More than 3 months have passed since my last post but it feels like yesterday. Logan is thriving. He has gained weight and has grown half an inch. On the 6th of every month, his transplantaversary, we measure him and weigh him. The look on his face when he sees the line move is too cute. He gives himself a little clap each month. I'm so glad he has learned to celebrate his wins. His blood pressure is under control and he is almost 100% off Minoxidil, the 'hair growing' BP medicine. He was at 20mg a day and he is now at 1.25mg a day. We can't disconnect that last little bit without sending his blood pressure skyrocketing again. This is still a huge win.
When we got out of the hospital we were on 23 pill swallows a day and five liquid medicines. Now we are 9 pill swallows a day and 1 liquid medicine. We are hoping the steroid and Zantac will be gone at the beginning of December and his Vitamin D numbers will be rock solid by the same time. This will decrease him to only the immune suppressant and blood pressure medicines only. Next month we are supposed to convert him from the Clonodine patch back to Enalapril. I am nervous about this as this medicine was the one that crippled his kidney function the first time. I don't want to hurt Fred. I am not 100% bought into the game plan on blood pressure yet.
Logan had his 8th birthday at the end of September. He had his first sleep over and I honestly think he had the best birthday he has ever had. No one talked about kidneys and he got to be a kid. He swam a lot this summer and enjoyed learning how to dive down to the bottom of the deep end to retrieve missiles. After he finished reading his Who is Milton Hershey book we surprised him with a trip to Hershey Pennsylvania as our first vacation away from home. He knew all the answers the tour guide asked on the trip. It was adorable. We played hooky from school and work and went down to see the solar eclipse. The boys had an awesome time with Dave off work and made the most of a 'stay local' summer.
Back to school was seamless. Dave went into Logan's classroom and explained what the masks were used for and why Logan may need to wear one sometimes. He also explained that kids with a cough or cold can wear one to prevent their friends from getting sick. Dave also went to Ethan's school but Ethan managed the entire conversation himself. He explained that his brother had a kidney transplant that he may need to wear a mask to try and keep germs away from him. I was so proud of him. He does a great job advocating for his brother. The family, including our donor, got to be on the news evangelizing the gift of organ donation. If you watched it, you got to see how ugly I look when I cry. I didn't even come close to caring.
So overall we are resting into our new normal nicely. Dave is back to work as well which is really helping us all feel like we are back to the daily grind. And even though the whole family has had a cold for a few weeks there have been no fevers and no need for hospitalization. Flu shots were obtained early on to attempt to keep us all protected.
Your love and support got us on the other side of this. I am so grateful for all of you.
Thanks,
Ann & Dave
