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.