It's been a long time since I've posted....since June of 2013 I believe. What's happened in that time? Not much, which is a good thing. Carlos has done remarkably well aside feom some weight gain issues. He's been the picture of health since receiving his gift of life. He's even weathered a cold and a stomach virus without any difficulty!
This week he has a full evaluation. Today he had a ton of blood drawn....10 tubes. And now he is waiting for his left heart cath. I guess the plan is to evaluate his heart function, pulmonary function, etc. He normally only has a right heart cath, which they do for biopsies to evaluate for rejection. Tomorrow he has a bunch of other less invasive tests then follow up with the docs and nurses on Wednesday. We anticipate a clean bill of health.
I remember when I used to get so nervous about the heart caths, I would ask a friend or family member to sit with me. Seems so ho-hum now. I told Carlos it's hard being the family member. When he would have surgeries, he would get to sleep or get really good drugs. They should consider drugging the family members too...at least provide an ativan lollipop or three!
I just got done giving him a hug before he goes back and gets the good drugs. It's very cool that one of his nurses is the mother of one of my patients. There's a little extra comfort in that :)
So now that it has been a year, I'm contemplating writing a letter to his donor family. I would ask the kids if they want to write as well. It's a very emotional thing and I worry that it will be difficult to adequately express my gratitude in a written format. But I think it's worth trying.
