Awesome Friends!!

Remember this...


???????????

Well...they've done it again!! This week Brian received another package from his wonderful friends at Country Hills.




We are so blessed to have so many great friends walking beside us on this journey! All of you at Country Hills have done so much to lift Brian's spirits time and time again....but this time you outdid yourselves :) This was a much needed lift at just the right time...and we can't thank you enough!!!



YOU ROCK!!!!!

Direct Quote...

Straight from Brian, "Those craaazy people at Country Hills are waaay tooo niiice!!"

More details tomorrow :)

FOOD :)

Found some food that Brian was really interested in today...yummy teriyaki chicken at downtown restaurant! Nice place - good service - tons of yummy food...this is destined to be a new favorite!!

January Dr. Visit

Brian saw Dr. Wahba yesterday...just a routine monthly visit. Everything seems to be going fine except for that darn blood pressure. Trying another new med to see if it will help. Other than that we're just trying to get him to eat more and build up his strength as he continues to recover from surgery. We have a post-op appointment in Portland next week...will update everyone after that.

Walking :)

Brian is slowly regaining his strength. Today we went to the mall and he walked all the way around...plus the perimeter of Target. It was amazing...and he was going pretty fast too!! He even felt like eating on the way home. It's exciting to see glimmers of the real Brian coming back :)

He's Home

Finally got Brian home late last night. He's pretty tired and moving around very carefully, but very happy to be home. Planning to rest tomorrow...and then it's back to dialysis in Corvallis on Tuesday.

Feeling Better

Brian is feeling much better today because:
*he got some medicine to help him sleep last night
*his noisy roommate went home this afternoon
*he has been "upgraded" to REAL food today :)

The plan is to dialyze him tomorrow, check some lab results, and then MAYBE he will get to come home...that's still a maybe, but he's keeping his fingers crossed.

Surgery

Well, it's Thursday and I'm finally getting around to this update. Sorry folks, things have been a little crazy :)

Dr. Barry removed Brian's 2 transplanted kidneys on Tuesday. The surgery was about 4 hours...a little shorter than we had expected even though there were a few surprises inside for the surgeon. One surprise was a piece of mesh used to secure the second transplant in place, the other was a small mass in the left kidney which is suspected to be part of the histoplasmosis infection. That little surprise was sent to the lab for definitive answers as to exactly what it is...we should know by Friday.

Brian was dialyzed yesterday...then another little surprise. The drain that was placed in his left side began to bleed enough to concern the doctor, so Brian was taken back into surgery a little after 7pm. The doctor discovered a small "bleeder" just under the skin that didn't clot normally because of the heparin used during dialysis. He got things "patched up" quickly and all seems to be going well as of now. Brian will dialyze again today, and by this evening we should have a rough idea when he might be coming home.

Thanks to everyone who has been sending good wishes and praying for Brian. We appreciate you all so very much!!!! Right now we are just hoping he can get some rest...he has a very noisy roommate! The nurses are trying to get him transferred to a quieter place :)

Since Brian hasn't been able to shower/shave for a few days, he preferred not to be photographed...so here are some of our close friends from the hospital instead:


Our friend the dialysis machine.




Our friend the pain med pump.




Our friend the call button.