who is trying to escape?

I have never been one for dressing up for halloween. I like going out as myself. And since we have passes to leave the hospital for a few hours so I can get a break and change of pace from just staying inside all day.

Which one is the costume?

If you guessed the me in street cloths you guessed right. I went out wearing my hospital gown because that is the normal cloths. Every time I put on street cloths I feel like I am dressing up to hide my sickness. For once I could wonder around normal and every one else thought I was wearing a costume.

Statistics

As of October 23

I have been checked into the hospital 8 times since the transplant on March 7 (230 days ago). In that time I have spent 65 days in the hospital.

March        - 20
April          - 0
May           - 3
June           - 1
July            - 10
August       - 0
September - 10
October - 21

And in the last 35 days (Sept 19- Oct 23)
I have spent 4 days at home and 31 days in the hospital

Status (since it has been a while)

I am still in the hospital. God Is still on His thrown in control of this entire situation. I have been learning a great deal of patience, and learning to give God the control of things I want to be in control of, but I can’t be. I continue to trust that All things are going to work out for good.
I have found an interesting mission field that I never expected to go to. Being in the hospital and talking to the nurses and aids about my story, they are amazed at how I can remaining so positive, most people turn sour, bitter and grumpy. I am able to tell them that Christ in me is giving me the strength and patience that I need to endure this long adventure.


My body fat, and muscles are basically all gone. I am a shadow of the man I used to be. I am now down to 160 lbs. and that is still with extra fluid in my belly. Hopefully I will be able to build my muscles back up better then before.

Change of pace...

We have been in this lull for many days were almost every day is like the day before. Watching TV, sleeping, taking pills, sleeping. But today I had more excitement to fill my day.
I woke up with a 101 fever, we had just got that coming down and I took some drugs then proceeded to throw up (flagil is bad going down the first time it is worse when it comes back up). I felt better afterwards for a bit, and I went back to sleep.

When lunch came I had an appetite but before I could finish it xray was calling for me to get a chest x-ray. I asked for 10 minutes to finish lunch first and they agreed that that was do-able. Shortly after I left for x-ray the doctor came by and ordered an ultrasound tap to check for infection, and a CT scan. So without any warning I was off to another test. When I got to ultrasound they said they were going to poke my belly to check for infection. But less then 2 hours after my belly was upset and throwing up. I didn’t think that was something I was ready to do. They also wanted me to drink 1000mL of Rasberry Crystal-light contrast for CT. I wanted to go back to my room and bed instead of doing this in ultrasound. They said it is my right to refuse any test or procedure. So after a bit of waiting I was taken back to my room where I was able to enjoy drinking the contrast. :-(

2 1/2 hours later after drinking the contrast we were on our way back to CT for another scan and then off to ultrasound for a tap. I didn’t have as much fluid in my belly this time so they only got 3.6 liters out of me. I guess the lasix are working.

The results of the test came back all clean, no new infections. Which is a good thing. The bad thing is that I have been having a bunch of fevers and throwing up and they don’t know exactly why. My stomach doesn’t feel so good and seems to always be churning :-(

So once again I continue to wait and see what brings into my life next.

Fun while it lasted...

Well this fills like a very familiar song. I checked out thursday and sunday I am right back in. Yes unfortunately I am back in the hospital (again) that is 23 days in/27 days out. And this is my 10th time being checked in since march.

So while I was at home I did get to enjoy 1 night of really good sleep only woke up once and then right back to bed. Got to walk around smiths market place looking at new eye candy and tempting me to buy buy buy it is only 9.99 or 19.99 or 129.00 and it is on sale. But in the end I decided that I didn’t really need it. And the 2 things that I was really looking for and probably would have bought they were out of. Lucky me, bank account/budget wins yet another round of the I wants.

The rest of the time at home was spent pretty much the same as it is in the hospital. Sitting watching (in a very comfortable recliner, at least it starts out that way) TV with my mom, taking tons of drugs, trying to decide what in the world I am hungry for, going to the bathroom, and last but not least sleeping.

So now that I am back in the hospital I expect not much will change. Same old routine no sleep, bad food, and lots of pain cause I am not moving. Yippee!

Last place I expected to be...

I never thought it was going to happen, before I got transplanted. I thought my hospital stay was a one way street. With me in here till the transplant happens.

But the doctors through a curve ball on me. They discarged me today! I am back at home! :-)

They want me to stay as healthy as possible. But the risk of catching something in the hospital was higher then the risk of sending me home. The same rules all apply don’t get sick! We will call you if something changes.

My back is happy that I don’t have to lay on the hospital bed tonight.

No one knows the day or the hour.

(Mark 13:32-37)
32 “No-one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.
34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn.
36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

Just like the second comming of Christ we are being on standing by waiting and hoping. They are not wanting me to go home because they are watching my labs pretty close so that if a liver comes available they don’t want me to be sick with something inside that would make me not eligible to recieve it.

Lord give me the hope and patience to continue to wait on you!

Today is a special day...

I don’t know if it is something to be proud of or not. I was counting up days that I have spent in the hospital and today is my 60th day (not all consecutive) in the hospital since march. The crazy thing is I have learned from the nurses and others comming in doing there job, so when a new person comes in and isn’t quite sure what they are doing I can talk them through what they should do. My mom walks around the hospital and there are a lot of people that know her and me, and she is always being asked how is Micah doing. A number of times she has been given a staff discount in the Cafeteria.
I think about what I have gone through and were my natural energy level is at, and where it runs out and amazed that God gives me extra strength I need to make the next few minutes or hours.

Lasix of fun...

My belly fills smaller or at least from the inside less presure maybe. They were thinking of TAPping me again. :-( I don’t want another hole in my belly. Isn’t 3 TAPS plenty in a week. My labs are showing that my kidney is doing a little better so the levels are closer to normal. Which means that they give me lasix and it wouldn’t have ill effects. IV & pills 100mg wow! I lost track of how many times I have gone to the bathroom. 4 times an hour maybe. Bye-bye fluid.
My belly still is extra large but in many I fill a lot lighter. I can move a little more quickly, with my center of mass changed.

I escaped...

Well for about an hour! We talked to the doctor about how I was going stir crazy here in the hospital and that I wanted to get out this weekend and was denied. He didn’t think it would be bad for me to get away, since we were waiting right now. He wrote a pass so that I could get out for an hour or so if they weren’t giving me any drugs and we told the nurse first.
It was so nice. We were only gone for about an hour. I got to go take pictures of the fall callers. But probably the nicest part was that I was able to sit in a different chair for a bit.
We drove up City Creek canyon, and memorial grove park. And of coarse I had my mom grab the camera so I took a bunch of pictures.

No end in sight

They are still keeping me in the hospital. They want my levels to come back down to a normal range. They took me back to ultrasound for another TAP and pulled off 7.3 liters of fluid monday. The my belly felt better for a bit but the rest of me felt super messed up. The body does crazy things as that much fluid comes off. The most sad part is that a few hours later the fluid has shifted from other places that the belly is tight and full again :-( I am tired of being poked and pushed on, from the outside and the inside.

It is official...

I am officially tired of being in the hospital. I am so ready to be out and be home again but at this point they aren’t looking to send me home. I am still to sick. I have way to much extra fluid in my belly which is effecting my kidney functions. So we continue to wait...
God give me the strength and patience to make it trough another day staring at the same 3 walls, and keep me safe from all these other bugs floating around the hospital that I don’t want to catch.