04.10.2008 - Pre-Surgery Update

From Julian's COTA Journal.

It's nearly 2:00 p.m. and we're still waiting for our surgery. However, Dr. Concepcion (transplant surgeon) just stopped in to advise us that the surgery today will consist of the cystoscopy (by Dr. Kennedy) + the installation of a hemo-dialysis port (by Dr. Concepcion). With this arrangement, there should be a short recovery time - we could be discharged as early as tomorrow, once it's established that Julian can urinate and the dialysis port functions properly.

The Docs are hot to get dialysis started: creatinine is still around 5.5, but Julian's B.U.N. (blood urinary nitrate) is well above 100 (20's is normal, 80's is very high). Julian's blood is very uremic, and they want to treat that right away. Total kidney function is less than 10% at present and still declining. Dialysis will help, especially as we wait for an organ.

In the mean time, Julian is very bored. His last solid food was at 5:00 a.m.; last clear fluids were at 8 - nothing but I.V. drip since then. There was talk earlier that the surgery might be pushed until tomorrow (or later - !), but Dr. Concepcion assured me just now that he will not go home until Julian's surgery is complete. Stay tuned - I'll post more once we're out of the O.R. and on the road to recovery.