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.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
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!
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
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.
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!
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!
Monday, February 18, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
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
Rusty
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
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!
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
FINAL UPDATE FOR A WHILE
I was just reminded over the weekend that there are still quite a few of you who are checking the blog for updates on Karen. I apologize that it has been so long since my last posting
Karen continues to make great progress. She feels great and everybody is amazed at how good she looks. Many people refer to this as miraculous and we can’t argue with that! She has gained some of her weight back and is getting stronger every day. She continues to do dialysis 3 times a week at the dialysis center. We were able to go to the beach for a week at the end of July with our whole family and had a great time in spite of some rainy weather. Karen and I will be going back for another week in early September. She is able to get her dialysis done at the beach.
Many have asked about what the future holds for her. Currently she is still accruing time on the transplant list and she did not lose any time because of the failed transplant. Currently she is not eligible to receive a transplant if one were to become available as they want her to continue to gain strength before considering another transplant. She continues to do hemo-dialysis at the dialysis center, but home dialysis (peritoneal dialysis) is certainly an option going forward in the absence of another transplant. Right now, though, she is working on gaining her strength. We are thinking she needs another couple of months before we start considering transplant or dialysis changes.
Since there are no big changes happening from day to day, my plan is to discontinue posting to this blog until something significant occurs (and when it does, I am sure you will hear about it). As I have stated so many times before, we so greatly appreciate the prayers that you have lifted up on her behalf and we give God the glory for her healing!
Rusty
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Friday, July 8, 2011
Friday, July 8
Karen is doing really well and feeling good! She started driving by herself Thursday a week ago, just in time for Russ to leave for a weeklong mission trip. Once again, God's timing is perfect as Russ has been her primary driver (along with the girls and friends)! She is so glad to have her mobility and independence back.
She also joined the YMCA this week (right around the corner from our house) and has already joined an exercise class there. She is really excited about building back some strength. Her appetite continues to be good but weight gain has slowed down.
We are so thankful to God for all the progress she has made and for bringing us through all this.
Rusty
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tuesday, June 21 Update
Karen is continuing to make good progress. Her appetite has been much better for a couple of weeks now and as of this morning, she has actually gained about 6 pounds from her low point. She still needs to gain some more weight (wouldn’t we all like to be able to say that!) but this is a great start! Over this past weekend she was doing more normal activities and feeling better. We still have a long ways to go to get her strength back to where it needs to be, but we are thankful for the progress. So far, Karen has not been driving but we believe she is getting close to being ready for this. I know that it will be great for her to have her mobility/independence back, but we want to make sure she is ready. We continue to praise God for bringing her so far.
Rusty
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Monday, June 13, 2011
To Sharon
Sharon, I believe you may have Karen confused with someone else, but appreciate your kind post. Please feel free to email me at rusty.rose@hanesbrands.com and we can discuss.
Rusty
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Sunday, June 12, 2011
Sunday, June 12
We feel like we have turned another corner for the better. Karen's appetite and nausea has improved since the doctor put her on a new medicine last Thursday. She is eating better and will hopefully begin to gain back some of the weight she has lost.
The ultasound of her gall bladder from two weeks ago was normal and her neck has been fine without the soft collar. She is still very weak but we are seeing small improvements every day.
Yesterday was our 34th anniversary and we are especially thankful this year given all that Karen has been through.
Rusty
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Friday, June 3, 2011
June 3, 2011
It is hard to believe that June is here! Karen went to the ortho doctor on Thursday and the two neck vertebrae have healed nicely. She was able to get rid of the hard cervical collar. He provided her with a soft collar (optional for her comfort as her neck gets stronger) but she has been fine without it. She is sleeping much more comfortably and enjoying the freedom to turn her head and look up/down.
Her appetite continues to be an issue and she has lost more weight. Today she had abdominal ultrasounds to check out her gall bladder and digestive tract to make sure nothing is going on there. I am sure it will be next week before we hear anything from this.
Please pray for further healing and an improved appetite.
Rusty
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 25
Karen continues to make progress but as we have said all along, progress will be slow. She went to the ortho doctor last week and they want her to continue to wear the neck brace for at least 2 more weeks, but the two broken vertebrae are healing well. Karen was able to go to church this past Sunday for the first time in months. She really enjoyed getting out of the house and seeing all of our church friends. Her appetite and occasional nausea continue to be an issue with some good/some bad days, but the doctor thinks this will improve as her hemoglobin improves. After several weeks of low hemoglobin, that has finally started to improve with the medications they are giving her when she goes for dialysis. Hopefully she will now begin to have a bit more energy and feel better. She continues to have home Physical Therapy, but they have released her from further Occupational Therapy and looks like this week will be her last week with the Speech Therapist so she is making progress there.
Rusty
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Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, May 16
Karen has now been home for more than a week and continues to gain strength every day. Dialysis is still Tue/Thu/Sat at 6:30am at the dialysis center on Miller Street. She still has her cervical collar on her neck and she goes back to the ortho doctor Thursday. She had a good weekend with a few spells of not feeling so great, but those passed. She is making the trip up and down the steps more frequently now instead of once per day and I believe we are getting close to getting her of the house a little more (store, dinner, etc.).
Thanks to all of you who have brought us meals! That is a real help and we appreciate it so much.
Please pray for continuing improvement in strength and that she can get rid of the collar soon.
Rusty
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday Morning
We had a very good weekend with Karen home: got her hair cut Friday morning, dialysis saturday morning, dinner with friends on Saturday night, Mother's Day celebration with kids (minus Russ who stayed at State studying for 3 final exams) and grandkids on Sunday night It was great to have her home!
Karen still needs someone to walk with her and to help her with getting up from chairs and climbing stairs, but she is getting stronger every day. We just need to be cautious until she is very sturdy on her feet. She also is still wearing the neck brace. Home PT, OT, and speech therapy for cognitive issues should start this week as well to make sure she continues her progress.
As always, God is good and we thank Him for he has done for us!
Rusty
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Thursday, May 5, 2011
Going Home...But staying On Dialysis
The good news is Karen gets to go home today. We are just waiting on paperwork and we will be on our way. Unfortunately, the 24 hour kidney test indicated that her kidney function has not returned so she WILL continue to need dialysis three times per week. Karen will go back to her Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday at 6:30am hemo-dialysis treatments at the Miller Street clinic starting this Saturday. While this is disappointing, we both felt like it was a long-shot that dialysis would no longer be needed, and we are fine. We are just delighted that she gets to go home and thank God for how far He has brought her!
Rusty
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Still Waiting
We are still waiting at the Sticht Center to find out about future dialysis and to go home. I will update as soon as I hear more. Karen has now had blood drawn three times today! She is the human pin cushion.
Rusty
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Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Surprise Possibility and Urgent Prayer Request!
Karen’s discharge from the Sticht Center has been delayed at least one day, but for a very good reason. The nephrologists (kidney doctors) have been monitoring Karen’s kidney function and now believe there is a possibility that she may no longer need dialysis! They will be a doing a 24 hour test on her kidney function beginning tonight to determine whether dialysis is still needed. We think this possibility is a great reason to delay her discharge and worth the wait! We are trying not get too excited yet, but it is a very exciting possibility. If this comes to pass, the doctors may have some kind of explanation for this, but we will consider this a miraculous work of God! I am not sure how long it will take for the doctors to read the results, but hopefully we will find something out sometime Thursday morning. I will post something on the blog as soon as I find out.
I want to ask that you pray a special prayer tonight that this test will show that the dialysis is no longer needed!
Rusty
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Countdown to Home - 1 Day Left!
Believe it or not, Karen is 1 day away from going home! It is hard to believe that she has been at the hospital (with the exception of a couple of brief stays at home) since January 21! The plan is still for her to go home on Wednesday, May 4 barring something unforeseen.
We are now on our fifth day of Karen feeling good (with the exception of brief period Sunday when she didn’t feel so good) and thanking God for this. They have really been working her hard at the Sticht Center in anticipation of her going home. We are also making plans to have things squared away at the house to help her with the transition. I will be working from home for her first week (May 4-11) so that I can be with her and then we will determine what her needs are after that in terms of on-going assistance at home. I am much more comfortable this time, that she is ready to take this next step.
Please pray that we will adjust quickly to this next step in her recovery and also that things will go smoothly and she will be able to meet the challenges that lie ahead (things like steps!).
Rusty
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