Wednesday, April 1

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, but I'll try to get you all caught up today.

They gave John some diuretics yesterday, much lower doses than they had been giving, to try to keep his potassium and magnesium from swinging so wildly. It seemed to work better, but he still had to have some pretty massive amounts of potassium and magnesium and didn't feel too well, but it was better than in the past. They are going to give him diuretics again tomorrow, at even lower doses, and see if it will work well enough to get the fluid off of him without upsetting his electrolyte balances too much. Without the diuretics his belly and legs swell with fluid, and his heart has to work much harder. It is harder to get the blood to his lungs, so shortness of breath can occur and in general he feels pretty bad. Giving him diuretics is hard on his kidneys and causes the electolyte imbalances, so basically the doctors try to find the best combination to get rid of the fluid without it being too hard on his heart.

They have had to draw blood so many times a day that he is now anemic, and getting iron shots. They aren't fun since they go in his belly, but right now they are only giving him the shot once a week. The other option is a blood transfusion, but we don't want to do that because it can introduce antibodies that limit his heart matching. Right now he has no antibodies, which is good. They are also going to give him a hepatitis B shot, so his series will be complete. Then in a month they can draw blood and check the titer, which basically says that if the numbers are good he can accept a heart from a person that is positive for Hep B, which is good because it opens up the options even more.

So, every day things change a little bit but at least it has been pretty calm. About the only excitement we want right now is that phone call that says they have a heart and it is a good match. Again, can't tell you how much we appreciate the posts to the blog, the cards and notes, the emails, and especially the prayers and good wishes.