1 year since Transplant

      It's been 1 whole year since Rhett's transplant. Thanks to his sister Shantelle, Rhett was only on dialysis for 1yr. She was very loving and willing to work fast threw the process to see if she was a match to be his donor. She was better then we could have hoped for. She needed 6 out of 12 antigens to be a match, she was 9.
       It wasn't to bad for me in the waiting room during surgery. The lord had blessed me with the feeling that everything was going to be alright, and I had Rhett's parents and Shantell's husband LaVell with me. Like we were guessing it took Shantelle a little longer to come out of anesthesia. She is such a small person (and short hee hee) They both looked really pale afterwards, but after a day or two the color came back slowly. Rhett was in ICU for 4 days.We expected 2, but his kidney was pushing out too much fluid. He needed to keep a little in so the kidney wouldn't dehydrate, also his toxin level was still a little off. Shantelle was able to leave after 3 days. Boy was she a marathon walker! They want you up and walking laps around the nurses station to get your circulation going. Shantelle was really working it so that she would be ready to leave ASAP. When not walking they had to wear these cuffs on there legs that helped massage them and keep the circulation going.

As you can see from the 1st picture Rhett started off with 4 bags of IV fluid. They really wanted to get

that fluid pushing threw that kidney at first. Good thing for that catheter. The nurse was emptying it every hour the first two days. Then they started slowing down on how much fluid they gave him. As you can see on the 2nd picture they still left his dialysis catheter in his chest just incase the kidney didn't work and he needed to get back on dialysis. 

    I couldn't stay over night at in the ICU so I slept at the University Guest House with his parents. I was happy when they finally moved him out of there and was able to stay with him. His parents left that same day. I knew exactly when Rhett was starting to feel more like his old shelf, he asked for his laptop. LOL! And when the wire gave out on the laptop he had me go down to the van and bring up is deck top computer, yes you heard me right, his desk top. ha ha  How funny I must have looked carrying that thing in, but it made Rhett feel better and from being so bored.

   We also did some sleeping. I also took Rhett out a couple of times a day to walk around. We had to be careful where we went because Rhett's immune system was way down with his anti-rejection meds on the very high dose. I had to sanitize my hands every time I came in or out of the room, by every patients door was a hand sanatizer. The Dr. slowly reduced the meds and still is to this day. Rhett has blood tests done every 2 weeks so the Dr. can see if any adjustments need to be made. Poor Rhett kept getting told that he might be out the next day for a couple of days in a row. He was anxious to get out. And get the catheter (from below) out. It was getting painful, and annoying. We were told that most hospital stays were 5 to 7 days. Rhett ended up being their 10 days. His kidney was working a little to well and pushing too much fluid out. And his toxin level was up a little in the morning but fine later that evening. Boy was he glad when he got the OK to leave and got both of those catheters out. He was thinking he would be nervous if a girl came to take the one out from below, but he was so desperate to get that thing out he didn't care. He just wanted it out.

   During this time our kids stayed with a few different friends of mine. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! It helped make us less worried about them and able to focus on Rhett and Shantelle. When Rhett's parents when back to I.F. Rhett's mom stayed at our place with the kids and got our house cleaned up and ready for Rhett. When Rhett got out of the hospital we stayed in Salt Lake at the University Guest House for another week and a half so that we would be close to the hospital for his 2 times a week blood test and check-ups. 

   My wonderful parents came up with our kids for a one night stay so that we could see our kids that we missed so much.

Hailey's 1st grade class made Get Well cards for Rhett that I had to display in the room. They were so cute. (A month after transplant Rhett took cookies to the kids to say thank you and explained a little about his transplant)

   Oh yeah! We also spent Thanksgiving at the hospital. Not much fun, but we had a special Thanksgiving the week before surgery and Rhett's dad gave both Rhett and Shantelle a blessing. What a wonderful experience. Everyone could feel the spirit in that room. We came home in time for Christmas. Most of our Christmas shopping was done in Salt Lake. Rhett was suppose to try and stay out of public, but that was near impossible for me to get him to do. He was so antsy.   

   I'm very Thankful to my Heavenly Father that we found out about Rhett's kidney failure when we did. (18% function, dialysis starts at 15%) I'm thankful for the strength that he gave me, and the wonderful ward members who helped and prayed for us, and family and friends that where there for us. That Rhett only suffered a micro stroke. That Shantelle was very willing to be his donor, and that surgery went well for both of them. This was sure a learning time and trial for us but with the lords help we made it threw the worst of it. Thank You to everyone who helped us and/or prayed for us, we felt your love and support.

P.S. Since it took me so long to write this it's now the day after the 1 year mark. lol. November 20th will always be an important day in my book.