An update from Gary: Everything was going very well with the pre-ops this past Tuesday until they discovered a lesion in Mary’s right arm late in the morning. It required taking more x-rays and then for four indescribable hours we awaited the news. Realizing our past experiences, we braced ourselves for yet another delay while wondering how we could possibly gain strength to endure it. Katherine’s transplant coordinator then used her 35 years of experience and came up with a creative solution to avoid the cautious approach of having a clinic visit in two weeks to examine this further. She cornered one of the U’s experts at reading these x’rays in the cafeteria and asked him to please say this was nothing. He agreed it was not of concern and we all celebrated in knowing one of the biggest days of our lives was about to occur. Wednesday morning at 5am Mary arrived at the U of M Primary Care Center on the east bank and Katherine arrived at the U of M Children’s Hospital on the west bank. They both went into surgery about 7:30. Katherine’s two kidneys were removed and then the transplant team waited for about an hour for Mary’s kidney, which arrived about 11:55 am. Mary’s surgery was successfully completed about 12:30 while Katherine’s continued until 1:45. Immediately they noticed great amounts of urine – they called it liquid gold – being created indicating all looked very positive with the functioning of the kidney. Katherine does not take well to coming out of anaesthesia and once again that proved true on Wednesday. When she came to, she panicked and began pulling at the tubes and wires in her body, then sat up and folded her body over putting stress on her large incision and next stopped breathing as her air passage became blocked due to a swollen throat and oversized tongue. The team quickly reacted by immediately putting her under once again, then administered some narcotics and finally let her come to while being in a much more prepared state. It was very difficult to see Katherine in the recovery area as she was in great shock and fear. While walking a fine line between severe pain management and unconsciousness, the fabulous nurses directed Katherine to a more comfortable state within two hours. She was then taken to the ICU where she is now, receiving care from some of the best doctors and nurses in the world. And that is truly not an exaggeration. Katherine is currently resting comfortably in the ICU with expectations of going to the general care area within a day or two. At this moment she’s sound asleep dreaming about chips ‘n cheese, big water bottles and swimming – all things she’s been denied since being discovered to have kidney failure on May 19th. Mary is also doing very well getting her rest with attention from the greatest of caregivers. Her greatest concern and happiness is in knowing Katherine is doing amazingly well with her new kidney. About 30 minutes into Katherine’s surgery while the rest of the team was prepping her, the transplant surgeon casually walked into the waiting area wearing a Gopher fleece jacket and blue doctor pants. Before going to the operating room, he stopped by to chat with me to see if I had any questions. I stated that the surgery is expected to last about 5 ½ hours to which he responded, “It’ll last however long it takes - time is of no concern.” After all, he stated, “I ate a large breakfast.” Thank you all for your great concern and support for our family. We shall never forget and will be forever grateful. Thanks also to the wonders of modern medical technology, to most loving mothers and to big breakfasts. Love, Gary and Mary Sowada
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 01:35:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015