What an exhausting day! But, it could have been worse. Just as they were getting ready to take Bill from the holding area I noticed a huge swollen area at his IV site. The vein had occluded and the fluid was just sitting there. So, an emergency new IV was placed in the other arm and hot packs were put on the original arm to move the fluid around.

Dr. Hosenpud said that the cath went well. He did say that his arterial pressures were up but he expected that due to the long recovery. He also said the heart was rather stiff but the output was good. I've tried to access his records to get a little more info, but they haven't been updated yet. When I get more I'll let you know.

They were unable to use his femoral artery because of too much scar tissue so they had to use the vein on the left side. This led to small incisions on both sides. Bill, being the stubborn person that he is, refused to keep his head on the pillow and the femoral site started bleeding. After 15 minutes of pressure it had finally stopped and a special "safeguard" was put on. This is an additional seal that is placed on the site and then pumped full of air to put additional pressure on the site. They also put a sheet over his forehead and tucked it under the mattress to remind him not to move his head. This increased his rest time. So instead of being discharged at 1:30 we didn't leave until almost 4. And, since we had left for the hospital at 6:15 this was a very long day!

As far as we know, we are able to leave tomorrow so I'm going to pack up tonight. We travelled as lightly as we could so it won't take long. And, if Stephanie calls to tell us that his biopsy shows some rejection that we need to come back and attend to, we will turn around. But, I don't anticipate that happening.

We've had dinner and we're waiting until it gets dark. We are both exhausted and it will feel good not to set the alarm in the morning. My internal alarm will get me up in time to give Bill his meds. We're going to go to Bob Evans for breakfast and then hit the road after rush hour. (Sorry you won't be with us, Mom). We'll go as far as Ozark Alabama tomorrow and the rest of the way on Friday. We are both ready to go home!