No matter how good my intentions to go to bed early are, I never make it! I have to take Tank out for a walk the minute I get there, and then I somehow always find something that needs to be done before I get to bed, and then I’m up well past midnight. Tank is a sleepyhead and can’t hear very well at his old age, so I’ve got to be loud to get him up when I come in, and it takes him a minute to get moving with his old man joints. I did shave a little time off by calling him on the Ring to tell him to get ready last night. When he finally heard me, he came waltzing into the living room looking for me and was at the door ready to go when I got there; he was so confused at first, though!
This morning, I took a different bus than usual. I try to be fluid with which bus I take and try to keep on top of the times. I found an app with real-time updates that has helped, and I can see all the bus stops close by simultaneously. I waited with a lady who wouldn’t even look my way while at the bus stop. I think my size may have scared her! Once at the next stop, there were many waiting to get on. Some must have been her friends as they were chatting back and forth loudly from the back to the front of the bus. They were South East Asian by the sound of their dialect. We picked up some more friends a few stops down, and it was nonstop talking for them seated all over the bus till we got to the transit center. I felt like I was in a nail salon, especially with all of them speaking loudly and muffled by their masks! I hear so many languages I don’t recognize around Houston; it’s such a melting pot here.
Amanda’s weight was up a pound or so, but I didn’t think much about it. Her output wasn’t great, though. They like to see around 1.5 to 2 liters a day, but she was less than half that. The rounding cardiologist was concerned they may be getting her too dry. She said she wasn’t fluid “up,” but her kidney numbers were trending up a bit. The thought was they may be mad because there’s too much diuretic on board right now. So, they backed off on the new diuretic to see if that would help. It’s just going to take a lot of fine-tuning to get her on the right combination.
Not long after the team left, Amanda hushed me to hear her nurse talking in the hall. She was speaking about Amanda with what seemed to be Methodist. From what we gathered, they were finally ready to transfer her over there. I guess no one got the news we weren’t going. Both Amanda and I were adamant that we were not going since we were just about to get out here. The thought that it would speed up the listing was out the window now with the 6-month relist rule. I don’t see how starting over with doctors who won’t take her case for another few months and don’t know her case would help us right now. We have a big goal of getting out of the hospital right now. Going to another would only lead to an entire change of care and end with an unnecessary lengthening of our stay.
I really thought we might get out of here today or tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like it. My turn was getting out to head to Houston today, but I had taken off. It has been so hard to line things up with work right now. I just can’t catch a break. I need to work but can’t be gone when Amanda is discharged. I know it may sound easy, and I am sure some are reading this thinking you could come and get Amanda home. She doesn’t even know where we live! There’s no way I’m not going to be there to get her settled before I take off to work and leave her. Not having a regular schedule is so hard to plan when I need to be off. The railroad life is volatile enough to plan anything, but this makes it so much more complicated. Not to mention that I am over three hours away with only a two-hour call, making it even more challenging to plan.
We had one of our favorite nurses today. She had come back after Amanda was in the shower to make the bed, none hardly ever do this. I was already starting to make it, and we finished it together. When she walked out of the door, I heard her squeal. She saw a patient who had been waiting for a heart for a while but had been gone. She was back and had gotten a new heart! Amanda had commented on how we hadn’t seen her walking in the halls in a bit. It was her second transplant, and she also had antibody mediated rejection with high antibodies. So that gives us hope of a future new heart.
I’d planned on taking Tank to a vet clinic close to the apartment and within walking distance. However, after reading some reviews, I found that it was a walk-in clinic only, and there were mentions of long waits. So, I found another clinic a short drive away and got an appointment tomorrow afternoon. He needs a shot for allergies and itching, and while he’s there, I’d like to get him his yearly vaccinations, too.
I feel we are getting closer to getting out of here, but Amanda is worried about the weight fluctuation. I think we have a little room to play with now, and it wasn’t a drastic weight gain right now. She is lagging behind in her output today, but not much. I’m praying things will level out, and we can get out of here soon.
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