This is it!!!

The guys are in. They were actually wheeled away at the same time. The surgeon is very optimistic that the kidney will work well given Neal's last transplant. We are all sitting in the atrium doing the only thing we can do....wait. We hope to hear some news by early afternoon.

Neal will be on a lot of drugs over the next five days. He will be getting high dosages of steroids for five days, so he will most likely gain quite a bit of water weight. He will only be able to have 2 people in his room at a time. He will also be getting large doses of medicine to kill off all of his T-cells (the cells that essentially attack/ our immune system). Last time he received this medicine, it made him pretty sick, so the first couple of days will not be fun. Neal will be on immunosuppression drugs forever. We were informed the drugs cost about $1,200. Luckily our out of pocket max is $2,000.

Ryan has moved to Room 916. They have a private room!!! Ryan will have 3 or 4 1 centimeter incisions in his front side for instruments and one two inch incision by his belly button (enough to get the kidney out). His restrictions on lifting Connor are not as bad as we originally thought. Basically he needs to be sure his incisions are healed. Ryan should be out by Friday. He will have a morphine pump, so the first day he should be pretty happy. They will try to get both of the guys up and moving today!

I will try to post pictures tonight if I can figure out our new camera. If my internet hook up sticks around, I will post when we hear more. I am just going to keep updating below.

10:50am - We spoke with Ryan's surgeon and he is doing just great. We should see him in his room around noon. His head will be a little swollen because they loaded him up with fluids for the kidney to be jump started. It sounds as though he was in a funny position. The surgeon said the kidney looked great. Neal will be about an hour longer. The doctor said he usually discharges his patients 2 days after surgery if they are feeling well.

12:45 pm - We heard around 12:00 that Neal is doing fine. The kidney worked immediately, which is great news. We just saw Ryan and he is doing great. He said the worst part is over. His only pain now is his throat. They put a tube down his throat during the surgery, so he is pretty dry. We are just waiting to see Neal now. Both of the guys will need a lot of rest. Everyone is happy this day has come and the worst part is past us.

5:00 pm - Neal is doing great. The kidney is working like crazy. They are loading Neal with fluids and his output is 2 Liters an hour. Compared to zero, this is a miracle. Ryan is doing great. Both of the guys need rest. Tomorrow they should be moving around. We will be headed up there shortly. The guys both received a kidney shaped pillow and we were all able to sign Ryan's! We had quite a crowd. Neal's surgeon looked at all of us as if we were crazy! Because I can.....Mom, Mike, UJ, Denise, Stacy, Matt, Dad, Dorothy, Les, Patty, Ed, Shawn, Mike, Connor and Kathy were all there. Thanks to all of you for everyone in this decision/day! It was a success!