Latest News

The Dr. came in this morning and he does not have to have a liver biopsy. The problem was all in the meds. They have changed those today but told us there would be constant changing of the meds for weeks or months to come. If his labs come back as good as today we are out of here tomorrow. We have already had his medication for the next month delivered here to the hospital. The pharmacy they told us about brought it all right here to the room. He has to come back to the hospital on Friday and Saturday of this week and then on Tuesdays and Fridays for the next 2 months.Here is the address of the apartment we are going to be in.


Mike & Donna Caskey
Garrett Gables
1820 N. Garrett # 106
Dallas, Tx 75206

I will post the phone number when I get it.

Info

Just thought I would actually let everyone know where we are. It is:

Baylor University Medical Center
3500 Gastin
Dallas, TX 75246
214-818-7434

This number is directly to the room.


Room 1434

A Little news

The Dr came in this morning and one was concerned he might be starting to try to reject the liver but the other one seems to think it is all a med over load and once the medication is reduced the labs will level out, the only difference meaning when he will go home. If he is trying to reject we have to stay a few days longer in the hospital getting the anti- rejections drugs regulated. If it is just the meds they said we would get out by the weekend. I should now more answers on this by tomorrow.We were told he might try to reject more than a sicker person because his immune system is working better. So I guess i will post tomorrow and let you know what has happened.

Up and at 'em

Well he is better. He still didn't sleep real well last night because of the pain, but it is getting alot better this afternoon. He got up and had a bath and cleaned up some and that made him feel alot better in it's self. The Dr. came by this morning and they took out his catheter and removed all him IV's. He has to to go walking this afternoon, but I think he will do fine with that he was moving around in the room easily. Then after he is up and around he can have real food again and that is gonna make hi real happy. But you should have seen his face when he saw that incision. I will post more after he takes his first walk.

Latest

he We have had a dreadful night and day. Last night about 9 they had to take Mike back to surgerywasn't getting the proper blood flow to the liver so they did a bypass and completely fixed the problem. But he had a real hard time with the ventilator plus he didn't do well with his nurse last night so he was totally exhausted and hurting worse than ever before by the time they took him off the ventilator. Plus from the pain and frustration he was feeling last night his Blood Pressure just went up and down like crazy. We are in a room now and he is doing much better not great yet but alot better. His pain is still pretty intense but at least now he has a morphine pump. He has started moving around in the bed and is coughing some so that is all better. Hopefully he will sleep good tonight and feel alot better tomorrow.

Finally

Well to say this has been a long day is no where near true. Mike is doing wonderful they took him to surgery about 4 this afternoon and he was through about 8 or so. The Dr said he did great and the liver was working very well. They has already taken him off the Vent and his first set of labs are already normal, which they don't normally see like that. The ICU nurse told Rick and I he was the easiest Liver patient she had ever had. He should be back in a normal room tomorrow if all goes well. He got the liver of a 72 year old man from Houston but that is all I know. The Dr said the liver was Primo, just one of those that you have to use for transplant no matter what the mans age was. We have already rented a apartment close to here that is used for medical patients families and they are small but will be just fine for us. I will post tomorrow when I get a chance to let everyone know what is going on. I haven't been to bed yet since we got the call last night and it is after midnight again so I think I will try to sleep some. ...... Later, Donna

We are here

Well he got on the list at about 5 last night and we left for Dallas at 3:15 this morning. We got here at 8:30 and he is still here in the room, they are testing and doing all the things to get him ready. Shawn is with us. Mom & Dad are almost here and Jennifer and the kids will be on their way soon. She had to go to school this moring for awhile. I will post as soon as we know anything to tell. Later, Donna

"The List"

Well I got the call today and am on the list, at least the one @ Baylor Transplant Institute and am at the top of that list, will be on the list @ Baylor All Saints ( this is another transplant center owned by Baylor ) by the first of next week. We don't know how long of a wait there will be but my transplant coordinator said "put your tooth brush in your pocket and be ready". We are still on scheduel for the chemo treatment on March 2nd unless they call with a liver before then. We are for the most part packed and ready to go at a moments notice and the weather looks like it shouldn't be a factor. " Hurry up and wait". Thats all for now, stay tuned.

more info

Karen finally called today, he isn't on the list yet, but we are getting really close. He had to go get some blood work done this afternoon and the results are already faxed back to Karen. This will be submitted to transplant central and then we are on. But she did tell me today that if he was added to the list as of today he would be on the very top at both hospital we registered at. So she said to get our business in order at home and I am taking this to mean we should be going very soon. If they don't call before next Friday he is going back to do the other chemo treatment as planned. I will let you know as soon as we get final word. Donna

Papers

I talked to Carla in the insurance department at Baylor and they finally received our papers Friday. SO she was ending them on to our coordinator on Monday and she is the one who puts us on the list. Hopefully we will hear from her the first of the week. Will post as soon as I hear anything

next chemo

Mike got the next chemo set up for March 2nd , he really isn't looking forward to it at all. We still haven't got word on the listing yet. We got our paperwork last Saturday but Dallas still has not recieved theirs. So will let you know as soon as we get any news.

Finally made it home last nite about 11:30pm. My gut is still hurting but is getting better. I am not sure I want to do this again but they want me to in about 3 weeks. I know what to look for next time and can be better prepaired so I guess I will do it again, provided I am over this one. There is still no word from the commite about what the insurence company said, but I feel they will approve. Thats it for now.

BTW you might have to search the comments for Donna's posts.

I will have to school Donna on "posting". We left Dallas and went to my sisters house in Athens Tx. and I began to have this intence upper abdominal pains so we wound up at the emergency room in Aathens, they gave me a shot for pain and did an exray and found nothing. The Doctor called our Dr in Dallas and was told these pains were normal so they gave me a morphine patch, WOW what a concept. This is Monday and I still feel the patch working. Donna will have to call the Dr this morning and see what he has to say now, I may be headed back to Dallas instead of home. Well that's it for now.