how was your flow -- a kidney update

I think nurses are cut out of a special mold. Ok, well, I don’t think that, I know that.

Today we had another appointment at UIHC. We got to see Shelley and Kaye again. Kaye is the nurse that has taken Dad’s blood, given him shots, etc. Shelley is the nurse that is following our case through to the end. She is the one that does all the organizing with the different doctors and is part of the transplant team.

All of the nurses that we have worked with so far have been so good with Dad. As anyone that reads this knows, he is ornery! He is always dishing it out…sometimes inappropriately. Well, every nurse that we have been blessed with, dishes it right back…which is EXACTLY what Dad needs. He can laugh with them, and, good or bad, it encourages him to give them a bit more. ☺ But overall, it’s good. It’s very similar to how my sister-in-law (also a nurse, by the way) treats Dad. We are lucky to have her…she’s about the only one that can put him in his place.

Dad had his second hepatitis shot and met with the urologist, Dr. Wald.

After Kaye gave Dad his shot, Shelley checked in with us. I gave Shelley my papers from St. Luke’s that included my blood type, and she gave us the good news. As I wrote about here and here, the process is as follows: Dad goes through a bunch of tests, then Shelley presents his information to a panel of doctors. The doctors must approve him before we can move on with the procedure. We were told that this would happen after all the tests were complete. Shelley has already presented Dad, and assuming there is a good report from today’s urologist evaluation, he is approved. What does this mean?

As soon as Dr. Wald’s report is in, Shelley will call me. I will need to come in for a full day of appointments with many different doctors. Then within a couple of weeks, assuming I am approved, we will set a date for the transplant. This could be as soon as June. This is good news.

At lunch, after we ordered, I went to the restroom. When I came back Dad said…..

“How was your flow?”

We laughed….I bet he does get sick of that question!! And that is exactly my Dad’s sense of humor….here’s another for you….

On the way out to lunch after the appointments Dad said…..

“I tried really hard, but I just couldn’t make it happen.”

Mom and I of course asked what he was talking about…..and he replied….

“I tried to shit on that doctor for making us wait an hour, but I couldn’t do it.”