On a scale of 1 - 10, I would say it was a 12. Fortunately, Joe was there to let me squeeze his hand and to remind me to breathe and focus through the 3 or 4 really bad parts where they were breaking through the bone. The drugged me up with dilaudid and Ativan before the procedure, and at one point Joe asked me if I wanted more. There's more? Give it to me! :-)
Consequently, I spent most of the day in an Ativan haze. I dozed a lot afterwards, and even when I was awake, I wasn't really awake. Dr. C., the attending cardiac team doctor stopped by in the afternoon, I remember. She is as frustrated as I was in gaining another pound of fluid overnight. So frustrated, she ordered Metolazone in addition to my regular drug cocktail. Had I not been in an Ativan haze, I might have questioned that addition: In the past, it has killed the sodium level in my blood, and raised my Creatnine to over 2.xx. But my drug-addled mind happily accepted it and I've been peeing like the proverbial racehorse since 2pm this afternoon. Dr. C. also brought up the possibility that I will just stay in the hospital until I get my lungs. Say what?!?
I am anxious to be weighed in the next few hours and even more anxious to see the labs. Maybe the thinking was that my kidney function had improved to such a level that it could take a mega-hit from the Metolazone. I'll let you know at 7 am.
Additionally, Wanda the vampire came up this afternoon, and cleared me out of any extra blood! She's kinda a scary looking vampire when you are in a haze: Meaty, heavily tattooed arms and facial piercings too numerous to count. After 40 tubes of blood, she quit. The transplant team should know everything there is to know about me after a few days of processing that booty.
Some pulmonologists stopped by to talk. I hope Joe caught what they were there for, because the haze did not clear enough for me to get much from their talk. Mostly they spoke about the evaluation: I need to have some sort of Cardiac Artery testing -- just to make sure I don't have any pesky, unknown Cardiac issues. I don't really have any of the typical risk factors, but they would hate to give me nice, shiny new lungs and have me have a heart attack at the same time. Good thought.
So, some good news in the wee hours of the morning: I've lost 5 pounds of fluid overnight. That is like 2.3 liters of fluid. All I gotta say: That's a whole lot of pee. I'm ready to do the happy dance!
My labs came back this morning and they have not appreciably changed, so we'll see what Dr. C. has up her sleeve for today. Maybe tomorrow will be the lucky day when '...the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars....' and I'll get home.
Dr. C. was here with her plan: Excited about the 5 lbs. but it was faster than she planned. We are stopping any diuretic for today and if all looks well tomorrow, we will move to oral diuretics and if all stays well on oral diuretics, I will be going home Saturday morning. Just in time for date night Saturday!
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