Whew. That was some night. I never did get any real input as to what the ICU was like, so I don’t know what I was expecting, but whatever it was included much more sleep. Go ahead you post-transplant moms, mock me.

Here’s the low down for those following along at home…

• 4:30pmish – Transplant day, Gage is very upset. Says things like: "Don’t touch me!" "Don’t touch my bed!" "That Doctor who listened to my heart and did this is a meanie!" and one of the most telling: "Don’t even look at me! It hurts when you look at me!"
• Until 6:00pmish – we are in the room, Julian and I, just looking at our boy, then looking at each other. Our friend Tina visits, and in honor of her Birthday, gets to bring us dinner at a Children’s Hospital. We declare we are one fun couple. We have to be out of the room until 8pm for rounds.
• 7:00pmish – Visit Jody. Watch her sleep for several minutes. Talk to husband, Ed about the day from our perspective. She’s had a few hiccups, and many drugs have been administered. She looks pain-free when we see her. She wakes up…I touch fingertips with hers. We both tear up. I announce that there aren’t words, she says "I know" then let’s me weep a little bit in an embrace that is surely uncomfortable.
• 8:00pmish – A friend visits. She gives me ear buds for my laptop, compliments of AirTr*n. Thanks Susan.
• 9:30sh – Julian leaves to relieve our friend, Kathy, who completely rescues Quinn earlier yesterday from the afternoon drama by taking her to see her dogs, then to dinner, then to our home for bath and bed.
• 10:15sh – I call Julian and let him know that Gage is at least talking to me without crying out in pain. He’s doing better. He says Quinn is still awake. Will make for interesting 7:15 bus arrival.
• 10:00p-3:00am – Gage is awake and watching TV and talkative but still not moving. By the way, there are no appropriate cartoons on between 10p-3a. So Gage’s nurse gets him, for the love of all things Sco*by, a movie starring, well Sco*by. He’s mildly ticked off at us when we move him to assist his lungs and when we apply oxygen. He’s not happy with nasal tubes. Tells his nurse she is "Bad, Bad, BAD!" I answer some emails at this time. If I haven’t sent you a reply, I’m still getting through them. Thanks for all the messages…I have read every one of them.
• 3:00-3:30am – we both go to sleep.
• 5:30am – Nurse wakes me up to get me to close my "bed" chair to weigh him. Even though I point out this must be how they weigh whales, he’s unimpressed. He says "I don’t care! I don’t need to be weighed! I’ve been weighed before!"
• 6:00am – The nurse says his Foley cath needed to be flushed out. She also said his 2am labs are in and his creatinine is at a normal 1.0, with a BUN of 18. Jody’s fine looking kidney is working like a champ.

I need to be out of Gage’s ICU room between 7-8 (or I’m stuck in the room for the hour due to privacy issues) so I will use that time to wash my face, brush my teeth and get some breakfast and a tall, cold diet coke to assist me with the effects of less than stellar hours of restful sleep.

The hospital is no place to rest I tell you.