Dug up some good news, but we had to look.

I figured it was time for some good news.  I have to admit, it's been a bit of a doggy downer lately.
The good news is they are saying the poor kidney and poor heart function should not be permanent. He should come out of this mess he is in.  We also have a full team of heart, kidney, and ICU doctors working hard to treat the man-of-steel. I told John, one of the heart doctors, to not give up on our little guy.  He told me wouldn't give up if we didn't give up.  They really are working hard to help him.

Having said that, he had another lousy day.  I mean lousy!  His kidney's have not produced any real urine in almost 2 days, even with high doses of IV medication. He has retained a lot of fluid and looks very swollen.  The way I understand it (and they had to repeat it in ways I could explain it to my parent) is the 3a rejection created poor heart function, not in the squeeze of the heart, but in the relaxing of the heart.  This created poor blood flow, and high heart pressures.  This in turn shocked the kidneys to the point that they shut down (temporarily they say / I hope). With the poor to zero kidney function, he began and continues to retain fluid all over his body, which makes for a very lousy day!

To battle this, they have done a number of interventions.  They have added a 2nd chest tube on the right side and have drained around 500 cc from that tube. They have began dialysis to pull the fluid off at 20cc an hour and will run this machine for 48 hours.  To do the dialysis they put 2 large ports into his juggler vein in his neck, pull the blood out of one ports, into the machine, pull the 'junk' off, then back into his body through the other port.  This will force the fluid to come off with out depending on the kidney's.

They have also added an arterial line  to monitor his low blood pressure and elevated CVP (or heart pressure).  Pulling the fluid off to fast will affect his blood and heart pressures.  They have also dropped and added some of the IV medications.

He has taken a few sips of water, but each time he does, he throws up.  Basically, he feels like crap!!

Stacy and I have thought a lot about Zack, Jeremy, and Christian.  Kids that we knew here at the house.  They too had rough starts after transplant and had an unfavorable outcome.  But again, the good news is that they say it is not permanent.  He should (no he will) come out of this.

As for tonight, Stacy is staying at the hospital.  When Gage is feeling this crappy he only wants his mother.  I am here at the RMH helping the kids with the Sunday night routine of meds, and preparing for the week. Stacy and I are both running on very little sleep, but right now we are needed.  Hopefully Stacy can get some rest in the good ole' 3 chair combo. ughh, good luck with that.

That's about it for now.  Really nice to be home for Megan's track meet and prom.  Wish I could have stayed longer, but not now.  I left Oregon at 2:00am to catch a 6:15 flight out of Boise.  Sure glad I got here when I did.

As a concluding comment for the evening... we had a nice visit from Rob and Hitsch Dains.  Hitsch (Rob's son) read a scripture that had some really good advice, "...let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."  To me, his means I need to do all I can with a good attitude for my family, be patient, show some faith, and God will bless you.

Hoping for a good night and better day tomorrow.  He's got to turn a corner soon.
Jason

 

This was the only time we got him out of bed today.

 You can see the dialysis machine on the left side, and the ports below his right ear.

 Getting ready to put in the arterial line. 

 David and crew came by for a visit.  You could tell they were all shaken by the condition Gage was in.

 A few pictures from Megan's track meet.

 

 A favorite prom picture with Delbert and I in the back ground.  (And they thought we were joking)

 Megan, Roper and Savannah.