Thursday, April 21, 2005

Water Fight

Yep! They had a water fight today, just as I suspected. Bailey emptied the water out of Dr. T's syringe that he hung on the wall as his "lethal weapon" and filled the squirt guns that his nurse practitioner, Beth, brought in for her this morning. She was ready! Shortly after noon, Dana, Bailey's nurse, banged on our window and pointed to our door. The door creeps open and an arm reaches inside the door and feels along the wall for the syringe. Bailey shoots the arm with water. The arm disappears and reappears very soon thereafter with 2 very large syringes filled with water and Dr. T BLASTS Bailey with water!! It was like a fire hose. Her bed, shirt and hair were soaked! And to think that I lectured Bailey before-hand about shooting AWAY from the Berlin Heart. She obeyed very nicely. Dr. T, on the other hand, was standing at the door just firing away like a crazy man! As he had Bailey hunched behind a blanket shielding herself, he sneaked up on her and took away her guns; retreated back to the door; and began firing at her with her own guns. And, of course, mom had to clean up the mess!! (I had a flashback of cleaning up after the silly string fight.) So Dr. T got to claim his crown and glory in the water fight. But he asked who supplied her the water guns. She ratted out Beth and he went down the hall holding a water gun in firing position looking for Beth. She managed to avoid him the rest of the day.

He came back later to actually do a little work, and Bailey handed him a coaster made out of mosaic tile that she made for him. He looked at her like, "What's the catch?" He realized she was sincere, and he was very touched. He had her sign the back.

Colin did really well with his treatment to wipe his immune system out today. They said he'd feel really tired and sick, but he didn't at all. But they won't let Bailey and Colin be in the same room together today. They said they'd decide on a day-by-day basis as to whether they can visit at the end of the day - depending how well each of them are doing. So we'll see if he can come over tomorrow. Bailey waved to him through his window. They are so much alike - they really seem like brother and sister. It's comforting to see Bailey have a strong bond with another transpant patient. I think it will be good for both of them to have such a bright spot in their hospital experiences. I am very, very grateful for him. I hope he gets to feeling better soon so he can go back home, but it is nice to have him here.

Today's been pretty laid-back. I've been gathering heart-healthy recipes for when we get home, since my cooking skills consisted primarily of opening cans and boxes most of the time. It will be an adjustment, but it will definitely be for the better for all of us.

They did an echo on Bailey today just to see where her pressures were nearly 3 months after surgery. Turns out, they are pretty much where they were when they did her cath before they made the decision to list her. They even gave her some isopryl to increase her heart rate to 130 and her PA pressure went up, just like it did in the cath lab. So, no plans to change the course at this time. We continue to wait on a heart. Don't know how her white count is doing - they didn't test it this morning.

Kind of a funny story about the heart we almost had Monday night. They called at 7:00 pm to give the order to stop eating and drinking. After that order is given, the patient usually knows in 2 to 4 hours if it's a match or not. We went to bed at 12:30 am with still no word. Dave, Bailey's nurse, said that it's pretty unusual to not have heard anything yet, but that he would give it at least 8 hours before trying to contact the doctor. When he said that, I joked, "Dr. T is probably at home sleeping and he just forgot to call us." We found out yesterday that that was, in fact, the case! Well, partially. He was sleeping - he went to bed at 9:30 pm in case he had to stay awake throughout the night performing a transplant. But the donor organization would normally call him at the point they determine whether or not it's a match, at which time he would call us and let us know. Well, there were new people at the donor organization, and they didn't bother to call Dr. T back. He woke up on his own at 3:00 am, called the donor place to find there was no match, then called up here. I gave him a little grief today, saying that I heard he got some sleep Monday night. He was obviously irritated at the mix-up, so I didn't press it too much.

I hear it's supposed to get cold again soon. Hope everyone enjoyed the spring! I did.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Angie


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