Al's Blog-o-Sphere

I went for my first bronchoscopy this morning. Apparently these invasions will be a regular part of my health regime – bimonthly for the first year, tri-monthly during the second year, then as directed, such as when illness occurs. It’s the primary means of collecting information on the status of the donor lungs and is thusly a very necessary evil. The upshot is that the lungs are accessible through existing bodily channels, unlike say, a liver or a kidney; collecting tissue samples for biopsy is quicker and far cleaner.

I only had a cursory knowledge of what a bronchoscopy entails, so I was hesitant. Anything that goes down my windpipe had damned well better be or digestible, that’s my motto. The whole process, barring complication, takes little more than twenty minutes. I was administered a dose of a sedative known as Versed, which is known to induce fugues. Throughout the process, I’m told, I was never comatose, I just have no memory of what happened after they told me the Versed was going in. They could’ve stripped naked and danced to “Love Shack” for fifteen minutes, for all I know. Continue Reading…

And we have mobility! Another pair of those annoying chest tubes were pulled from my sides this morning. The gaps were quickly sutured up and dressed, and the results were immediately noticeable. With the new freedom to expand my ribcage, I felt worlds better.  More significantly, however, this meant that two of the clunky, oblong drainage containers could be cast away. It is infinitely simpler to manage one fluid collection box than three, while also holding onto a cardiometer and an I.V. pole. It also gave me the freedom to wear civilian clothing – a loose shirt – rather than the embarassing and drafty hospital-issue gowns I’d been wearing until now.

Things are slowly improving. My appetite is returning and I cannot wait to indulge in a proper meal. I know there’s nothing wrong with hospital food but it still feels somehow “wrong.”  My days are spent watching whatever non-election coverage I can find on television (none), playing my Gameboy, or engaging in various rehabilitation exercises. They like to take the patients out of their rooms for walks. When you consider that the majority of lung and heart transplants are in the elderly, a long walk could be pretty challenging.  So far, it hasn’t been a challenge at all. Perhaps I’m not asking to go far enough or do enough things. If they’d like to walk me, a trip to the cafeteria for to pick up some snacks would be a great idea. I’ll have to inquire about that. Continue Reading…

Well, I’ve made it back to Lockport. We all left Al this afternoon to fend for himself for a short while in the hospital. He’s got his computer, his cell phone and above all, his fan and is settled in for the next phase of his recovery.

He’s been complaining about a lack of or inability to sleep. After some reassurances from Mark, who’s had experience with his own transplant and most of the various drugs Al is being given, as well as his doctor who checked in just before we left, we hope he’ll sleep better. Al described how he would be almost asleep then have an involuntary twitch that woke him back up. We were discussing it and coined the term Doggie Dreams, but the doctor came up with a scientific term: Hypnagogic Jerk. Continue Reading…

Today marks the one week anniversary of Al’s Transplant. A week ago at this time, he was still in surgery and I was sitting in a waiting room, well, waiting.
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I saw Al just a few minutes ago and you’d hardly think he had such serious surgery. He had just finished breakfast, was sitting up on his bed and happy to get his cell phone back and check his messages.

Today Mark and Gayle Gritzmacher (Al’s Uncle and Aunt) as well as his brother, Frank, will be arriving for a visit. I’ve set him up to log in to this blog and his computer will arrive as well, so he promises to keep us all updated with his progress and stories of hospital life. Continue Reading…