Well its the middle of the night on my last night in the hospital and I think I have been transferred to the Mental Health Ward and nobody told me. My roomate that I have had for the last three days has been a nice guy and hasnt said a whole bunch. But, at about 1:15 am this morning he went a little wacky. I am writing this from down the hall at a public computer because I cant go into my room. I awoke to him digging through the nurses station in our room and he found a pair of scissors. He proceeded to cut the tape from his neck and yank his IV out and blood started shooting everywhere, it looks like a murder scene in my room right now. The spooky part was then he tried to leave with all his belongings. He walked past my bed towards the door with his jacket and bag in hand and blood literally covering his entire body and waved goodbye to me as he walked out. The nurses were able to stop him and now they are cleaning up the "murder scene" so that I can go back in there and try to get a few hours of sleep. Thankfully for everyone I am doing well and I was able to get right up and walk out there without having to disconnect a bunch of wires and IV's. I knew this whole thing went a little too smoothly.
Everything has been doing very, very well. My doctors have told me that I am the "star patient" on the floor and that I had achieved "rock star" status when it comes to recovery. The only concern that they are having with me is my blood pressure hasnt gone down as quickly as they had hoped. They can control that with medication which is good. It can also be a side effect of the anti-rejection drugs. I have met a lot of people the same age, younger, and older than me that have had a lot more issues than me, so I feel very fortunate.
The nurses here are some of the nicest and best people that I have been around. They are all so genuine and willing to help you with the smallest detail and the doctors are not only cool but they are smart, smart people. I was told my surgeon is considered the top in the world. I hope nobody that reads this ever has to go through this, but I can say from experience this has been a positive thing in my life and nobody should go anywhere else but right here in MN.
My incision is starting to heal and the pain scale number with my nurses is now a 2 compared to a 7 a couple days ago. I am now starting to feel the positive effects of the kidney in my body. My mind feels clearer, my vision is better, my energy is high and will get even better as time goes on and I heal from the surgery, and my mentalality is very positive. Kind of a new lease on life.
Tomorrow will be a good day, one of my good friends Tyler will be having a Christmas Party at his house for his brother Carney that has come home from Maui so I will see lots of people that I havent been able to see since being here. It will be interesting to be drinking soda water and cranberry juice and watch everyone else drink thick beers and wine, but Im hoping to have this kidney last me for a long long time. I dont think Erica is willing to give me her last one if this one runs out of gas because I dont take care of it.
Speaking of Erica, what a champion. She checked out yesterday and is comfortable back in her hotel room downtown. There is no way that I will ever be able to thank her enough for what she has done, she has changed so many peoples lives and made the Johnson family very very happy. My mom only has one child, my wife only has one husband, and my daughter only has one father and she just extended the warranty for all three them. The last thing that she wants out of this is recognition but when you see her make sure to give her a hug for me and tell her thank you, because if I do it everyday for the rest of my life I dont think I have done it enough.
Geoff and Tara have been great support for the two of us as well. They have logged more hours and done whatever we have needed. With this transplant there needs to be a lot of organization and effort put in to upkeep and maintenence on the kidney and those are two words that arent in my top 5 characteristics. Tara has so many notes and folders and has everything in order. I didnt need this to happen to appreciate her, but is a constant reminder as to why I did. Her and the whole Sullivan family have shown me so much love. Tomorrow (Sat) Tammy(Tara's twin) and Tara's Aunt Martha have been planning a fund raiser back in Canada for people to attend. There will a live band, an auction, tons of great prizes, and food and drinks. They will raise money for medical bills and expenses for our family.
Tara and I have started a non-profit group to raise money for families that are experiencing a similar situation to what we have faced. It is the Lee Johnson Kidney Foundation. We are officially an non-profit organization and registered with the IRS to raise money for non-profit. We are excited to share this gift with someone else and help a family each year the way that all of you have come together and helped us. I can honestly say there is no way this would have happend without people like Geoff, Tammy, Martha, and the hundreds of other people that have helped.
Okay I think the blood has been cleaned up out of my room so I need to get some rest. See you all soon. Tons of love from Tara, Karen, and myself. ALOHA!!
No comments:
Post a Comment