One Year and Counting

2013 – wow – a lot has happened this last month – the roller coaster continues! Right after we posted the last blog, actually the afternoon of the day of his 23^rd endoscopy, we got a call to come to the hospital as a standby for a possible transplant.  He was prepped, ready to go, and then in the middle of the night we were told that it was a “no go” for us.  It is such an emotional letdown when this happens, but we have also learned that when calls come we don’t get overly excited about it. We have decided that I will believe it when the big incision is made on him!

We had a fun Christmas with everyone – Meg, Jen, and Lucy came on the 18^th and we got a lot of snow on the 20^th. (Of course, I had to take Charlie to the ER the morning it was snowing and he spent 2 days in the hospital for the encephalopathy.) Doug and family came on the 23^rd. It was so special to all be together again. The cousins have so much fun together and we celebrated Lucy’s 5^th birthday and Nathan’s 4^th birthday. They got to play in the snow and just hang out together.  Doug and Meg both have such a love for Iowa City, having graduated from the University, so they always have their favorite places they want to visit.

Christmas Eve morning we got together for a brunch potluck with my brother and his family – they were all home. So Doug and Meg got to get together with their cousins and it had been quite a while since they had all seen each other. It was pretty wild with all of the little ones from the next generation.

Charlie did really well with all of the festivities over Christmas – of course, he had 8 extra people watching out for him! But….2013 did not start well – New Year’s night I had to call 911 for him – he was going into a coma with the hepatic encephalopathy. In the ER he was intubated and then spent 2 days in ICU and 4 days in a regular room. His ammonia level had skyrocketed to 297 (normal is 30 to 40) and a multitude of tests did not show anything….the only thing the doctors could come up with, besides the fact that he has liver disease, is the same old problem of trying to get the medicine for the encephalopathy adjusted for him. Not enough causes confusion and too much causes confusion and this can change daily! I was ready to ask them if they would keep him there until a liver comes! The nurses all love him and his “quirky humor” and they would take great care of him!

Also, during this time we found out that he was temporarily on the “inactive transplant list” – the hits kept coming there for a while. However, after several tests, this has all been resolved and he is back on the active list! Hallelujah – now we have 3 main goals – 1. Get Charlie to gain some weight (I sure wish I could give him some of mine) he only weighs 175, 2. Keep him exercising, and 3. Keep him rested! He came home from the hospital one very weak frail guy!

Some fun news – we have a new grandchild – an apricot, fluffball, labradoodle! Doug and his family got this little one just 2 weeks ago today. His name is Snickers and he is adorable! We have been doing Facetime with them and just love watching him bounce around!

We do have a new computer so we will see if we can figure out how to get some pictures in this blog entry.

It has been pretty mild here except for that one snow, but the next couple of days are going to be very cold (zero degrees) and possibly snow tomorrow – we sure hope so! Actually tonight it is suppose to be 6 below zero and windy!!

We miss you all!