Mother's Day Blessings

It just seems appropriate to post to this blog on Mother's Day. Our family feels especially blessed today! Karen is doing great and we couldn't ask for the new kidney to be doing any better. Karen is working out at the Y every day and probably healthier than she has been in ten years. God is so good!

Continuing Progress

We have now been back in NC for almost three weeks.  Karen is continuing to feel really good and the most recent labwork indicates the new kidney is doing great!  Karen continues to deal with medicine-induced diabetes which requires finger sticks and insulin four times per day, but certainly something we can deal with given the blessing of a new kidney.  The dosage of the medicine that is causing this will be reduced next week and we are hopeful and praying that as this dosage continues to be reduced over the next several months, the diabetes will go away.  Our donor is also doing well.

Next week Karen can begin driving again and her labwork will be reduced to once per week.  She is excited about getting her “wheels” again.  Thanks so much to all our dear friends who have been assisting with transportation and bringing us meals!  Thanks also for all the cards, emails, expressions of support, and most importantly, your prayers.  My postings on this blog will become less frequent and will occur only when we have significant events to report.  Thanks so much for following our story!

Home Sweet Home!

We left Baltimore about 11am Thursday and pulled into home about 8:15 last night. We ran into a lot of traffic and also at the suggestion of the doctors we stopped about every hour or two for Karen to walk around some. So it was a long trip, but once again God was looking out for us. Karen felt good the whole trip and I did not get too tired (Karen cannot drive yet).

When we got home we were greeted by decorations, balloons, a warm house and a stocked refrigerator! Thanks to our kids, grandkids and church friends for this!

It was awesome sleeping in our own bed last night. We slept until almost 10am...something we haven't done in years.

As far as return trips to Baltimore, Karen has to go back in a month for a quick follow up appointment. Typically with transplant patients they have to go back at 3, 6, and 12 months for a kidney biopsy (just to check for signs of rejection and overall health of the kidney) and follow up checkup. Because of the location of the new kidney behind the first transplanted kidney they will not be able to do a biopsy so will have to use lab work for this. So we aren't sure yet what the requirement will be for other return visits to Baltimore.

Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and support! We have felt very loved throughout this entire journey.

Homeward Bound

All labs came back fine. We are on our way home!

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Tentative Plan To Return to NC

We had our clinic appointment today and other than some adjustments to meds, everything looks good.

We have to return Thursday morning for additional lab work and should have results back by noon. Pending no unforeseen issues with lab values, we plan to leave early Thursday afternoon (yes tomorrow!) for our drive back home to NC!! We are so excited about this possibility but will also miss all of the wonderful people we have met in Baltimore.

Once back in NC, there will continue to be labs to be drawn twice per week and numerous follow-up appointments. Karen cannot drive for six weeks from the last surgery which was March 13 so we will need to call on some of you to help with transportation since I will be returning to work. Johns Hopkins will also continue to follow Karen through our kidney doctor in Winston-Salem.

Please pray that lab work tomorrow will be good so we can be home for Easter!

Monday Update

We had a quiet weekend at the hotel in the suburbs. We woke up to about 4 inches of snow this morning in Hunt Valley! We packed up the car in the snow and headed to Johns Hopkins for bloodwork this morning. We then moved back into the rowhouse with the help of our pastor friend Brad. He and his new church group have been so good to us and been our church family here in Baltimore. What a blessing they have been to us!

Karen is getting stronger every day but still having to pace herself. The side pain comes and goes but also seems to be getting better over time. Lab work from this morning all looks good and the new kidney is working great!

Some of you have asked what a rowhouse is. I guess it is a lot like a townhouse and they are very common in Baltimore. They are narrow but deep and have multiple levels. Attached is a photo of where we are staying. This one is over 150 years old and beautifully refurbished. It has been a great home away from home! For you sports fans it is almost in the shadow of Camden Yards (Orioles Park) and also very near Raven's Stadium.

Discharged!

Karen was discharged from the hospital today. Hooray! We are settled into the Residence Inn Hunt Valley (north of Baltimore) for our weekend stay before moving back to the townhouse on Monday. Per my earlier post, the place we were staying was already rented for this weekend when we booked our stay and would have been going home this week if not for the required second surgery.

Karen is feeling pretty good but still weak and still having pain in her side. The doctors feel confident that is just residual pain from the second surgery and should begin to ease up.

We are looking forward to a nice quiet weekend together with lots of rest.

Rusty

Thursday Update

Sorry this update is so late but today is when I had to move out of the rowhouse to a Marriott Residence Inn until Monday then back again on Monday for the rest of our stay.

Karen got to eat the first regular food today at lunch. We thought this was to start Tuesday night but there was some miscommunication about that. She was really excited today when the nutrition lady came to take her order for the day!

The plan is still to be discharged tomorrow with follow up visits scheduled for the next two weeks. Our plan is to be back in NC on April 5. We can't wait to get home. We miss all of you!

Tuesday Update

Karen is transitioning to “real” food tonight and oral vs. IV meds…another step forward!  Recovery this time (after second surgery) is much slower than the first time, but that is to be expected.  Kidney function is still great and hemoglobin is still strong so no apparent bleeding issues going on (so thankful for that!).  We are still expecting possible discharge from the hospital sometime later this week.

Monday Update

Things continue to progress for Karen.  She gets to start eating jello and other clear liquids today so that is a major step forward.  Each day seems to bring some good progress.  The kidney function continues to be GREAT!  If things progress as planned, she should be able to get out of the hospital late this week then remain in Baltimore for a couple of weeks for follow-up appointments.  She walked about 1.2 miles yesterday (around the floor of the hospital) so she is doing her part toward her recovery.  The doctors seem very pleased with her progress since the setback last week.

Sunday Update

Karen continues to do well. Today they removed her NG tube which is really nice for her. So we are down to her only "connection/thether" being two IV's. This makes getting around much easier. She continues to be a real trooper and walking her laps!

The recovery from the Wednesday surgery is a bit slower than with the transplant surgery with more pain and discomfort but the doctors are not surprised since this was the second major surgery in about a month. But she continues to make good progress. She is still not allowed to eat anything but that will come with time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!
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Saturday Update

Karen had a much more restful night last night. She saw one of the surgeons this morning and everything is still looking good. Her kidney function still looks great and her hemoglobin actually went up which is a good indication that the internal bleeding has stopped.

Karen is really driven to get up and exercise. Yesterday she walked a total of a mile plus went up and down stairs and her goal for today is to walk 1.2 miles.

The best guess from the doctors is that she will need to stay in the hospital for another week and then remain in Baltimore for two weeks after that for follow-ups. That would put our return to Winston-Salem around April 5 which is about two weeks longer than we originally planned. The additional surgery set us back a bit.

The rowhouse we are staying in is rented out next weekend but then is available until April 5 so I will move to a hotel for about 4 days then back to the rowhouse for what we hope will be the rest of our stay here. It has been great having Ashley here this week. She flies back to Winston-Salem tonight.

God is so good and continues to bless us! Again thanks for all the cards, blog comments, phone calls, text messages, emails but especially your prayers. They really brighten our days!

Friday Update

We received the kidney biopsy results (taken during Wednesday's surgery) and the kidney is doing great! No signs of rejection and everything looks really good. Karen has had a lot of pain last night and this morning and didn't sleep well but she has always said that the second day after surgery is always the worst.

She has continued to get up and walk around the floor and this will help with recovery. Hopefully today she will be removed from some of the monitoring which will make walking much less complicated.

Making Good Progress

It has been a good day! Karen has felt better and better as the day has progressed. She walked 2 laps (0.2 miles) this morning and 3 laps (0.3 miles) this afternoon. But she still has lots of "tethers" attached to her.

Her creatinine is 0.6 which is unbelievably low (great kidney function) and even lower than last week. And her hemaglobin is holding steady which is a good indicator that bleeding has slowed or stopped.

A good day!

Thursday Morning

Karen slept well last night and they have had her sitting up in the chair. The nausea is gone but she is sore and tired and not feeling too good right now, but that is to be expected after the major surgery last night.

Our pastor friend Brad (connection through Summit Church in Durham and starting a new church in Baltimore) stayed with me yesterday through the surgery and it was great to have somebody with me. His new church has also provided us with a number of meals and has been our church family away from home.

Our daughter Ashley flew in last night to be with us for a few days. It is so good to have her here and now all three of our kids have made a trip to Baltimore to be with us.

Several people have asked about the purpose of the kidney biopsy that they did during surgery. With transplant patients they routinely do biopsies of the transplanted kidney. They use this to check on how the kidney is doing and to check to see if the body is trying to reject the kidney. This is usually done via a needle biopsy but because of the location of this kidney behind the first transplanted kidney they can't do that with Karen. So they did a biopsy during surgery. We don't have the results yet but her creatinine level (kidney function) is outstanding so the new kidney is working great.

So for now she will be going back through the healing process from surgery. We thank God for the successful surgery and the great new kidney!

Surgery Successful!

The surgery was successful and only took about 2 hours. While operating they discovered that part of her bowels which had to be moved around for the transplant had become twisted, very irritated and possibly blocked. This would have happened over the last week and would explain the nausea and pain Karen has been experiencing. This was fixed as well as the bleeding. Dr. Montgomery indicated that had they done a drain, they would still have had to operate to fix the bowel issue which could have also caused other issues so the surgery today was the right choice.

While operating they were able to take a good look at the new kidney and do a biopsy of the kidney that would not have been possible otherwise because of the location behind her first transplanted kidney. The new kidney looks good and we will get biopsy results tomorrow.

Praise God and thank you all for your prayers!

Surgery Has Begun

They took Karen back to surgery about 3:45 and started surgery about 4:15. The surgeon said the surgery could last anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours depending on how much difficulty they encounter.

Thank you all so much for all the prayers. We can truly feel them. God has given both of us an amazing sense of peace about all this!

Surgery This Afternoon

The doctors have made the decision to go ahead with surgery late afternoon. The CT showed the previous hematoma has not increased in size but there are other spots that are bleeding. Continuing to give blood products carries risks to the new kidney so they feel that they need to operate and address the bleeding.

Given the past history with surgery, this is a bit scary but we trust this team and their decision. Please pray for a good outcome and for peace for us about this.

Wednesday AM Update

Karen is feeling pretty good this morning. The hematoma causes a lot of pain but it is controlled well with pain medication. Her hemaglobin continues to drop so that indicates there is still some internal bleeding going on. They continue to give her blood and blood products as well as other meds to boost her clotting and hopefully stop the bleeding.

Her kidney continues to be work well so that is a blessing. They did another CT scan of her abdomen this morning to take a look at the hematoma to see if it is increasing or decreasing but we haven't heard the results. The doctors are meeting today to discuss her case and the plan of action. They are still leaning toward no surgery.

This morning as I was getting ready to head back to the hospital I was feeling a bit lonely and discouraged and overheard a story on the Today show. It was about a woman with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and how she has only a few years to live and her quality of life will be greatly affected during her remaining time. I believe this was a tap on my shoulder by God to remind me how truly blessed we are. Karen and I have spent some time this morning talking about all those blessings: a great new kidney, loving family and friends, people literally all over the world praying for us and the prospect of greatly improved future health for Karen! We give God the glory for all of this and encourage all who read this to realize how blessed you are as well!

10pm Update

Karen has received the blood products to reduce bleeding but I believe they will wait to do the CT scan tomorrow.

Karen is feeling pretty good and has a good nurse so I have gone "home" to try to get some rest.

I will post an update tomorrow whenever there is new information to share.

5pm Update

We just saw Dr. Montgomery. He really wants to avoid surgery at this point if possible due to the risks at this point in her recovery. He is going to order another CT scan to see if bleeding appears to have stopped and also ordering blood products that should help stop any bleeding. If the CT shows that bleeding has stopped then they will insert a drain to reduce the hematoma vs more risky surgery to remove it. This will take longer but lower risk.

He is also going to discontinue all blood thinners going forward as this appears to cause spontaneous bleeding. He feels that the new kidney is well established so isn't too concerned about clotting or issues with that.

I will post again when we have more info.

3pm Update

The transplant team (without Dr. Montgomery who is the head of transplant and the surgeon who did the transplant) came by and told us he (Dr. M) is coming by soon but has indicated he may choose NOT to operate given Karen's surgical history, but instead may place a drain to try to remove the hematoma. He will decide after he sees Karen.

Fortunately Karen is resting pretty comfortably with the help of pain and nausea meds. And her vital signs and blood level has responded well to the transfusions. This is good if they do decide to do surgery.

I will post again after a decision is made about surgery.

11AM Update

The doctors are giving Karen several units of blood this morning to build her up for surgery early in the afternoon. They have also done an ultrasound of the new kidney and there is good blood flow to the kidney so that is good. Prior to this morning they have been trying to make Karen's blood thinner to prevent clotting but this wasn't happening as fast as they would have wanted. Now that she has to have surgery this is another of God's blessings as there should be less bleeding issues from the surgery.

They have also inserted a naso-gastric tube and drained her stomach. This has helped to reduce the pressure in her abdomen and the nausea has eased up. The pain meds have also reduced the pain so she is resting comfortably right now and very calm.

With Karen's history of bleeding and clotting, surgery is always risky so please pray for a good outcome this afternoon. We know that God is still on his throne and watching over us!

Setback - Prayers Needed

We have had a pretty significant setback this morning. Karen has been readmitted to the hospital. She has severe pain in her back, nausea and passed out and fell when she got up in the middle of the night but woke right back up. They have determined that she has a giant cantaloupe sized hematoma (pocket of blood) in her abdomen and are doing surgery this afternoon to remove it and check out the new kidney. So far the new kidney looks ok and this hematoma is not near the new kidney. They believe the bleed started first and she passed out from that (rather than the fall causing the bleed).

That is all I know and will post updates after surgery. Please say an extra prayer for Karen.

What a Difference A Day Makes

Today is an amazing day in Baltimore with sunny skies and temps in the 60's and everyone is out and about. For the first time we have been able to sit out on the deck of the rowhouse and enjoy the sunshine. You can see Camden Yards (Orioles Stadium) behind Karen.

Making the day even more special, Russell Palmer made the drive down from NJ and spent part of the day with us. Russell was in the College Park Baptist Church youth group years ago when we were youth workers.

Karen woke up this morning feeling great. God is so good!

Friday March 8 - Another Bump In the Road

Thursday was a quiet day with no major issues. This morning we hit another small bump in the road and spent all day (7am-7pm) in the emergency department (ED) at Johns Hopkins. Karen woke up early this morning with nausea, elevated blood pressure and mild pain/pressure in her chest so we called the transplant team. They suggested we go to the ED. Of course the ED doctors assumed it was a heart attack but ultimately cooler heads prevailed (the transplant team) and heart issues were ruled out. They have concluded that it probably resulted from one of the anti rejection drugs that is known to cause nausea. This all resolved itself and Karen is feeling fine now and they have adjusted meds to try to avoid a reoccurrence.

The new kidney is doing great and we thank God every day for this!

Wednesday 3/6/13

Today was a day full of clinical visits and it was a long and stressful day. We left home about 7:00 and didn't get back until around 4:00.

We are now past the initial euphoria and learning to deal with the realities of all the side effects of the medicines and all the tweaking that goes along with that.

As is fairly normal with transplants, Karen is now having to monitor blood sugar and give herself insulin shots. This may go away over time as other meds are tapered back. They are also not happy with the levels of blood thinner so have begun new medicines to try to address that to avoid clotting. And of course, when we leave Baltimore, all of this monitoring will have to be transitioned to providers in Winston-Salem (another point of stress!)

But the good news is that the new kidney seems to be functioning great. We are a bit exhausted and stressed tonight but tomorrow is a new day and we are still so thankful for what we know will be a better new life!

Discharge!

Karen finally got discharged around 5pm this afternoon (OK... EVERYTHING at Johns Hopkins doesn't work like clockwork!). Russ flew in this afternoon as well so it is great having them with me tonight at the house.

The picture above shows us walking across the bridge from the hospital to the parking deck on our way out.

We give God all the praise for this and so thankful for our donor and all the wonderful staff at Johns Hopkins.

As I mentioned before, my posts will be more spaced out now but will give updates for important events.

Slight Delay - Discharge Saturday

Our discharge has been delayed until Saturday morning. One of the labs they drew on her anti-rejection meds was drawn at the wrong time so they have to redraw it and wont have results until tomorrow. There is no problem but just have to have this before discharge.

We have waited a long time for this kidney so another day is not a big deal!

Getting Discharged

Karen will be discharged from the hospital this afternoon! All of her lab values are excellent and she feels great. We will have to remain in Baltimore until mid March with frequent visits back to Johns Hopkins for lab tests and clinical visits while they dial in and regulate her anti-rejection and blood thinning meds and continue to closely monitor her kidney function. But we are looking forward to a bit more freedom.

We are extremely impressed with Johns Hopkins. The entire staff has been great, things seem to happen in a timely fashion and they are so "on top" of everything. It has been an amazing experience and a model for what health care can and should be!

We have been "adopted" by two local churches. One is Hunt Valley Church that we attended our first week here through a connection back in Winston-Salem. The other is Redeemer City Church which is a new church plant from Summit Church in Durham (the church Russ attends while at NC State). These churches have been great at caring for us and providing meals etc.

Russ flies in tomorrow to spend a week with us and we look forward to that. Ashley had to cancel her visit due to her family being sick and she did not want to expose Karen to this (with her compromised immunity).

I will probably discontinue daily posts to this blog but will update every couple of days or when there is a significant change. Thanks again for all the comments on the blog, emails and cards. We love reading them.

Rusty

Thursday Update

We continue to make steps forward. This morning her surgical site drain was removed so the only remaining "leash" is one IV. We have not seen the doctors today but assume we are still on schedule for a Friday discharge.

I am pleased to report that our donor's father did not have a stroke. He has pneumonia and dehydration and is feeling much better.

Prayer Request-Donor's Father

Our donor is on her way back to NC and received a call that her elderly father has had a stroke and is on his way by ambulance to the hospital.

Another Step Forward

We took another major step forward today. They removed Karen's perm cath from her chest. This was what they used for dialysis so a good sign that dialysis is a thing of the past! They are also talking about a Friday or Saturday discharge which would be great since Ashley and Russ (our other daughter and our son) are flying in this weekend to Baltimore to spend some time with us.

Our donor is feeling much better and was officially released today by the Johns Hopkins doctors. She and her family member left today driving back to Winston-Salem. But what a gift she left behind through her donation! We can never thank her enough for her sacrifice!

Please do me a favor and include your last name when posting to the blog as we have several sets of same first names! We want to know who is posting.

Rusty

Discussion about Discharge

Everything continues to go well here in Baltimore. Kidney function is excellent and Karen feels great. The doctors are beginning to discuss possible discharge from the hospital as early as this coming weekend with frequent followup appointments over the following weeks at Johns Hopkins. We are still expecting to be able to go home sometime in mid March.

Update - Improvements

They stopped Karen's blood thinner temporarily and the blood in her urine has completely cleared up. Praise God! They have restarted it but will take it up slowly and will have to moderate it closely. The rash is still there but much better.

Another great ending to the day! God is so good!

Real Food/Photo

Today Karen was finally put on a regular diet. She has had only liquids since last Monday and really enjoyed her first real meal at lunch today. She also went to physical therapy. She walked 1000 feet, climbed 18 steps and other tests and passed with flying colors and dismissed from any further PT.

Creatinine (measure of kidney function) is really good. It is lower than it has been with any of the previous transplants.

She is dealing with a bad rash which may be an allergic reaction to her antibiotic and having more blood in her urine so they are going to back off on her blood thinner and do a CT scan to just make sure everything is ok. But these are hopefully just bumps in the road. Please say a prayer for us about these.

Here is a post-transplant picture. I think she looks great!

Sunday Update

Things are still going well. No big changes since yesterday. Karen and the new kidney continue to do well. Karen did a lot of walking Saturday here around this floor of the hospital.

Doctors continue the balancing act with meds. We are so excited about the new life we see coming!

Good Day Today!

Karen continues to feel really good and kidney seems to be working well. She is not using any pain meds at this point. They removed her from heart monitors so we are down to just IV's. This makes walking much easier just having to push one IV pole.

The transplant surgeon came by this morning and moved her to clear liquids. She has been NPO (nothing by mouth) since Monday night. She said that this is the best jello she has ever eaten!

Much of her treatment and meds are now a balancing act (blood pressure high enough for good blood supply to new kidney but not too high, blood thin enough to prevent clots but don't want to increase bleeding, etc.). Still having some bleeding from the drain from her surgical site but slowing down.

Forgot to tell you but she is on the same floor that the guy was on that got the double arm transplant! This place gives incredible patient care and we know we are in the right place! Thanks so much for the blog comments, cards and especially the continued prayers.

Friday am

Karen's kidney is still doing great and she is slowly getting rid of lines, etc. Bleeding has slowed quite a bit so that is good news. Once bleeding stops they will start her on blood thinners to prevent clotting which was the problem with the last transplant. The doctors have to walk a fine line between the bleeding and the clotting because of past issues with both.

Our donor is doing much better and has been discharged from the hospital! She will stay with us in the rowhouse until her follow-up appointment next week.

Heather and our donors husband flew home yesterday and our donor's daughter flew in yesterday to help her mom. More family on both sides will be coming and going during our stay.

We are praising God for all the successes!

Thursday Update

Karen is still feeling really good and the new kidney is working great. She is having some bleeding from her surgical site and the hematologists are keeping a close eye on that. They don't want to be too aggressive treating the bleeding for fear of causing clotting and will instead give her blood as needed (2 units today). Karen is calm and confident about all of this and I am working on achieving the same level of peace!

Our donor is feeling much better today and has been up and walking around.

Sorry I am a bit late with this update but have been waiting for more info on the bleeding issue. I will give an update tomorrow.

Wednesday Update

Karen is really doing well! She has been sitting up in the chair all morning and just took a walk and made a complete lap around this floor in the hospital and did great. I am so proud of how she is pushing herself! The people here at Johns Hopkins have been so very nice and so extremely competent all the way from top to bottom. It has been a great experience and I highly recommended it.

Our donor is not feeling good at all so please keep her in your prayers.

Karen is Looking Great

We just got to see Karen and she really looks great! She is still very sleepy as you would expect but has answered questions and talked with us.

I also forgot to say in my last post that the surgeon said the kidney looks great and is already working. Sometimes it takes several days to get started but this one has not.

She will be in the recovery room for about 2 hours then moved to a room where they can monitor her closely. I may not post again tonight unless something changes.

Again, thanks for all the prayers!

Surgery is Over!

Dr. Montgomery just came to tell us that he is finished and the other doctors are wrapping things up. Everything went well and it took much less time than expected! He did have some problems finding a good spot to connect the artery but was successful. She only required two units of blood which is a dramatic improvement over last time so no major bleeding issues.

The plan is to send her to a closely monitored bed versus ICU so that is encouraging that he feels ICU is not necessary. With her history of clotting, he did say that the next 48 hours will be critical and they will monitor her very closely. He said if any issues develop they can operate again to address the issue but hopefully that won't be required.

Praise God for this outcome! I will try to post again after we see her.

Rusty

Update 3:15pm

It is 3:15 and Karen has just been taken back to surgery. We met with Dr. Montgomery who is the transplant surgeon. He was very reassuring but did tell us to expect surgery to take around 6 hours. It will take longer than usual because he has to work around previous surgical sites etc.

So it will most likely be late tonight before she is out of surgery. I expect that she will end up in ICU afterward.

The neatest thing happened as she was being moved from her room to the surgery area. We "just happened" to pass our donor on her way to her room and they got to talk. Then we found out they had "accidentally" taken her to the wrong floor. We prefer to think that this was a "God thing" and not a coincidence!

We are still confident that we are exactly where we need to be and this will have a great outcome.

Thanks for all the prayers! We can feel them.

Our Donor Surgery

Our donor's surgery is over and she did great! They have begun the procedure to transplant her kidney into the recipient.

They are saying that our kidney from St Louis should be here around 2:00 and surgery for Karen could start earlier than 2:30. She is still calm and confident and knows that God is in control!

Today is the Day!

It is hard to believe it, but the day has finally arrived!

Just a quick note of clarification.  As I believe I have indicated to most of you, this is a 3-way paired donation involving 3 donors and 3 recipients.  Our donor (who is not a good match for Karen) will give her kidney to another recipient in Baltimore, their donor will give a kidney to another recipient in St. Louis and that person’s donor (in St. Louis) will give her kidney to Karen.  So two kidneys will be making the flight between St. Louis and Baltimore!  But in all of my posts, when I refer to “our donor” I am speaking of our friend from Winston-Salem who has volunteered to give a kidney on Karen’s behalf (even though Karen won’t actually be receiving her kidney).  She is our true hero and who we consider “our donor.” 

So our donor surgery will occur about 7:00am this morning and Karen’s surgery will occur around 2:30 this afternoon (both in Baltimore).  Please continue to pray for all six people involved in this!

Karen at Johns Hopkins

One More Day!

Only one day left and we are really excited! Karen is feeling great and not at all nervous. Our donor and her husband arrived yesterday (Sunday) and our daughter Heather flew in this morning and will be here until Thursday.

Karen was admitted to the hospital this morning and our donor has to be here at 5:15 tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. The donor surgery will begin around 7am and Karen's surgery will be around 3pm Tuesday (2/19).

Thanks to all for your emails and prayers.

Safe Arrival

We arrived safely in Baltimore around 3:45 pm. The trip was uneventful and the townhouse we are staying in is really nice and will be a great home base for us. Thanks again to all for well wishes and prayers.

Rusty

Housing Arranged

First, I want to thank all of you who have helped us in our search for housing for our planned stay in Baltimore.  It was wonderful to know that so many people were working on this for us!  Through this, we were also able to make some great contacts in the Baltimore area and make some new friends in Winston-Salem as well.

I wanted to let everyone know that we have secured a place for our planned stay in Baltimore and at a reasonable price.  The place we are renting is approximately 10 minutes from Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

We will not be receiving mail directly at our Baltimore location, but we will have somebody checking our mail at home and shipping it to us periodically.  So if you want to communicate, please send mail to our home address or emails to rusty.rose@hanesbrands.com.

There won't be a lot happening between now and surgery, but I will begin updating this blog more frequently once the transplant takes place. Thanks again for all of your support and prayers!

Good News - Transplant Scheduled!

I just wanted to let you know our good news.  We have a scheduled date for Karen’s third kidney transplant.  The date will be February 19, 2013 and we are so excited.

As you may know, we have been working with Johns Hopkins in Baltimore on this transplant.  The transplant will be done at Johns Hopkins and will involve a three-way paired donation.  As I have explained to some of you in the past, this is basically a kidney swap that allows each recipient to get the best match possible.   So this will actually involve three pairs of donors/recipients. Our donor is a friend of ours but has asked that they remain anonymous.  This is such an incredible gift so we certainly want to honor their wishes.

Karen has to be in Baltimore the week prior to the surgery and will also have to stay in the Baltimore area for approximately 1 month after the surgery.  I plan to spend a good part of that time with her in Baltimore.

Please pray that all 6 participants will remain healthy so that the surgeries can take place on schedule.  And pray for great outcomes and recoveries for all.