needs of their own patient.  I convinced them to pose for a photo before they headed off to see Ben.

That's Josh's surgeon, Dr. Baktha, in the mask (he has a cold), Dr. Carter, and Ben's surgeon, Dr. Rayhill, in the coat and tie.  From what I've heard, both Dr. Baktha and Dr. Rayhill are rock stars around here.

Josh's aunt and uncle also stopped by for a brief visit this afternoon.  They live in Seattle, too, and have generously offered us a place to stay, so we may relocate to their house once Josh has regained a little strength and give Ben and his family some space.  Josh went for another walk with his uncle and me, but that really tired him out.  The nurses want him to walk at least 4 times/day as it helps keep his circulation, breathing, and digestive system moving -- all of which help prevent things like blood clots, pneumonia, infections, and constipation -- a frequent topic of conversation.

Josh's coordinating nurse also stopped by today to go over the instructions for his care after he's released from the hospital, since that will likely happen over the weekend when she's not here.  We'll need to make sure he has clean sheets and towels every day, and he's not to lift (or push or pull) anything heavier than 10 pounds.  He's also not allowed to drive while he's still on pain meds.  The good news is that he doesn't have any dietary restrictions, so once he gets his appetite back, he can go back to eating whatever he likes.  The only thing he needs to avoid for a couple weeks is carbonated beverages, since he's already pretty carbonated from the CO2 gas they pumped into him during the surgery.  That will gradually find its way out, but that's also part of the reason they don't want him to fly anywhere for a couple weeks.  I imagine that would be extremely uncomfortable.

As usual, it's cold and rainy here, so I don't mind being cooped up indoors as much, but I am looking forward to a change of scenery.  Here's hoping that a week from now we'll be able to go out with our friends Rob and Diana, who will be visiting Seattle next weekend.

So Far, So Good...

I know it must have been frustrating to not see any updates yesterday until last night, especially for those of you on the East Coast, so I'll try to do a little better today.

First, some business to take care of.  There have been some inquiries about sending flowers to Ben and Josh when they get out of the hospital.  While it's a lovely gesture, it could jeopardize Ben's health -- he is on immunosuppressants and flowers pose a risk of allergic reaction or bacterial infection.  Something edible would probably be OK, but a card or letter would be just as welcome.  Both Ben and Josh have enjoyed hearing from friends and family, and since you now know every little detail of what's going on in their lives, they'd probably love to hear what's going on in yours. 

If all goes well, Josh and Ben will be released from the hospital tomorrow or Sunday.  We will probably all stay at Ben's house for a few days, and then Josh and I may decamp to his aunt's house to give everyone some space, but that's still up in the air.  If you want to send something to Josh and don't have Ben's address, send me an email.  Or you can send it to him at home -- we're flying back to DC on Jan 22.

OK, so back to the update.  After a much-needed night's sleep and hot shower, Lynne and I arrived at the hospital this morning to find both brothers in Josh's room.  Josh was sitting in his chair in front of a half-eaten breakfast talking to his dad on Ben's cell phone.  He looked and sounded MUCH better than when I left him last night.  They put him on a new pain medication, which seems to be working better, and he seems much more himself now.  He just suggested we go for a walk, so I'm going to end this here and post another update this afternoon.

The Day After

Sorry I haven't posted anything yet today.  I'm sure after my frequent postings yesterday people have come to expect updates every few hours, but I just didn't have it in me today.  As expected, I didn't sleep well last night due to the usual hospital-related reasons: frequent nurse visits, uncomfortable bed, random noises, stress, etc.  And, of course, Josh and Ben didn't get much sleep either for most of the same reasons and more.

To make matters worse, I woke up this morning with a sore throat.  It had been a little sore for the past few days, but I had attributed it to the dry air on the train, at Ben's house and in the hospital.  But it felt worse this morning, and I was terrified that I might have strep.  I certainly didn't want to get Josh or Ben sick on top of everything else, so first thing this morning I called various departments in the hospital to see if I could get in to see a doctor.  No luck.  I was pretty frustrated by the irony of my situation, but reluctant to try going to the ER since I figured a meager sore throat would put me at the bitter end of a very long waiting list.  But after asking around and finding no other options, I finally made my way down there around 1 pm.  There was no one there!  I was checked in, processed through Triage, given a throat culture, met with a nurse practitioner, and got my results and diagnosis by 2:15.  Most scheduled doctor's appointments take longer than that!  The throat culture came back negative, so the diagnosis was that I probably had some mild viral infection aggravated by the dry air.  Since my throat had been sore for several days, I was probably no longer contagious, but I was advised to wash my hands frequently and wear a mask if I developed a cough.  Whew!  Although I was only in the waiting room for a couple minutes, I did snap a photo of the ER Christmas tree, which is decorated with surgical masks, EKG tape, hearts, bones, and other medical paraphernalia:

So that was my misadventure for the day, but what you really want to know is how Josh and Ben are doing, right?  The short answer is they are both doing fine and have their color back, although Ben is recovering a little faster than Josh.  Apparently it's normal for the donor to be affected more by the surgery and take longer to recover.  I guess that makes sense.  Ben's body just got a brand-new part, while Josh's is suddenly missing one.  That must take some adjusting to.  Josh is still a little groggy from the anti-nausea patch and pain medication, and his neck and shoulders ache, which is a common side effect of being pumped full of CO2 gas during the operation so the surgeons can see what's going on inside.

Laada and Laska stopped by briefly this morning.  Laska was looking a little pale as she had just seen her dad's incision.  I haven't had a good look at Josh's yet, but I'm sure I'd have the same reaction.  Then a nurse came by and convinced Josh to try moving from the bed to a chair.  It was quite a production as we had to rearrange half the furniture in the room and make sure all the various tubes and wires connected to Josh moved with him.  Once he was settled into the chair, Josh managed to eat some Jello and later some chicken broth, saltines, and rice pilaf, all of which he was able to keep down.  That was a huge relief, as he did not have the same luck with a popsicle one of the nurses brought him last night. 

I ran down to the Tea Room to get some tea and a muffin around 10:30, and when I got back, Ben was standing outside Josh's room, aided by a walker, and IV pole, and a gaggle of nurses.  Soon after, Josh emerged with a similar support staff, and the two brothers went for a little promenade down the hallway.  It was the first time they'd seen one another since the surgery, but I think the effort of walking around with all the extra baggage was too distracting for them to interact much with one another.  I briefly considered taking a picture, but I don't think anyone wants pictures of themselves on the Internet wearing hospital gowns and knee-high compression stockings and sporting 5 o'clock shadows, extreme bedhead, and (ahem) bags of their own urine.

One of the reasons the doctors encourage them to walk around is to "wake their bowels."  I don't want to get too gross here, but this had been a focus of conversation with the medical staff for the past several days.  The pain medication causes constipation, and the doctors don't want someone with recent abdominal surgery to strain themselves, so they've been on a steady diet of stool softeners, and every time a nurse comes in, she asks Josh if he's managed to pass gas yet.  Being anesthetized and lying in bed all day keeps their digestive systems from functioning normally, so they need to move around to get things working again.  In fact, I don't think they'll be released from the hospital until they've produced a suitable fart.

Just as the boys were heading out on their walk, a delivery man showed up with a huge flower and balloon arrangement from a group of our friends back in Arlington:

A few minutes later, Lynne walked in the door with two gorgeous bouquets:

And then soon after that, yet another delivery man walked in with another beautiful floral arrangement from some of our neighbors back home:

Sadly, we learned from the nurse that Ben can not have fresh flowers in his room because he is taking immunosuppressants, so Josh got to keep all the flowers.  I put them where he can see them from the bed or chair (although I moved them around to take the photos), and they definitely brighten up the room, especially on a gray, rainy day like this.

As I was heading down to the cafeteria this afternoon to get some lunch, I encountered Ben going for another walk down the hallway, this time supported solely by the IV pole rather than a walker.  (Meanwhile, Josh was back in bed trying to sleep.)  Ben said he probably looked better than he felt, but it was great to see him up and walking around.  I asked if he'd eaten, and he mentioned that in addition to Jello and chicken noodle soup, he'd had something with tomatoes, which he hadn't been able to eat for months due to ever-increasing dietary restrictions as his dad's kidney was losing steam.  It's amazing to think that Josh not only gave Ben an extended warranty, but a complete refurbishment and reboot!

Ben's nephrologist (kidney doctor) stopped by this afternoon to see how Josh was doing and tell him again what a wonderful thing he did for his brother -- since he probably has no memory of her talking to him in the recovery room yesterday.  She also commented that Josh's kidney was the most beautiful one she'd ever seen.  Never before has Josh received so many compliments on one of his internal organs!

Now Lynne has gone back to Ben's house and Josh has been napping for the past few hours.  Laada is supposed to bring the girls over this evening, and I think I will go home with her so I can get some sleep and a proper shower and come back to the hospital in the morning.  I hate to leave Josh here by himself, but he's mostly been asleep or too groggy to do much of anything, so it's not like we'd be able to play Scrabble or watch a movie together tonight.  And he does have room service and a rotating staff of nurses at his disposal...

Just took a break to have dinner in the cafeteria with Laada and the girls.  They were sad to learn that Ben couldn't have flowers in his room, so after dinner we came back to Josh's room and I gave them the balloons from the floral arrangement our friends sent to take to Ben's room.  The card said they were for Josh AND Ben, so it seemed appropriate to divide it between them. 

Josh managed to go for another walk while we were gone, and was sitting in his chair eating a little soup and Jello when we got back.  He's still not himself.  It's difficult to see him so uncomfortable and out of sorts.  Fingers crossed that his condition and attitude will improve tomorrow.  I'll sign off for now and try to post another update tomorrow.

A Long Day Comes to a Close

Ben is now resting in his own room around the corner from Josh's.  I visited him briefly and he seems to be doing well.  He has mercifully been spared from the anesthesia-induced nausea that Josh is suffering from, and the doctors tell us that his new kidney is already working.  Way to go!  I think Laada and Lynne (their mom) have gone home, but Lynne will be back in the morning, and Laada will come back with the girls in the evening.

Josh's doctor stopped by this evening to see how he was doing.  He commented once again on how well the surgery went, and encouraged Josh to take it easy tonight, but suggested he try to get up and walk around a little tomorrow.  I'm sure I can motivate him to do that by proposing a visit to Ben's room.  Ben seemed a little disappointed that they weren't in adjacent rooms so they could communicate by just knocking on the wall, so maybe he'll try to take a walk over to Josh's room as well.

It's only a little after 9 pm, but I've been awake since 5:15 am and I have a feeling I'm going to hit a wall any minute now, so I'm going to attempt to turn this rollaway bed and pile of linens into something that I can sleep on and call it a night.  Thanks again for all your emails and comments.  We are touched by the outpouring of support, and we miss all of you!

Ben Update

Ben's surgeon showed up in the waiting room around 5:30 to tell us that everything went well with the transplant.  It was a HUGE relief as we were starting to worry that there must be some complication that was causing the surgery to take much longer than anticipated.  The doctor did say that there was some scar tissue he had to work around, but he was mostly just taking the extra time to do everything right.  He also commented that it was a "good-looking kidney," which I'm sure Josh will be pleased to know.

We asked him some questions about how long he thought this kidney would last, and he estimated 16-18 years.  He also suggested visiting USTransplant.org to get the latest statistics and research on transplant survival rates.

Ben is in the recovery room now, and hopefully Laada and his mom will be able to visit soon.  I came back in Josh's room so I could share the good news with him (and you) before we try our luck for dinner at the hospital cafeteria.

Josh Update

Josh is out of the recovery room and resting relatively comfortably in a private room that will be his home for the next 2-3 days.  The waiting room volunteer got a call around 3 pm asking to send me to the recovery room.  Josh was very groggy and nauseated, and looked very pale.  The first coherent thing he said when I saw him was, "How's Ben?"  (Ben's still in surgery, but should be done within the next hour or so.)  Ben's doctor also stopped by to check on Josh and tell him what a wonderful thing he did for his brother.

The nurses gave Josh some more anti-nausea medication and transferred him to his private room around 4 pm.  They brought me a cot and some linens so I can stay in the hospital with Josh tonight.  The room is a decent size and has its own bathroom, so while I'm not exactly relishing the thought of spending the night here, at least I'll have the bathroom all to myself for a change...  ;-)

Someone just brought me a "room service" menu for Josh.  They encourage having several small snacks throughout the day rather than three big meals, so you just call when you are hungry and order off the menu.  Pretty sweet!  For now, Josh is on a clear liquid diet, so his options are limited to fruit juice, tea, broth, Jello, and Italian ice -- basically the same things he had yesterday.

Since Josh is asleep, I may go back to the waiting room for news on Ben.  I'll post an update as soon as I hear anything new.

Progress Report

We got a phone call about an hour ago to let us know that Josh's kidney had been removed and they were sewing him back up.  Josh's surgeon just came into the waiting room to tell us that everything went very well.  He'll have a 7 cm incision in his abdomen where the surgeon reached in to pull out the kidney, and two smaller incisions from the laproscopes.  He told me to make sure Josh takes it easy for the next couple months or there's a risk of hernia.  Josh is on his way to the recovery room, but probably won't be awake for a couple hours.

I'm counting on all of Josh's cycling buddies to politely decline if Josh tries to get you to go for a ride with him before March.  He's not even supposed to drive a car for the next 6 weeks.  I'm kind of hoping for lousy weather for the next two months so he's less inclined to want to go out.

Laada just got an update on Ben.  They are transplanting the kidney now, and will call back in a couple hours to let her know how everything went.

Josh's dad had to leave for the airport right after we met with the surgeon.  I may hang out in the waiting room with Laada and Josh's mom for a little bit, and then head over to the recovery area to find Josh.  I'll post another update when we get news about Ben.

Surgery Waiting Room

It's a typical rainy winter's day here in Seattle, and I'm currently camped out in the Surgery Waiting Room at the University of Washington Hospital with Josh's parents.  We arrived at the hospital at 7 am, and as soon as Josh and Ben checked in, Josh and I were escorted past a lot of large, scary-looking machines into the pre-op room, which is just a long row of hospital gurneys with curtains. 

Josh put all his clothes in a plastic bag and changed into his hospital gown and slipper socks.  Since there were some requests for a photo, Josh obliged -- although he drew the line at providing a rear view.  I can report that it did tie in the back, bathrobe-style, so there was less risk of the cheeky exposure that hospital gowns are notorious for.

After getting comfortable in his bed, the nurse outfitted Josh with a warming blanket -- which basically looked like an inflatable pool raft hooked up to a shop-vac -- and some knee-high compression stockings, which help prevent blood clots during surgery.  We made some jokes about whether he should have some elbow-length gloves and a tiara to go with his gown and stockings, but the best they could do was a cloth shower cap.

A whole team of people showed up to hook up his IV and various monitors.  They gave him a blood thinner injection to also help prevent blood clots, and stuck an anti-nausea patch behind his ear as he's had bad reactions to anesthesia after his shoulder surgeries.  They also marked his chest to indicate which kidney should be removed (the left one).  Around 8:30, they finally got the go-ahead to start the sedation, so I wished him luck and they wheeled him off to the operating room.  Before I headed back to the waiting room, I peeked in on Ben, who had just settled into his own bed down the hall.  He was cool as a cucumber and told me to try not to worry.  Not only has he been through this before -- when he got a kidney from his father 20 years ago -- but he spent a lot of time in hospitals as a child.  He said felt right at home. 

The Surgery Waiting Room is pretty nice.  It's well stocked with comfy chairs, tables, magazines, jigsaw puzzles, WiFi, and a water cooler, and has its own restroom and a couple consultation rooms where doctors can meet with patients' families.  The room is staffed by a volunteer who directs phone calls from the ORs to the appropriate family members.  I got a call around 10 am from someone in Josh's OR to let me know that they had started his surgery and everything was going well so far. 

There's also a TV monitor in the room where you can track a patient's progress.  Each patient is given a code number made up of the first two letters of their first and last names and their birthdate.  That caused some initial confusion for us as Ben's first name is John (Benjamin is his middle name), so Josh and Ben's code numbers are identical except for the birthdate.  Good thing they weren't born on the same day of the month!  Josh and I also noticed that the whiteboard in the pre-op room had two listings for "J. Fitzhugh", so we encouraged everyone to call his brother "Ben" and to be sure they didn't give Josh one of Ben's kidney's by mistake.  Fortunately, they do frequent wristband checks to make sure they are dealing with the correct patient.  Anyway, the monitor indicates whether the patient is in pre-op, the OR, or recovery.

The monitor is now indicating that Ben has gone into the OR, so hopefully we'll get another status update soon.  The surgeon told us that they wouldn't start operating on Ben until they were sure everything was OK with Josh, but that they wouldn't remove Josh's kidney until they were sure everything was OK with Ben, so there must be a fair amount of communication between the two surgical teams.  He said the two surgeries would overlap by about an hour, and that Josh's kidney would be on its own for about half an hour while they prepped it for the transplant.  Apparently, it gets a thorough cleaning before they give it to Ben.

This is probably way more information than most people care to know, but writing this gives me something to do while I'm waiting.  It's difficult to concentrate on a book or other distractions until I know that Josh is OK. 

Final Countdown

So today is the day before the transplant.  We've been doing a pretty decent job of keeping ourselves distracted with other things -- mostly out of necessity -- but it's impossible to forget about it entirely.  Our nieces went off to school, Ben and Laada spent the morning on campus, and Josh's parents headed out midday to visit a friend.  Our older niece is applying to private high schools, so she also had two interviews/tours today.  I don't think all 8 of us have been together in one place since we woke up this morning.

I did a couple loads of laundry and Josh and I finalized our immigration visa application, made photocopies, and FedExed it off to the British Consulate General in NY.  They may be a little puzzled as to why two people who live in Washington, DC got fingerprinted in San Jose, CA and submitted their application from Seattle, WA, but hopefully that won't affect their decision to grant us the visa.

Josh and Ben both got calls today confirming their check-in times for tomorrow.  Josh is supposed to be at the hospital at 7 am, and Ben at 8 am, but we'll all probably go together at 7.  In addition to their pre-operative dietary restrictions, both brothers were prescribed different methods for flushing out their digestive systems, so to speak.  We have various theories about this, but no actual information as to why Josh was prescribed one type of medication and Ben another.  I don't think either of them would appreciate my going into further detail on this subject, but let's just say only one of them was given something to take orally.  The other's prescription came with this helpful sticker:

I'd like to thank everyone again for all the supportive comments, emails, and phone calls.  It means a lot to us to know that so many of our friends and family members have us in their thoughts.

Pre-op Meeting

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know that my husband Josh is donating a kidney to his older brother, Ben. Ben was born with a condition that damaged his own kidneys, and he received a donated kidney from his father about 20 years ago. That kidney is failing, so it's time for Josh to step up to the plate and give Ben a new one so he can see his two lovely daughters grow up to have children of their own. Ben lives in Seattle, so that's where the kidney transplant will take place.

After celebrating Christmas and ringing in the New Year in California (the Bay Area) with family and friends, we took a scenic train ride up to Seattle on Amtrak's Coast Starlight. Before we get to the unpleasant stuff, here are some photos of our tiny but well-appointed sleeper cabin and a few of the sights we saw during the daylight portion of the trip, between Mt. Shasta, CA and Portland, OR.

If you ever have a chance to take the Coast Starlight to travel to any two points between Los Angeles, CA and Seattle, WA, we highly recommend it. As you can see, the scenery was fantastic, and if you reserve a sleeper cabin all your meals -- which were surprisingly good -- are included. They also have a movie theater, a couple different lounge/observation areas, and a cabinet full of board games, but we found that just looking out the window kept us entertained for most of the trip.

We got into Seattle last night and were met at the train station by Josh's brother and father. Josh's parents spent Christmas in Seattle this year, and will stick around until after the transplant. All of us are currently staying with Ben, so we've got quite a full house, but it's nice to all be together in one place.

The transplant is scheduled for Wednesday morning, and we had a series of meetings with the surgeon and other members of Josh's surgical team this morning. The surgeon went over the details of the operation, and we got an overview of how the day will progress. The surgery itself will only take about 3 hours, but with all the pre-op and post-op procedures and just a 1-hour overlap between Josh and Ben's operations, it promises to be an all-day ordeal.

Josh can't eat any solid foods after 6 am tomorrow -- his diet will be restricted to clear liquids and Jello. We're planning a nice home-cooked meal for him tonight, and stocked up on fruit juice and vegetable broth at the store this afternoon. We're also making Jello, which is giving me flashbacks to 4th of July parties from a decade ago... Oddly enough, Ben was not given the same instructions -- he can eat solid food through dinner the night before the operation. But he is on an extremely restricted diet all the time, whereas Josh only has to endure it for a day or two.

Ben had similar meetings with his own surgical team, so the whole family -- Josh, Ben, their parents, and their wives -- spent most of the morning at the hospital today. We'll all be back on Wednesday waiting for news on their respective conditions. If I can get internet access there, I will try to post updates as I get them.