Monday, November 2nd - 5PM

Just got back from taking Steph's mom back to their house and picked up Matthew.

Long day today....
They took him for his trach at 1PM.
We had to get his wedding ring off his finger.
That was hard on Steph.
He's never taken it off for anything.
Broke a couple of fingernails trying to get a silver bracelet off his wrist.
He owes me a manicure.
Had one round of dialysis before going to surgery.
That's good - didn't have any yesterday.
It looks like he may have had Kidney disease before any of this happened.
There is a lot of scarring.
Not sure what the long term outlook is there.
Could be on dialysis for a long time - maybe forever.
Not even "going there" right now.
I did wonder if he might need a kidney transplant down the road.
Oh my... I'm the only living relative around here.
Hmmm.
Would I do it?
Sure.
The thought of him being indebted to me would make up for all the little sister abuse I took growing up.
Two scars and being afraid of the dark is all thanks to good old Gary.
Why oh why he thought it was funny to hide under my bed, wait for me to fall sleep, and reach up and grab me (from under the bed) was funny - I'll never know.
Sorry Kate - he's the reason why I don't like scary movies :)

But as I mentioned earlier the surgery for the trach went VERY well.
He should be able to breath a lot easier.
Also, may even be able to communicate soon.

It seems to be able to update all of you I just need to start with the head and work my way down.
Doing it alphabetically is too taxing on my brain right now.

Brain - water on the brain - not worrying about it right now.
Neck - swelling shut - that's why they did the trach.
Heart - looks like 50% damage on each side due to it working overtime for so long.
Lungs - fluid in the lungs - they keep sunctioning it out.
Kidneys - well you know what's going on there - no function.
Good news is that he is responding to our voice.

Long days at the hospital.
I'm finally getting to know my way around.
And, as you all know that is a major accomplishment for me.
I am truly bad with directions :)

Hope to have more to update later.

Oh, and I did manage to splash some more holy water on him when the nurse was out of the room. He's going to love that when he finally wakes up....

Thanks for your prayers.