SAT Dec. 20, 2008 5 days until Christmas

First full (and I mean full) day in the University of Utah hospital. We started at 7 with the rounding of the herd of doctors. Do you all remember how that was before?? Then at 8 Will was sleeping finally and the PT asked if they could take him on a walk. Seriously. He had no sleep all night because of the trouble with meds. He got to sleep at about 6 and then they wanted him up at 8 to walk. Well, Will got rid of them really fast. Then it has been going crazy. This doctor wants this done and that doctor wants something else.

The blood work came back showing his ports (IV port and dialysis port) are infected so they have to come out. They still haven't gotten the dialysis catheter out yet. The doctor has to come and do that for Will. Then they have to decide where to put temporary ones in. So there were many tests for that.

Then they found out that his blood was way, way low. So they ordered a couple of units of blood for transfusion. While this was going on and he was on his way to the dialysis unit on the third floor, the fifth floor decided that Will needed too much care for a regular nursing floor. So they transferred him to Intermediate Intensive Care Unit where we were before we were moved to Boise. It felt like coming home to a lot of good, good friends. We were sharing with them how our new friends (care givers from Boise) treated us. I think they were jealous. We miss them and they did do wonderful things for Will. They took him a long way.

Tauna, our transplant coordinator, came in to visit. She was so excited to see Will. Lots and lots of hugs. Then Mrs. BIG, Dr. Cahill, came in. She was so swamped today so she just had a minute. But she hugged Will and listened to him and told us that we can't do any surgery until the infection from the IV lines is cleared up. Will had been waiting so long to show her that he can stand on his own. So when she came in he had to stand for her. It brought tears to my eyes to see how far he has come.

So we don't know anything about the surgery. They did do some mapping on his veins today but it wasn't good so they might have to do something else. We still have not met the surgeon or team that is performing this surgery. I don't know how they will do the dialysis on Monday because they don't have a line. Even if they put the other one in, they can't use it for a few weeks while it "cures."

They are doing some tests on his heart tomorrow because one of the interns thought he heard a murmur. You know all doctors have to be interns once but I wish they wouldn't come near Will. They always are coming up with something. But, that's what a teaching hospital is all about.

As you can see, it was a busy, busy day. It's now midnight and they are just getting him ready for bed after they hang another unit of blood. Hopefully they will let him sleep in tomorrow.

It snowed so hard today, it was unbelievable. I thought the night nurses wouldn't be in because a lot of the roads are closed but they all made it. It's very, very cold here but I hear from Tom that it is colder at home. WINTER

I did decorate our room last night and took a picture of it to put it on the blog. Then we moved so I had to take all the decorations down. I put them back up in our new one and took another picture because it looks so Christmasy. Then I forgot I can't put pictures on my blog from their server at the U. It's too slow and they don't download pictures. I used to go to our apartment and download there but I don't have an apartment anymore so I don't know what I will do. Maybe I can go somewhere else when the roads open and then download them, like the library. I hope so. Well, I've written another book but I had to let everyone know what has been happening.

Take care and stay warm. God bless