An awesome evening last night. Kidneys starting to work

Good Morning!

And I can say that after a wonderful late evening visit with Greg last night. Ellen got to town with the boys and we enjoyed a brief late evening visit, during which Greg looked better than I've seen him all week. We continue to marvel at the fact that there is color in his cheeks and last night we saw his usual smile, along with his eyes looking alot more "normal" than I've seen them all week. He is extremely exhausted and has so much discomforthat especially in his chest from coughing intentionally and unintentionally. I can only imagine how much he hurts. But we are so proud of him because he realizes what he has to do in order to get better and is SO ready to do the hard work.

The big news is that after his dialysis yesterday (I think I heard that they took 3 liters of fluid off him), he stood up and passed almost 3/4 liter of urine ON HIS OWN!!! Isn't that incredible!!! It would seem that his kidney are waking up, just as we have been praying.... God is so good to answer our/ your prayers over and over again!

More big news... as of 10PM, that were weaning off his Isuprel IV drip which has helped with the connectivity of his heart and helped with the conduction/ rhythm of his heart. Even though they were at a level of medication very close to being completely off, he was maintaining a heart rate of about 80 beats/ minute. NO PACEMAKER! Please pray that his new heart would continue to get grafted into his body and function like it had always been there! Obviously, no news on the biopsy yet, but we'll let you know when there is.

The high dose steroids that he is receiving are causing him some difficulty sleeping, some vivid disturbing dreams and constant music playing in his head!

He told us that "Greg Radio Station" has been playing continually since yesterday afternoon and was attempting to sing along with Mercy Me song that was playing as we were visitionng. He made us laugh because he said that you'd think if you were going have your own radio station, it would only play music you like, but he was disappointed with some of the selections!! We smiled but obviously, this is difficult for him so please pray that it goes away quickly. The Post Transplant Nurse Practioner, Mary Ann, said that it would as the steroids get tapered down. He has alot of side effects of steroids yet to endure like tremendous bloating, weight gain, mood swings, etc. so please be praying in advance that these would be as gentle as possible.

Mary Ann did some teaching with them yesterday and made him VERY happy when she told him that he could be camping in 3-6 months and that although he would have to wear a mask while chopping/ collecting wood because of possible molds, that he could take the mask off while sitting at a camp fire.... he was ELATED!!! They also discussed the second honeymoon plans and she said that they can't leave the country for a year and even then they prefer they avoid the Caribean as was planned because if he had a problem, he would wind up in a Mexican hospital which wouldn't be good. He asked about Hawaii and she said that would be GREAT since they have a transplant program there... so I think that is the dream destination!!!

He is eating some solid food and just to obvserve swallowing precautions (clearing his throat/ coughing after each swallow). They said that his vocal folds are not closing properly (hence the voice disruption) which is also making him more prone to aspiration pneumonia, which would NOT be a good thing with his immune system suppressed. His voice seems a little bit stronger and so our prayer is that this would "right itself" also.

By the end of the day, we're hoping that he will be moved to the 3rd floor "presidential suite" again! :) The nurses have been faithfully coming to visit him and can't wait to have him back! That makes him feel really good :) And speaking of visits, Bill, the OR nurse whol prayed with us in the preop area and also in the OR during surgery, has come each day to visit Greg and pray with us and him. Another angel that we've encountered through this saga.

I hope your day is a good one! Happy Weekend!!

I'll let you know later how today goes.

With a happy heart,

Becky