Yes, we made it through. November 5th we had the wedding (see previous post). Diane and Dennis's surgeries were postponed from October 20th to November 17th. They got to the hospital early on the 20th and started prepping for surgery and took Dennis in to start. Once he was under one of the other kidney recipients said, "Oh by the way I have this, it is a problem?" Yes, you can't hide medical info and not have it affect a major surgery. So all of the surgeries were cancelled and postponed and the group that they were swapping with changed. That person probably was dropped and lost their chance at a kidney for awhile. So we were able to have Dennis and Diane at the wedding and that was great for everyone. A few weeks later we did it all again.
On Thursday, November 17th Rick took his parents early in the morning to the hospital. They surgeries went very well and I came to spell him that afternoon. They hadn't released either of them from recovery although it had been many hours since they were out of surgery. Finally around 5 Rick left to go home and I stayed on trying to find out why they were still in recovery. Diane finally got a room around 6 and I got to visit her for awhile. She was sore but looked pretty good. The meds they gave her were not the best for the first day but the doctor eventually changed them. I had dinner around 7 and kept pushing to find Dennis. They kept saying he was sleeping and they didn't want to bother him but he'd been out of surgery since 11 am so that didn't make since all afternoon. I finally got a hold of his nurse for his room. She had been waiting on him all day. They hadn't cleaned the room, which when I looked seemed ready to me. Within 3 minutes of me talking to her he was being moved to his room. He was sore but by the time I left he had been to visit Diane, walking to her room. The nurse made the mistake of telling him to walk as much as possible, which for Dennis is a lot. The next day he was discharged and was walking his street at home a few times a day. He's determined to get better quick.
Saturday we got word from Diane the kidney had slowed down and they were concerned about it. The doctors reviewed all her numbers and they decided to continue. I guess sometimes it takes while for the kidney to start working in a new body. It did start working and Diane was discharged Saturday night (2 days post surgery!) She is recovering well. She has several visits to the hospital in Chicago every week, which is hard on someone just out of a major surgery. In one of these visits she started bleeding a lot from the surgery spot. The kidney was fine but they admitted her and kept her over night. She was discharged the next afternoon and got to our home just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. She thinks it was just a clot and is doing fine now. In hind-site we really wish they had a longer than 2 day stay for such a major operation. We're lucky this complication didn't happen at home.
So they were able to come over for Thanksgiving. I had to cook it all since they were recovering. Medalith came over to learn a few dishes including rolls and cinnamon rolls. She also brought a couple Peruvian dishes for the dinner. It's great to have a sister in the area to cook and be with.
Our family all came down with several different illness from strep to a stomach bug that week. We had to be so careful going between the hospital or their home and ours. We also had to disinfect everything just before they came to Thanksgiving just in case. Diane has no immune system so she has to be careful for awhile.
So now a few weeks post surgery they are still being careful but Dennis is back at work and Diane seems to be feeling great. Her new kidney is working very well and she is looking so much better. She had a whole list of food she couldn't have for a few years and now she is drinking all the milk she wants and eating chocolate and peanuts whenever. Yeah, I know, the real reason for her having a transplant. So everything worked out very well. The timing of everything, other than our illnesses was great and we are so glad it is behind us and the kidney seems to be working really well. We really felt the hand of the Lord as we went through all of this. We're so grateful for Priesthood blessings and the power they really have in our lives.
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