Journal entry by Melinda Goetsch —
Hell everyone,
By now many of you have seen John's Facebook postings or received emails from him. He was released from the hospital in the afternoon on October 3rd. He came to our apartment happy but exhausted. People typically stay in the hospital 14 to 16 days if all goes well. John was out on day 7. He has lots of meds but only 4x/day so not too bad. Some may be eliminated; others may change but he will be on many for the duration of his life. He is still fatigues easily. The docs say he is doing great but we have no reference point. We were told that it takes about a year to recover.
We had a clinic visit the day after release and rehab started the following day with a six minute walk. The idea is that he will gradually be able to cover more ground during his six minute walk. We have clinic 2 mornings each week and rehab 2 other mornings each week. We are usually done by noon or 1:00. The labs start at 7 or 7:30 so it's great that our apartment is just across the street from the clinic. We are required to be within 30 minutes of the hospital in case something happens. That was part of the agreement for the transplant.
By now many of you have seen John's Facebook postings or received emails from him. He was released from the hospital in the afternoon on October 3rd. He came to our apartment happy but exhausted. People typically stay in the hospital 14 to 16 days if all goes well. John was out on day 7. He has lots of meds but only 4x/day so not too bad. Some may be eliminated; others may change but he will be on many for the duration of his life. He is still fatigues easily. The docs say he is doing great but we have no reference point. We were told that it takes about a year to recover.
We had a clinic visit the day after release and rehab started the following day with a six minute walk. The idea is that he will gradually be able to cover more ground during his six minute walk. We have clinic 2 mornings each week and rehab 2 other mornings each week. We are usually done by noon or 1:00. The labs start at 7 or 7:30 so it's great that our apartment is just across the street from the clinic. We are required to be within 30 minutes of the hospital in case something happens. That was part of the agreement for the transplant.
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