ReachOutGiving

Hello friends, 

 It has been a busy and eventful 16 days since the transplant. the guys have had nothing but good reports from the blood tests and doctor visits. I drive dickson to the doctor in san diego 4 times a week. over 600 miles already! 

We just dropped Dave, Jan, and Caitlyn off at the airport and they are on their first leg of their trip back  home in Brasil. We have lived the last 3 weeks as a unit and it seems strange to not have them here. Dave's kidney's are separated for the first time in over 50 years.

Dave has felt great since the end of week 1 and dickson feels more and more like himself every day. The medications are now getting closer to their correct levels, Dickson's blood chemistry looks wonderful for the first time in probably 6 years or more. His creatinine is down to 1.1 adn his hemoglobin is over 12 for you medical types. Those are both controlled by the kidney. I think if we entereed Dave's kidney in the county fair it would get a blue ribbon or even best in show!!!

Next week the staples, which look like a 7 inch zipper,, will come out. We asked a patient yesterday who had just had hers removed how bad it was and she said she didnt feel a thing. Thas was a releif to know.

It is impossible to get our minds around the FACT that we are now on the OTHER SIDE of what has been anticipated for so many years. The transplant and most of the recovery are in the past! We re in the post tranplant refining medication phase.

Now for a new subject, while we were not looking you wonderful people have donated enough money to meet the original finacial goal. We are amazed at your kindness and generosity. We of course have no idea what our financial need will actually end up being. We have not recieved any medical bills yet. So far, we have many travel bills and many reciepts for tanks of gas. We have not even found out yet what our part of all of Dickson's meds are going to be......I have not counted but we are managing about 20ish perscriptions.

We of course hope that the after insurance medical bills are minimal and that the $10,000.00 is sufficient to cover bills and expenses as they  roll in. If we find out that we were way off base in our guess we can let you know. Dickson does not wish to raise the need level but we can let you know what our future needs are as they arise.

You have been wonderfully generous and concerned and we are sincerely grateful for you. We covet your prayers as we walk through the rest of Dickson's time of recovery. 

Love to you all,

Cathy

It is 6 am and the beginning of a very exciting day. yesterday was spent tying up lose ends and preparing for our special guests as well as mentally preparing for 10ish days in the hospital. BUT today is a different sort of day. Today we get t osee our dear friends, Dave, Jan, and Caitlyn.

I am headed to the airport in a couple of hours. They have had little or no sleep so they will be tired and hungry when i pick them up. So my plan is to swoop them up, go straight to the closest In and Out, then head home for a bit of a rest before heading back to San Diego for Daves meeting at 4 with the tranplant surgeon. 

Our hope is that we too can have our meeting with our surgeon during the same time period so that we can be hospital/ doctor free on Friday.

Our primary prayer between now and transplant will be for robust health for Dave and Dickson (actualy for all of us invovled) , for rest on all levels, and a deep sense of peace as we move forward.

Okay everyone, have a great day!

With my head still spinning with the speed of all of this,

Cathy

PS, on a completely unrelated note, we had a fun smile producing package delivered yesterday. It was a white box and across it in big red letters was printed Wicked Whoopies. Well I had not ordered anything that would way 6 pounds and be labeled in such a way. To our delight, it was a box filled with 12 classic whoopie pies, each 5 inches in diameter, freshly baked and sent from a company in Maine. from our dear friends the Robinson family. specifically Darcie who thought they would bring a smile and they sure did. What a fun idea.........oh and for you who don't recognize the Robinson name, you may recognize the name Dorothy Sholts, her married name is Robinson. Dorothy and i grew up together, were in each others weddings and our families have shared some fantastic adventures together. We love them!!

There is no way to express the value of a deeply felt smile or genuine laughter during a times like we have been experiencng. Laughter is indeed the best medicine :-)