A Creature of Creatinine

Mom's Creatinine Levels

Remember normal level is 0.5 to 1.0 mg/dL

November
Pre-Transplant
7.2 mg/dL

February 6, 2017
Transplant Day (TD) + 2
3.2 mg/dL

February 13, 2017 TD + 9
1.9 mg/dL

February 21, 2017 TD + 17
1.6 mg/dL

The trend is great!
A kidney transplant patient isn't necessarily expected to get into the normal range. It differs from patient to patient and each patient finds their own transplant normal. But Mom is very close to actual normal.

The Small House

$30,000 hospital bed vs. cheapo hotel style bed. Mom chooses the latter.

We have been released from the hospital - the big house, but we are still on probation. And our probation officer says we can't leave town. We have to check-in every Monday and Thursday morning where they are literally out for blood. And once a week we meet with the probation team.

Mom's is minding the terms of her probation by drinking lots of water, taking her meds on schedule, and eating healthy. By the way, she has given up Diet Pepsi. Cold turkey. Just water from now on.

If we keep behaving ourselves, Mom will get that ankle monitor off and we can blow this popsicle stand. (That's gangster talk, right there.)

Hump Day

• It's Wednesday and Mom was told she'll get released from hospital on Friday. 
• She went for a walk this morning and a second one at noon.
• Doctor said her creatinine level is falling (that's a good thing - means the kidney is working better).
• She received her meds list. It's a long list, but not that bad compared to what she was taking before. 
• She's eating well.

One handed polka.

Mom and Kidney Stretch Their Legs

Monday, Monday

When I arrived this morning (slept in our apartment last night), Mom had already taken a walk to the nurse's station and back. She's doing very well - managing the pain well, great attitude, getting an appetite back (slowly).

There is a minor concern that the kidney isn't coming up to speed quickly enough. I stress minor concern since it's not unusual. The medication they have to give her can actually interfere with the kidney's activity. So they will play with her medications and do whatever to get it up to speed.

That said, her creatinine level is interesting. The creatinine level is a measure of how well the kidney is functioning. A normal kidney has a creatinine value of 0.5 to 1.0. I looked up Mom's lab numbers from November and found that her number was 7.2. As I recall, a number of 5 indicates kidney failure and gets one into the dialysis program. Mom's latest creatinine number is 3.2. This is not a great number for a kidney, but half where she was at without it. So, the new kidney must be doing some good. Just a bit groggy still.

Mom was told this morning that she has a female kidney from a 30 year old. Mom gets weepy talking about this. She was offered the chance to write a note to the family which they will deliver for her.

The Mend Begins

I got a good night's sleep in spite of the non-stop activity that went on with Mom. She's doing well and the staff is taking care of her needs and coaxing the kidney to start working by pushing lots of fluids through. The kidney is starting to play along and it's not unusual to wait a day or two for a good response.

Mom will probably be in her hospital room for three days and then we'll move to our place here:

UUHC Patient & Family Housing
2080 W. North Temple  •  Salt Lake City, Utah 84116

I have this placed booked for a month and will check-in this afternoon. It is kind of a studio apartment with a kitchenette and sleeps four. Any visitors are welcome to stay here, of course, however dogs aren't allowed unfortunately. Interestingly though, we just learned that pets are welcome in the hospital. Normal dog courtesies requested, of course.

My main job, and that of my proxy when I go back to work, will be to chauffeur Mom to and from the various appointments that she will have here before she's allowed to return home. Even after we are home there will be recurring trips to SLC for additional appointments.

There is definitely some overhead with having a transplanted kidney, but I'm sure it will be better for Mom (and me) than the routine grind of dialysis sessions.

Hanging Out in her Room Whilst Kathy Recovers

Room 5204


Kathy's accommodations


My accommodations


Does that seem fair? Well alright, it does.

I don't expect her to arrive until around 11 PM.

Closing!!

Just looked at the monitor in the waiting room. IT SAYS THEY ARE CLOSING. Yay!!

And now Dr. Kim just talked with me (8:00 PM). The procedure went fine. Kathy's BP is a bit low, but to be expected after dialysis. I think he said they gave her some more blood. The kidney is not really working much yet, but with the low blood pressure and the kidney being cold for a while, it's too early to be concerned.

She will be in recovery for about 3 hours, then up to the fifth floor in Specialty Surgery and Transplant Unit (SSTU).

Waiting is the Hardest Part

Kathy had to wait a long time to get the call to come here. Now that we're here it has been 12 hours and we're still waiting. Kathy is at least waiting sound asleep in the OR. The rest of us wait nervously for the outcome. I've gotten three calls while waiting -  and I've been told things are going fine though slowly.

And that's OK. We'll wait as long as needed while the doctors do their best to give Kathy a better life.

In Surgery

Mom is in surgery. The have an excess of staff at the moment so mom has about 5 anesthesiologists weighing in. As she was being rolled out to the OR, I quiped, "Let me know if you run out of anesthesiologists."

I'm told she'll be there for two and a half to three hours. She went in about 3:30 PM, so I expect some information around 5 or 5:30.

Update: Got a call at 4:35. They had difficulty getting a central line in. (Why does that sound familiar.) So, I'm now expecting the surgery to go until about 6 or 6:30.

In Surgery Holding

The funny thing is the transport people had never transported a patient to surgery holding before. We were kind of lost, but they had third individual reconnoitering it's location while we stood in the hallway in front of OR.

Anyway, we made it.

A host of folks - anesthesiologist, surgeons, nurse of all kinds talked to Kathy. The all seemed to ask the same questions - I guess just double, triple, quadruple checking. I'm told there is a board on the waiting area that updates her status and that are nurse will call me every two hours as well. We're getting close.

Update: They are looking everywhere from head to toe trying to find a vein for an IV. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Now in Dialysis

3 to 4 hours on dialysis while we wait for a surgery time.

Kathy's Kool New Kidney

Last night, Friday Feb 3 at about 7 PM, Kyle, Brandi, Chandler and Emma arrived for a weekend visit. We were all excited to see them and chatted until a little after midnight when we all decided to go to bed.

About 1 AM the phone rang. Why would someone be calling at one in the morning? I briefly wondered if the call was from the University of Utah Medical Center where Kathy was on a waiting list for a kidney, but the Caller ID showed a regular person's name. Sarah something I think. I figured I'd be nice and answer the phone and let the person know they have the wrong number. Hello, I said expecting an apologetic voice. Instead, I heard "This is so and so from the University of Utah Medical Center. Is Kathy there?" Well it was like Kathy saying, "My water broke! It's time!" Except someone else was saying it's time and I found out before Kathy.

The person on the other end of the phone told Kathy they have a kidney, but they were running some final compatibility tests and would call back in an hour. Well it was about two hours later, but we got the call and they wanted to know how soon we could be there. Kathy suggested 4 hours and the race was on. We arrived at U of U at 7:30 and Kathy was placed in room 3105. She had a chest x-ray and lots of blood drawn and an IV placed. Then she went to dialysis, since we hadn't done it in a few days. After that surgery.