Catheter Crisis

Well, Sunday morning Tim got up around 6:00am and started working around the house. He went in to check on Max around 7:30am and continued on with what he was doing. I got up around 8:30am and went to check on Max. I went in and Max was awake and happy. I was looking at him and realized that something was different. The mittens and mesh hat that we put on him to keep him from grabbing at his catheter were off. I frantically told Tim to turn on the light... what do you know.... Max's catheter is laying on his bed above his head. I immediately applied pressure and told Tim to get some gauze. I looked at the exit sight and it wasn't bleeding. His PJ's had a quarter sized spot of blood on the collar and there were a few splatter spots on his sheet. We were told that if this thing came out, he could bleed to death. The dear Lord was watching over Max. We were not there when he pulled it out and I don't even want to think about what could have happened had it bled like it was suppose to.

We called the nephrology fellow on call and told her that we were on our way to the ER. 4.5 hours later we were admitted and put on the add on surgery list to have a new one put in on Monday. I stayed all night at the hospital with him and sleep maybe 2 hours the entire night. Hospitals really need to think about getting better sleeper sofas for the families. The sofa and pillows are hard as rocks- great fun! Anyway, we got up around 7am Monday morning and Max was extremely fussy. He literally fussed nonstop until we got called down for sugery around 12:30pm. By this point I thought I was going to have a nervous break down.

So anyway, the surgery went great. Max came out of it doing well enough that they sent him home around 6:00 that evening. The cathether now comes out from his chest, so he can't get to it unless he is naked. We had to be back at the hospital at 6:30am for dialysis :o( Two sleepless nights in a row and a wake up call at 4:00am... not my cup of tea! Dialysis today didn't go so great. The first two hours were fine- Max slept for most of it. Going into the third hour, Max woke up very cranky. Within 5 minutes all color left his face. He turned green. They immediately unhooked him from the machine. He also started to breath a little faster, so they ordered a chest xray and a CBC to check his white blood count. We found out that the lower right lobe of Max's lung is slighty collapsed and that his CBC count had risen from yesterday pre surgery. So, the nephrologist put him on an antibiotic and told us to watch his breathing tonight. If his work of breathing increases we are to call her tonight. Otherwise, they will see us tomorrow.

Max and I get our tissue typing and other blood work to start the transplant testing tomorrow. I am a needle phobe so I am freaking out about it, but so stinking exciting to finally get that ball rolling. Max will also get a blood transfusion right after since they will be taking 16mL from him (a little over 5 ounces).

I guess that's it. Have a great rest of the week :o)