Not in Rejection

Great News....Danny's biopsy showed no rejection at all! The surgeon had trouble getting to the right spot during the biopsy and couldn't figure out why, so she ordered an x-ray. She discovered that his hernias (yes, plural) are pushing on his heart and moving it up some so she had to readjust her aim in the biopsy. Hernias pushing on his heart might explain the shortness of breath he has been having lately!! I don't know of a change in plans for dealing with the hernias...wait until closer to Christmas to do surgery so I'm out of work and hopefully Danny will be weaned off of Prednisone by then. Which leads me to the potential problem...the doctors (transplant team, GI team, Infectious Disease team) think that Danny either has a stomach virus or is having a bad reaction to the CellCept (lifetime immunosuppressant medicine). They believe they've ruled out a bacterial infection because nothing has showed up positive in the bloodwork so far. It could be a virus because he is so susceptible to catching anything. He could of caught a virus that I caught from one of my students and I didn't even feel a symptom. With a suppressed immune system, the smallest bug that he would normally never get sick from can make him extremely sick. Right now the GI doctors feel like its a virus and the transplant team think it's the medicine. The plan (as far as I know) is to treat it like its a medicine complication and switch some things around. I'm not sure what they will do since Cellcept is a necessary thing and increasing the doses of the lifetime anti-rejection meds coincides with decreasing the Prednisone (short term anti-rejection med). He definitely needs to continue weaning off of that so he can have his hernia surgery!! 

He was a little hopeful that he would be discharged today because the clinical pharmacist gave him a new blue card (table of meds/doses/times, etc...) to go home with. Sadly Danny isn't allowed to take any kind of medicine that would help diarrhea except for Metamucil (I know, that's for constipation...but apparently it works by bulking up the stool so in theory it should help). Meds like Pepto Bismol negatively interact with his transplant meds. 

Hopefully he will be able to come home tomorrow. Today is Maggie's 15th birthday! Last year Danny was in the hospital too, I think he had just gotten his LVAD. We had a birthday party for her in the hospital. Charlie's birthday is in December and we celebrated his in the hospital last year too! Looks like we'll do it again for Charlie since the hernia surgery is in December!!! Good thing my kids haven't ever gotten accustomed to big birthday parties with a bunch of friends!! 

I'm excited for Danny to get back home. I went to see him last night and it was like being back in our second home! We know the nurses and staff and it feels very comfortable there. I haven't decided if that's a good thing or not! Being apart from each other isn't easy. 

Thanks for praying! No rejection is definitely praise worthy!!!! 

~Tricia