Happy Birthday, Samuel!

Today was Samuel's 16th birthday! For the third year in a row, Samuel's birthday happened to land on a dialysis day. For the third year in a row, the amazing dialysis staff went above and beyond to put together a birthday celebration for him. One of our beloved nurses, Jane, baked a scrumptious carrot cake and came in on her day off. The room was decorated and someone had arranged for the Wii game system from Baird 5 to be brought down to dialysis so Samuel could have some fun playing it. Jane and several other nurses took turns playing tennis, bowling, and cow racing with Samuel. It was great fun! Many folks stopped in to share birthday wishes and a piece of cake. Dialysis is not a great place to have to be on your birthday, but Samuel couldn't have asked for nicer folks with whom to spend his birthday.

Bill, Betty, Samuel, Jane, Dr. Ann, and Esther...just a few of the folks at today's birthday bash. Thanks everyone for making the day special!

In other news, Katie came down with cold/flu symptoms very suddenly this morning and Lydia has a sore throat. We're washing hands like crazy and praying that no one else gets infected - especially Esther whose immune system just got stomped on! Samuel wasn't feeling well this evening and missed out on his birthday dinner, but hopefully that is something different.

Well, I had intended to fill you in on all that has happened in the last week since Esther came home from the hospital, but I am exhausted and really need to go to bed. I'll try to write again soon.

Samuel's birthday wish was to get a new kidney. We didn't get "the call" today, but lots of people get belated birthday gifts, right? Let's keep praying that that kidney comes soon!

Home Sweet Home

Esther was indeed discharged today! After picking up her one-month supply of medications worth about $3,000 (ouch!), we arrived home at 5:30.

Five-year old Nicole has been staying at our house under Hannah's and Lydia's supervision since Sunday evening to allow Katherine to rest and recuperate at the hotel. On her way home this evening, Hannah picked up Katherine and we all had dinner together. When we realized how many one-kidneyed people we had at the dinner table, we decided we needed to take a picture.

Front row: Esther, Katherine, and Samuel
Back row: Katie and Tom


One very important person is missing from this photo and that is Kelly. She became a member of the one kidney club after donating to Katie in April 2008. We love you, Kelly, and are reminded afresh of your generosity!

The healing process is a little slower than Katherine expected and she needs some help getting herself and Nicole back to California. So today we made arrangements for Hannah to fly back with Katherine and Nicole. Hannah will stay for a few days to help out before flying back home. Hannah is busily packing her bag tonight and is excited about the trip. She and Nicole have spent a lot of time together over the last two weeks and have become quite fond of each other. They all fly out tomorrow in the early afternoon.

I don't expect to be posting as often now that the intensity has subsided, but I sure would be grateful for your prayers as the grind continues. For example, Samuel leaves the house at 6:15 for dialysis tomorrow morning (and every MWF) and Esther has to go back to the hospital to have labs drawn by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow (and will continue to have labs and clinic visits once or twice a week for a season).

Please continue to pray for a kidney for Samuel!

Healing Up and Heading Home

Esther is doing great! She finally felt well enough to play the Wii game here on the floor. That was one of the fun things she was looking forward to as we made plans for her transplant. With that activity checked off her wish list, we can now go home! (smile!) We expect that she will be discharged tomorrow morning. Yeah!!

Special happy birthday wishes to my husband Tom and my dad!

Pictures for Your Pleasure

After a rough start this morning, Esther turned a corner and started feeling better later in the afternoon. Zofran is helping to keep her nausea under control and she has actually eaten some food that hasn’t revisited her. She got a second dose of an IV immunosuppressant and (hopefully) her last dose of IV prednisone. She may have to continue on a small dose of oral prednisone until her levels of Prograf are where they want them to be. She reacted again to the steroids today, but it wasn't as intense or as long as yesterday. She walked the “big lap” around the pediatric floor twice. This morning they cut her IV fluids back to 50 ml per hour, but she still has neither desire nor tolerance for drinking. That will have to be tomorrow's big objective.

Katherine reports that today was also a turning point for her. She came for a visit just in the window of time when Esther was feeling the best ever!

Katherine and Esther are both looking great!


Two second cousins - Nicole and Esther


Katherine and company...
Front row, left to right: These are the folks who came to support and care for Katherine - Ashley Copeland (her sister-in-law), Nancy Copeland Kelley (her sister), the star herself, Nicole (her 5-year old daughter), Ben Kelley (her brother-in-law).
Back row, left to right: These are just two of the folks who are so incredible blessed by Katherine's gift - Tom and Nancy

One more picture for tonight....not for the faint of heart. Esther's outermost layer of skin is actually glued together.

Saturday Update

I'm sorry I didn't post on Friday night. I had strict instructions from my husband to go to bed early!

We are now happily settled on Baird 5 (the pediatric floor). Esther was moved up from the ICU yesterday afternoon, enabling us to accomplish our two big Friday goals of more walking and getting to Baird 5!

Today's improvements include no more peripheral IVs, no more sequential compression device (otherwise known as the dreaded leg squeezers), and no more foley catheter! Yeehaw!! Esther has had no pain medication of any type since Friday afternoon and is still able to move around quite comfortably. (Steriods are good!)

Today's dose of steriods was another step down in their tapered dose plan so, thankfully, Esther had a much, much less intense sensory overload episode than she'd had on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. (Steriods are bad!)

Esther had a bit of a set back today with nausea and dizziness, which kept her from doing much walking. Now that the foley catheter is gone, Esther is required to get up every two hours to empty her bladder. That means she is moving around regularly, but the dizziness kept her from being able to walk the hall like we've done the last two days. While she won't get any points for distance today, she certainly should get points for speed! Her morning trips to the bathroom were slow and required me holding her up when she got too dizzy. By the afternoon, she changed her strategy and practically ran to the bathroom in order to get there before the dizziness overwhelmed her. Then she'd sit on the pot with the throw up bucket in her lap (ocassionally needing to use it). Then it was a mad dash back to the bed. As the IV pole driver, I had to be on my toes in order to keep up with her.

Eating is still not high on Esther's wish list, but she managed to get in a few bites. Unfortunately, everything she ate was eventually thrown up during the dizzy trips to the bathroom.

The surgical residents were called in this evening to assess the nausea/dizziness situation and their conclusion is that, despite receiving 50 ml of IV fluids each hour, Esther is too dry. They just gave her a 500 ml bolus. Esther still has a central line in her chest which makes it easy to get things in (fluids, meds) and out (blood for labs). The nurse just came in and increased her hourly rate to 100 ml, so we're likely to be up going to the bathroom throughout the night. Rats!

Esther's red blood cell count is very low and could possibly be a contributor to the dizziness, but they would prefer not to transfuse her. Since her RBC is slowly moving upward, they are hoping we can just wait it out.

We've seen a little more of the pre-hospital Esther today, including some nice smiles and some teasing with Dad.

A Very Happy Kidney and a Peaceful Night

Six o'clock labs this morning show Esther's creatinine to now be 0.88!! That is fantastic! The rest of her body has some catching up to do before it is functioning as well as her new kidney, but I have no doubts that she'll get there!

I had a sweet time with Esther early this morning at 3:30. She woke up from a good long sleep and was much calmer. The intensity level had been turned down considerably. She still had a very strong urge to ripe off all her wires and tubes and to walk out the door for home, but she was able to express it less frantically. She was talking with her eyes open, unlike most of yesterday, and she just looked so much better.

We had some lovely harp music playing and there was a peace and deep quietness about the room as we prayed together. I was able to make her more comfortable by massaging her dry, itchy arms and hands with some nicely scented lotion. She was back asleep by 4:30 a.m. and is still sleeping peacefully.

Our big goals for today will be to do some more walking and to get moved up to Baird 5.

A Happy Kidney and an Unhappy Girl

This was a hard day for Esther. The first day post-operatively has a reputation of being a tough one and that sure proved to be true for Esther today. In contrast to her physical limitations from the surgery, Esther's nervous system seems to have gone into overdrive. About an hour after receiving a big bolus of steriods this morning, Esther went into a state of sensory overload. The tangle of tubes and wires were making her feel trapped and restrained. Every little thing seemed to frustrate and overwhelm her. She complained of being claustrophobic and had periods of extreme agitation. It was sometimes difficult to reason with her. By this evening she was beginning to settle down a bit. She has said several times tonight, "Something is happening to my body and I don't know what it is!" That's a scary place to be.

At the moment, she is sleeping and seems comfortable. We're praying for a quiet night of restorative sleep.

In keeping with the competitive nature of the Copeland family, Esther wins the prize for being the first one out of bed and up walking (against her will!). Katherine gets the prize for walking the furthest! She came down from the 6th floor to the ICU waiting room where I got to visit with her briefly. Katherine looked as lovely as ever and was still smiling...clearly sore and uncomfortable, but still smiling! Esther was having a rare moment of peaceful sleep and Katherine didn't have enough reserves to get all the way down to Esther's room so, unfortunately, the two weren't able to connect today. I went upstairs this evening to introduce some friends to Katherine and discovered that she had been discharged! You go, girl!

Katherine's ex-kidney seems very at home inside Esther. It is working beautifully! Esther is peeing like a horse and her creatinine was already down from 6.0 pre-operatively to 2.5 this morning (.7-1.5 is considered normal). We are all expecting that her creatinine will be even lower tomorrow morning. How exciting!

Well, I have fallen asleep about four times while typing this and should take advantage of Esther being asleep to get some rest myself. Thank you for your prayers! We still have some hurdles ahead, but God is faithful. Praise God for Katherine's short hospital stay!