It’s been a few weeks since the last post but I’m happy to report that Roger’s health and appetite continue to improve All of his labs and Dr. visits have been positive, so I think we are finally headed in the right direction. We’ve even had to exchange a few pairs of slacks/jeans for a larger size.  30-32s…that’s all good!!

Roger quickly graduated from using his walker to walking with a cane and tries to get out and walk up and down the sidewalk next to the house.  His strength and “speed” improve daily.  We still use his wheelchair (stroller as I call it) when we go on long shopping runs such as we did for Christmas.  He does make a darn good shopping cart.  Only problem with the wheelchair, no drink holders for the driver and the “shopping cart” gets full real fast.  

Off to Grandma Reisner's we go...

It certainly has been a year to remember and to be so thankful for so many things.  We are truly thankful that Roger was able to receive a new liver and is with us this year for the holidays,  something we weren’t sure of last year at this time.  We are so thankful for all of you who have supported Roger and continue to pray for his continued good health.  Thank you!!

We wish each and everyone of you good health in 2011.  Merry Christmas!!

Monday started off with him shaving himself, washing his own hair over the kitchen sink and dressing himself for our bi-weekly trip to give blood.  He was so pleased that he actually was wearing a pair of jeans (size 30) for the first time in almost a year.  Wow, huh? As you will see from the photo, he’ s looking more like his ole’ self each day. 

We made the short hop over to the lab for the blood work which is required each Monday and Thursday to check the liver levels.  From the outside, it appears that he’s doing well on all counts. The results of the test take about 24 hours so we shall see.  The doctors will then adjust the medications according to the results.

I brought him back home for the rest of the day.  I had to go to work so he was “on his own” for part of the day.  He was fine.  He’s walking so well with a cane that he’s able to fix his own breakfast and lunch.  Just navigating the house has become a breeze for him.  It’s so good to see him walking unassisted.

John Wilson stopped by for part of the afternoon to chat and see Roger in his home environment instead of that hospital bed and to bring him a new hat with a Powercat on the front. It has flashing lights around the logo.  He was pretty proud of that and couldn’t wait to show me when I arrived home.

We may venture out to the Mall today just to do a little light Christmas shopping without the weekend crowds. Mostly, get him out to see what’s going on. 

SO MANY CHOICES

WHAT A GREAT BURGER!!

On Friday of last week, we decided to have lunch out.  We chose a little bar and grill called Blue Moon.  It was fun to just sit and have lunch together but the best part was watching him check out the menu and then watching him devour his Blue Cheese Burger and fries….At this rate, he should gain about 10 lbs per week. 

LOVE THOSE ZEROS!!

Thanks to Brad and Lee Lowell, Concordia, KS for sending Roger a whole package of Zero bars.  He isn’t sharing either…Love you guys, thanks so much!!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving with the kids and as you can see from the photos below, he enjoyed his Thanksgiving feast!! 

On Friday, we ventured out to purchase him some new jeans as the clothes he has hanging in his closet now he could fit into twice!! We hope he’s able to fit into them again someday but not totally.  He actually weighed in at around 195 at one time.  A far cry from 107 today.

We loaded up the wheel chair and walker and he took along his cane.  Our first stop was SAMs. He’s doing so well getting in and out of the car with hardly any assistance.  What an improvement!! Once in the wheelchair, we were off for a little shopping spree but mostly just looking.  Roger hasn’t been into any stores since before he had his transplant.  We had fun walking up and down all the aisles.  I called him my human cart and by the time we were done, he had his lap full of blue jeans, a couple of books, a tray of little tomatoes that sounded good to eat and a pasta dish for dinner.  We decided we had to quit because he couldn’t carry any more stuff…LOL.

Picking up some goodies!

Our next stop was the grocery store.  We were a little smarter this time and got a cart but as can see, Roger was sitting in his wheelchair and pushing the cart, I was pushing both and he was steering the cart.  Thank goodness it was the day after Thanksgiving and the aisles were quiet.  We had fun navigating the store and he had fun picking out items to eat.

Today will be another day of getting out and about.  The weather is beautiful here.  A little chilly for our taste, but very nice.  Roger also wants to do a little walking up and down the sidewalk just to the East of the house.  He is walking really good with a cane. Oh..the jeans we bought yesterday are 2 sizes too big at a 34 waist.  We’ll have to take them back and try a 30. We’ll see how that size works.

I thought I would share with you the contents of a “book” Madilyn wrote for Thanksgiving and all the things she’s thankful for.  It’s priceless and worthy of sharing.  Madilyn is in the 2nd grade and going to soon be 8 years old. 

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful; for my teacher, I am thankful for my friends, I am thankful for my parents. I am thankful for my life.

I am thankful for my friend because they play with me. With my friends I like to play, have sleep over’s, parties and color. I am thankful for my friends because they are nice to me. with my friends I like to go places like Costco, Wal-Mart, Ross pet smart, circus and toys r us. I am thankful for my friends because they participate in our birthday parties with my friends, I like to dance. I am thankful for my friends because the make faces with me I love my friends.

I am thankful for my family because they take me and my brother out to eat at McDonald I am thankful for my family because they take me and my brother to Baskin and Robins . I am thankful for my family because they take me and my brother to fun places.

I am thankful for my family because they feed me and my brother. They are helpful they are awesome.

I am thankful for food so I don’t starve. I am thankful for my shelter so my family will never live on the street. I am thankful for food so my family doesn’t die. I am thankful for my shelter because we don’t have to sleep on the nasty floor.

Looking So Good!!

Great Grandma and the Grandkids

What Great Smiles!

Here are a

Ready, Set...EAT!!

We are so Thankful!

Serious Talk with Grandpa

A Happy Derik with girlfriend Krystal!

He is everyday!

few photos from our Thanksgiving Day.

He called me from the hospital about 9:30AM in tears and said that he was “FREE”. The best words I’ve heard out of him in months.  I arrived about 10:30 to a very anxious almost to be ex-patient.  He was dressed and ready to go.  After a few necessary discharge items were taken care of, we were off. 

Several of the nurses stopped by to give him a hug or two and there were tears of joy shed.  They all told him they were so glad he was going to go home but sad to see him leave as they all really enjoyed him.  Each one sharing that he was so nice to them and they appreciated it so much.

It took us a bit to get to the front door of the hospital as staff members were stopping him along the way to say goodbye. All good stuff.  One of his therapist yelled down the hall to keep walking as fast as he could before someone else stopped him.  We all had a good laugh on that one.

As we drove out of the parking lot, he was crying and said “Goodbye prison”….he couldn’t believe he was really going home.  As we drove home he kept pointing out all the things that had changed.  Remember, he hasn’t seen much of this since last February, so a lot has changed with regards to road construction, businesses, etc. 

When we arrived here to the house, he got himself out of the car, to the walker and into the house unassisted.  Derik was here to help in case we needed it but he needed no help at all.

The rest of the day was spent watching tv and just enjoying being home in his easy chair as you will see from the photos below.

Our kids will be here today for Thanksgiving dinner and he is certainly looking forward to all the good food, making several requests for his favorite dishes. We most definitely have something to be truly thankful for this year….good friends, like all of you, a loving family and Roger’s continued recovery and good health in the next year.

Heading Home

He's Free!

All Smiles!

Standing Alone!

Yum Chips and Onion Dip

Making a Ham Sandwich

Ready for lunch

Farley was happy too!!

The photos tell the story.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

All of our family stopped by and we had the quaint little patio just outside his room all to ourselves for the celebration.  Madi and Brayden entertained Grandpa with their cartwheels and fun conversation.  Barb and John Wilson stopped by along with my parents.  Several of the hospital staff shared a piece of cake and good wishes with Roger as well.  We spent most of the afternoon enjoying the gorgeous Arizona weather as well.

His enzyme number continues to go down.  Yesterday it was at 325 down from 335 the day before.  We are being told that Roger will need to go to Good Sam’s again to have the tube and bag replaced before coming home. This could delay his homecoming as they like to monitor him for a couple of days to make sure there is no infection, etc.  I will check on this today as it would be nice to have him home by Sunday.

A SPECIAL CARD FROM BRAYDEN

A SPECIAL CARD FROM MADI

THE PARTY GOERS

ALL SMILES!

GOOD FRIENDS!

Roger and I spoke yesterday and talked about last year at this time and how we weren’t sure he’d see another birthday.  Even though it’s been a tough year he’s very thankful that he’s able to blow out those candles on his cake again!! He realizes that there were several people in the hospital at the same time that didn’t receive their transplants and won’t be celebrating another birthday. 

He’s looking so forward to getting home and we are counting the days now.  The magic number is 35…35 points to 300!  His enzyme level had dropped from 395 on Monday to 335 on Tuesday.  At this rate, he’ll be home by the weekend and just in time for turkey and all the fixins on Sunday with my family.

He also had a small milestone yesterday when he walked with a cane instead of the walker up and back in the hallway outside his room.  He was VERY happy about that accomplishment!  We both did a little “happy dance”….exciting stuff, huh?

Balloons and streamers are all ready to go for this afternoon’s celebration at the hospital.  He wanted a chocolate cake and that’s what I ordered.  I will pick that up after lunch and decorate the little courtyard just outside his room for the party.  Brayden and Madi are out of school early today so they will be able to attend.  He will be happy to see them!

I will most likely update the blog this evening with the party photos. 

Thanks to everyone who has sent their best wishes from across the miles.  He loves hearing from each one of you!!

Now … time to PAARRRTTTTTYYYYY!!!

Although this is good news, it appears that he will be in the hospital a few more days with a release closer to the end of this week.  We’re trying to get him home before our Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday.  Brenda and Mike Simons (my sister and brother-in-law) are going to be here and we want Roger home to enjoy the festivities.  He’s really looking forward to all the good food which he wasn’t in the mood for last year at this time.  Thank goodness  the appetite has returned!

Roger was feeling a little down and out yesterday morning when I visited, he’d worked with PT and OT and was feeling a bit tired too but by last evening he was feeling a lot better knowing that he will be home soon.

Because he will be in the hospital on his birthday, I’ve decided to have a little birthday reception for him there.  Click on the link below to view your invitation.  It’s going to be very simple but I thought he needed a little celebration on his day.  I hope, for those who are close by, you’ll be able to stop by for a minute or two, enjoy some cake and conversation with him. He would love to see you!

BIRTHDAY INVITATION

We’ll keep you posted on the count-down to home.

I spent Friday afternoon talking with Lori, the case manager, regarding logistics, outpatient services, etc.  One drawback..because Roger has been taken off the very powerful antibiotic that he’s been on for several months, he now has a bowel infection that has to clear up before he will be able to be released. 

This news has set him back emotionally and he’s been feeling pretty down and out.  I tried to assure him that everything is being done to get him home sooner rather than later.  He understands.

Lori said that she would begin the process today of getting all the services in place so when she has the green light for his discharge, everything will be a go.  Roger was glad to hear that!

She also told me that if (and we hope not) he needs to return to the hospital, he could be a direct admit to Kindred and wouldn’t have to go to Banner if Dr. Wong and Dr. Singh were in agreement.  Roger was glad to hear that as well.  We’re hoping that we won’t have to use that option but in case we do, we like the option.

YUM..CHICKEN POT PIE

Sunday I made him some homemade chicken pot pie and arrived just in time for him to gobble it up for lunch.  As you can see, nothing was left in his dish.  Another happy plate for sure! He’s still eating up his Cheetos and Snicker candy bars too.

Today I will begin the process of finding an agency that we can use to be at the house with him during the day.  There are enough services around here that it shouldn’t be too hard to put someone in place.  He will need a full-time person during the day since I need to be at the office.  Hopefully, he will sleep through the night that we won’t need someone at night-time as well.  Time will tell.

ALL GONE!!

He called me in tears and was so disappointed as he was really looking forward to getting out of the hospital and home.  I told him that he needed to get out of that building and re-adjust his thinking.  He agreed so I left the office to see if I could break him out for a little while.

A HAPPY PLATE!

Upon my arrival, he was doing a little better and was eating his lunch of swiss steak, mashed potatoes and peas.  As you can see from the photo, he ended up with a Happy Plate! 

I walked down to talk with the case manager, Lori to see what our options might be in taking him out beyond the confines of those hospital walls.  She told me to just let the nurse know that he is going out and all should be fine.  Well, that’s all it took.

Roger was already in his wheelchair and was thrilled to hear the news. We got him all “bundled up” (a light jacket with a hood) and rolled him toward the door.  We really felt like we were sneaking out of school or something….LOL. As we hit the door, he said … I’m FREE…WEEEEE… we both chuckled.  It was fun to see him smile and laugh. A far cry from our earlier conversation.

He started out pushing himself down the sidewalk but quickly decided that his frail arms were no match for the sidewalk so relinquished the wheelchair to me for pushing.  We strolled out as far away from the building as we could go and took our time looking at the newly planted annuals along the walkways, the blue sky with the whispy white clouds and the nice lush green freshly mowed grass.  He even made me stop, take off my shoes and walk through it barefoot.  We had a good giggle over that!  All in all, we walked and talked for over an hour.  Good therapy for both of us but to see the smile on his face was definitely worth it!!  By the time we arrived back to his room, he was in better spirits and okay with the earlier happenings of the day.

I vowed that I would work from my end to help with the exit process.  I told Roger and Lori that I would send an email to Karen and Dr. Wong pleading Roger’s case and to see if there was anything that could be done to move this process along as quickly as possible.

On Tuesday morning, I composed an email (content noted at the bottom of this post) and sent it to the transplant coordinator, Karen.  Within 15 minutes of hitting the send button,  I received a call from Dr. Wong.  He explained to me that Roger is on 2 antibiotics at the moment. Dr. Wong was going to conference with the infectious disease doctors at Banner to see if Roger needed to be on such powerful drugs or if he could change to something that would allow him to come home. He also told me that one of the enzyme levels in the liver has been very high.  At one point it was at 1,400.  As of Sunday it was 457.  They would like to see it at 300 or below before they would take him off the antibiotics all together.  At 1,400, Roger’s liver was rejecting, so they are happy to see the numbers go down.

While I was on the phone with Dr. Wong, he was receiving a call from Dr. Singh. I had sent a copy of the email to Lori, the case manager at Kindred.  The wheels were now fully in motion and everyone was working to see what they could do for Roger. 

Dr. Wong told me that he would prefer Roger to stay in the hospital for another week to a week and a half to make sure that the enzyme level continued its downhill spiral but would also work on getting all the doctors involved with Roger’s case to agree on a release date.

The rest of the day was spent on the phone between Roger, Dr. Wong and the case manager, Lori.  In the end, Roger has 2 options.  He can stay in the hospital where he’s being monitored each day and receiving the necessary antibiotics via IV or we can bring him home where we will have to transport him each day to an outpatient facility a few miles from here to receive the antibiotics via IV (a two hour process) and transport him home. 

I presented both options to Roger with emphasis on the first option, my argument being that we want to make darn sure this time that everything is good and he’ll have no more flair ups when he gets home. He agreed.  We don’t want to take him back to Banner and start all over again.  I also told him that I would do whatever he decided.  So, he will either be home by this weekend or we will have a homecoming closer to Thanksgiving. Either way, it will be good to have him home.

Following is the email that was sent:

Good morning, Karen.
 
I know you are aware that the wheels are in motion to bring Roger home. 
 
I spoke at length yesterday with Lori regarding the antibiotic medication situation and insurance.  I’m gathering from Lori that there may or may not be a generic drug that insurance would agree to pay for. 
 
Roger is so ready to come home that yesterday was definitely a low point for him. He was in tears when he was told that the antibiotic situation was keeping him from his destination…home….. he called me and was so disappointed. 
 
He’s been in the hospital now since the beginning of July.  He’s eating everything on his plate and looking forward to his next meal with much anticipation. I’ve taken 3 bags of Cheetos to him in the last couple of weeks and his tray has Snicker and Butterfinger candy bars for him to enjoy between meals.  He looks so much better and is able to get up and down from bed on his own and to the wheelchair.  He’s walking a lot more and spending some quality time with PT and OT. 
 
I guess I’m pleading  with you and Dr. Wong to find a way to make his return home a reality.  What do I need to do? Is it the cost of the medication or just the availability of the right medication for home use keeping him in Kindred? 
 
I know that we need to be cautious regarding his condition but I feel that being home would be a good thing.  Especially since he is eating really well and keeping everything down.  You know that I’m prepared to keep up on his medication regiment as well as blood pressure, temperature, etc. 
 
Please let me know your thoughts.  I hope that there will be a way for him to come home and soon.
 
Thanks so much, Karen. Thanks to Dr. Wong too.

On Saturday, I stopped by to drop off his 3rd bag of Cheetos (he’s going to turn into one) and the Snicker bars he’d requested as well.  In addition, I found his favorite candy bar Zero.  His face really lit up when he saw that!

PT and OT are really giving him a workout and he’s making progress on this walking abilities.  Grooming himself is also a good exercise and getting in and out of bed unassisted is a real plus!

When I walked into the hospital on Saturday, I was stopped by Dr. Singh.  He reported that he’d talked with Dr. Wong since Roger was really bucking to be out of there by the weekend.  Dr. Wong is waiting to see if 2 of the antibiotics that Roger is on at the moment will be approved by insurance.  If so, then Roger will be able to go home on those antibiotics. His liver enzymes are coming down each day to the right levels and that is a good thing. Roger and I are betting on a mid-week return home.  It’s hard to believe that he entered Banner the last time on July 6th.  It’s time for him to be home. 

On Sunday, Erin stopped by with the kids and a deck of UNO cards.  Grandpa and Madilyn played UNO.  I think Grandpa won a couple of hands but Madilyn is quite the UNO player and gave Grandpa a run for his money.

YES!!!. Too funny….

Keep those fingers crossed for Roger’s return home! He’s certainly ready!