26 Jan Glo-fil
Thank you so much for your prayers for Keegan’s kidney testing yesterday. It was a loooooong day, and knowing that so many were lifting Keegan up in prayer made such a difference. We are continually at a loss for words to express how much your support humbles and amazes us.
We were at the hospital before 8am yesterday. Keegan went first to the Solid Organ Transplant clinic to have his port accessed and some other labs that were needed drawn first. Nothing wakes you up and gets the day started out on the right foot like someone sticking a big ol’ needle in your chest. We thought that all went well, but it turned out later that his port might have not been accessed properly first thing that morning. Then, we checked in to the nephrology lab. It didn’t start off well when we put him on the scale, only to find out his weight was up another half a pound over the weekend alone, despite getting extra diuretics this week. I won’t bore you with the details, but the dye didn’t actually get injected until almost 11am. It was supposed to be a 5 hour test after that.
By the time the 3pm blood sample needed to be drawn, we could barely get anything out of his line. I lifted his shirt after the nurse had tried a few times to find the dressing, his chest, and his undershirt soaked in blood. I really don’t know what happened, but it wasn’t good. We grabbed the kidney transplant coordinator (whom we unfortunately are already familiar with), and he said we had to take the first needle out and try again. That worked for that one blood draw, but 30 minutes later, we once again couldn’t get any blood from his line. At this point, we were all frustrated and exhausted and starting to worry that if a clot had formed in his port, we were quickly headed to finishing the day in the operating room….not to mention that we might not get enough samples to complete the test. The poor nurse running the test started paging anyone and everyone, and we finally got some nurses that were a bit more knowledgeable about ports. They tried their best to save the line, but ultimately had to pull that needle and reaccess him….a third time.
Let’s just say, it was almost 6pm by the time we left the hospital. We hope we got samples that will work to complete the test. Keegan lost an inordinate amount of blood betwen the blood draws and failed lines, and I think I have some hearing loss from him screaming in my ear through it all. He was beyond pale and bruised today. We are anticipating getting results from the test sometime this week. Keegan saw his GI doctor today. He ordered an abdominal ultrasound to be done sometime this week. We are confident at this point that all of Keegan’s doctors are working hard to try to find out what is going on with him lately.
When we get more information, we will certainly share it with you. In the meantime, here are some pictures from yesterday…
