Lynn's Update on Bernie's Liver Transplant!! So here goes. Its been a hectic week!!! Sunday night the 27th of June, we received the phone call that there was a liver for Bern! So excited, we brought the boys to Leonard and Kate's. Got all papers, and what Bern needed and struck out for Boston. Made the trip in two and half hours. They had to do many tests to make sure that everything was up to par with Bernie. At four in the morning on Monday they took him to the operating room. I was in such a rush, I left the house with nothing for me, and I had just gotten back from taking care of the horses!!! Yep, there I was waiting in the hospital, all mud, horse hair, looking like something the cat dragged in. They let me take a shower and set me up on a cot in his room. There I laid, thinking, thinking and praying....they had spent an hour telling us everything that could go wrong. I thought about all the people in my family and on the porch praying for my husband.....at five thirty the nurse came in and told me to try to get some sleep, that Bern would not be back until after noontime. So I slept until seven and then I was wide awake. From the time I woke, until Bern came back at two thirty I received 199 txt messages, with well wishes, keep us updated, and many prayers!!! I could not answer them all but kept them all to read to Bern when he woke up. It took him until four in the afternoon to open his eyes, and I reached for him and he smiled!!! I knew then it would be OK. By Tuesday I got a call that Randy our youngest, had been throwing up at head start, and Bern told me to go home to tend to him. I got all kind of assurances from the nurses that Bern was stable, with promises to call immediately if anything changed. Drove back to Vermont and collected the boys, I had taken pics of Bern so I could explain to them what was happening. Randy told me he was happy now and wouldn't be sick anymore. He was just worried about his Papa. Michael told me he would do anything I needed him to do so I could go back to be with Papa. That evening Papa called and talked with both boys who were smiling and talking up a storm. Randy told papa he was happy he got a new liver because now he wouldn't die and they could go hunting and fishing again. I slept with two boys on my shoulder and leg, a dog at my feet, and two cats leaning on me. We were content. Traveled back and forth until the Third of July, they told Bern he should be the poster boy of transplants because he was well ahead of the time frame, he would be able to come home on the 4th. Just a few hours later, they told him he could leave that day, because the hospital is on the Charles River, and a million people come to see the fireworks. They block off all the streets nearby. We were thrilled, it was a long ride home, stopping each hour to have Bernie walk. But he was so anxious to see the boys, and his family. We settled into a routine, and we had an appointment to go back to the transplant clinic today, Tuesday. We left at three in the morning to make it for the seven o'clock appointment. They drew his blood and told us to wait. We went over his list of twelve medications and the times and doses he was taking. Then we were told Bern was being admitted to the hospital again. Seems that his liver is working better than expected but the blood test show that his bile ducts were not working properly. They assume that when they had join the new liver to his body the connections may be too small, you see the liver is smaller than the one he had. So he is in Boston tonight, waiting to have a procedure tomorrow morning, and I am in Vermont again. He was put into the burn unit because there were no other beds in the transplant unit until much later. I cannot stay in the burn unit because of the infection factor. Completely understandable. We were reassured by one of his transplant doctors that this is a minor glitch, and if anything had to go wrong this was the best of the worst. They will enter his bile ducts via his stomach (Not quite sure how) and put a stent wherever needed this will expand his bile ducts and things should be OK from there. Otherwise he is tolerating all the medications, his blood pressure is excellent, his blood sugars are under control, and I am learning how to be a nurse!!! Thanks to all of our family out there in the world, You give me the strength to carry on and Bern has a lot of faith in His Lord. We truly believe that we are having such a great year this year because we have such a large, loving, caring family....all of you!!!!! We thank you for your prayers and thoughts. I pray for each person Chris (Dusty to all of you) puts on the porch, and for all of our extended family....we are truly blessed!! We will update you again soon, and try to put on pics. (My laptop was stolen when we were in Boston, but I will borrow one like I did tonight to put pics on) Thank you again and God BLESS each and everyone of you!!!!!!!! Lynn, Bernie, Randy and Michael and the rest of our zoo! |
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