Tethered!

Okay...where to start telling about our day?! I guess at the beginning...We started out pretty early but not as early as the last time that we stayed in Virginia. It took us about 40 minutes to g0 25 miles...and we didn't get into any traffic bog downs...just typical 6:30am traffic on the Capital Beltway. We both said that we are so glad that we don't have to commute like this every morning! We used valet parking at NIH and headed straight into the phlebotomy lab...no line there...I think that there was only one patient before Woody. He had 11 vials of blood drawn and then we headed downstairs to find a quiet corner where we could read for a while. At fifteen minutes prior to his CAT dosing appointment, we headed upstairs and he signed in there. He was given his "drink" and drank and then waited for them to call him back...which they did quite quickly and he wasn't in the back for the scan for very long. As soon as he came out we headed for the MRI waiting room. They told us that they were behind, but it wasn't very long till he was taken back there and his MRI didn't take very long either. He was back out a little before noon. I was sitting there thinking that I was going to be able to tell in the blog that everything had gone like clock work today! And, then...the other shoe dropped and the clock works went haywire!

One of the MRI techs had noticed that some of his blood work showed that his creatinine level was up and that they needed to call in the docs...because...he should NOT have had the contrast that was given for the CT scan. Somehow that reading had slipped by them! Oops...this meant that he was to head to admissions immediately and be admitted so that they could pump fluids through him fast and furiously to flush out the dye. So Woody is tethered to an IV pole once again. They reported that his creatinine levels were coming down which relieved them and of course us. Woody was somewhat dehydrated too...so the IV's should be good for what ails him. He also found out that he had NOT passed the kidney stone. They are giving him some medication to help aid him in passing it. If he has not passed it in a couple of weeks, he may have to have it surgically removed. My understanding is that if he does have to have surgery that it will/can happen in Tullahoma. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!! What is interesting...I had told Woody that I really wondered if he would be getting all the scans today as I knew that they had to check his kidney function and since he had been having so much trouble that I wouldn't be surprised if the results of his blood work would stop him from getting the ones done that called for contrast...pretty good on my part...right?!?...well, I'm now guessing that someone got into quite a lot of trouble for letting those readings get passed them and letting him have the contrast. They were really hustling him to get him connected to that IV! Good news...Woody's female Fellow told him that she had looked quickly at the scans and the MRI and that "things" continue to look good...nothing new showing up and just with the quick look "things" looked pretty much the same. So that is good news. And, I really think that what they are doing in the hospital is good too...he just had been feeling so poorly for these last three weeks and didn't seem to be regaining his strength and getting rehydrated should help him a lot. They are taking him off his blood pressure med for the moment as it may be contributing. Another med that they are putting him on should keep his blood pressure down at least temporarily. Now if that stone would just move on out!

Woody's predicament caused driving and housing problems for me. We finally decided that I just couldn't drive in the DC traffic...plus snow was still being predicted. We almost packed up everything this morning even though we had the room here in VA for another night. But we talked ourselves out of it! So all our "stuff" was in VA and we were in MD. I ended up coming back to the hotel in a taxi...oh, boy! I hate being out of my comfort zone...oh, well, guess chalk it up to more adventure! The taxi driver was very nice and the traffic was so thick that there was no way to have a wild taxi ride...and, as I was riding back I KNEW that I could never have driven in and under those conditions! The taxi driver was from Ethiopia...very nice and we were able to communicate. So I am holed up in the hotel room and Woody is 25 miles away tethered to an IV pole. I will call him in the morning and see what is happening and then we will make plans from there...whether it is another taxi ride...or me staying here for another day/night...or...whatever the newest adventure brings! I'll report more tomorrow night! There's no telling where we'll be...together...apart...here...there...down the road a piece...sitting tight...tethered... free! Time will tell!

Weather update: just a few snow flurries as I was taxiing back to the hotel...think that the snow threat pretty much petered out...they were prepared...snow plows all along the interstate and lots of salt spread at NIH on sidewalks and the roadways.