The latest

Hi Everyone!!!

Well, Pop is doing well :) He walked twice today - down the hall and back with the assistance of a walker (standard). I (Susan)am now home in Colorado. I landed a few hours ago. It was hard to leave, but I know he is strong and doing well and will be absolutely fine.

As far as I can decipher, and things can and will always change, he and Mom will remain at the Clinic until Monday or Tuesday of next week. Then, since they live further than 2 hours away from the Clinic, they will need to stay at the Guest House (the hotel) for another 10 days or so. There is a list of requirements that he must meet before they say, "OK Ray, you can go home now." If I tried to list those here, I would be guaranteed to miss a few, so suffice it to say they are on top of things.

Today many "things" (as far as tubes and drains) were removed and he has more move-ability than he did prior. I will get updates from Mom and post as often as I can. Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions at: niedbalskigirls @ gmail.com (without the extra spaces).

Love and Hugs to all....

~Susan

Out of ICU!

So we are now out of ICU!! YAY! We are all thrilled to let you know this :) Not a whole lot to report (which is good news in and of itself). I will write more later.

Love to all...
~Susan and company and of course... Ray.

Waiting on a bed....

Yup - good news AGAIN over here for Pop. This morning they have called transport and the regular floor and are waiting for a bed to open so Pop can move out of ICU. He also gets to start solid foods today. He won't get the cheeseburger with onions that he keeps asking for, but anything other than his normal broth will be a nice change I think.

The snow finally stopped up here. I think we ended up with about 2 inches at most. Pop is convinced that People up here have NO idea how to handle snow since the people on the News keep warning drivers about 1/4 inch of the white stuff.

His humor is up, so is his grumpiness so things are just about normal as far as his mood goes.

We are all ready for a change of scenery.... here's hoping it comes sooner rather than later today :)

from all of us....

Doing Well

Pop is really doing great :) He is still in ICU, but again, it is only to monitor the now gone heart arrythmia. If all goes to plan the transfer should be a go tomorrow. I am on my cell so this entry is short. More news tomorrow :)

Love and Hugs.....
Susan, Karen, Jennifer, and of course.........Ray.

Just one more night....

Well... what's one more night, right? Much to Pop's disappointment he will spending one more night in ICU for monitoring. Nothing serious - they just want to keep an eye on a heart arrhythmia. Mom translates it to a funny rhythm in his heart every once and a while.

He looks incredible - and no, I am not exaggerating. Today he stood up so that he could move from his bed to a chair!! His swelling is down to just about normal, his color looks great, and he is in a seemingly good mood. He is even telling us jokes and picking on us all - including his nurses. Very cool.

Mom, Grandma, Grandpa and I are eagerly awaiting Jennifer and Billy's arrival. They should be here in the next 30 minutes or so. It is snowing here in Cleveland and sticking a bit, so the sooner they get here, the calmer we will all be. I am so excited for Jennifer to see Pop since she hasn't caught a peek since he left the house on Wednesday.

I will post more tomorrow.

Love and Hugs from us to you!!

~Susan, Karen, Marie, Harold, Jennifer, Billy, and of course..... Ray.

I took a Picture....

but you can't see it! hahaha. Pop asked for his picture to be taken about an hour after his main nose-to-stomach tube was removed. Mom and I were shocked! I asked if he was serious, and he said yes. So I asked Danielle and she said "It's the perfect time for a photo moment." So I ran down the hall, got my camera and snapped a good one :) But he doesn't want me to post it. So with the picture in front of me, I will describe it.

Plump face

rosy cheeks

smiling (slyly) - looking tough

White eyes

Only a few tubes

Hospital gown

Chicken Broth with a straw

Orange jello - no spoons (he has one now though)

Getting ready to move to a recliner

He is happy - way happier than i expected. He is 99% sure that he is moving up to a regular floor today! Happy days!!! I will say, I think he will miss Danielle ;) She is awesome!!! I know we are all very thankful that she has been Pop's main nurse for the past few days.

Love and Hugs!!

All of us and of course.... Ray!

Good Morning

Hi Everyone :)

Another day and still doing well :) Pop decided to take a sleeping medicine last night and I am so glad that he did. He slept for most of the night. He said they woke him up once "rolling me around and junk." We know he is feeling a bit more like himself when his ornery side comes out ;)

Things are going well and we are hoping that he gets to move to the regular floor today. We won't know for sure until the docs come in and make the decision.

I was glad to walk into ICU today and see that his Day Nurse Danielle was back in there again today. Pop really likes and trusts her, and more importantly listens to her! I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but he is actually behaving and listening to directions. Such a good patient! Hahaha.

I will post more as information comes about.

Love and hugs to all...

~Susan

Day 3 - 2 days Post-Op

Pop is doing great... lots of numbers and medical terms being thrown around, but Pop's ICU Nurse Danielle very sweetly translates it from Medical to English and assures me that it is all positive. I figure if Pop trusts her, then I can too! Haha. She is wonderful and puts up with Pop's jokes so she can't be all that bad ;)

Mom is still down in ICU hanging out with Pop. I came down to the waiting room to give them some time and to write an update for you all. Grandma and Grandpa just got here from the hotel and are on their way to see Pop. Two at a time are allowed in ICU so I am not sure who will go in and who will come back :) Surprises for all haha.

Mom and Susan at the hotel on Day 3 :)

Love and Hugs from us all and more updates to follow.

Bed Time...

Time for some sleep. Pop is doing great. Actually, he is ahead of schedule. We should hopefully be moving out of ICU tomorrow and into a regular room. As usual we will keep you all posted via this blog. If you want to leave a note for Pop, you can leave a comment on any post OR click on the guestbook link (over on the right) and leave a comment there. We will share them with him soon :)

Love to you all........
All of us and, of course......Ray.

Awake and Talking

Yup - Pop is talking and awake and says Hi to everyone!!!!

Just Saw Pop

Mom and I just went in to see a nice and AWAKE Pop!! He still has his respirator tube in, but they kicked me and Mom out so that they can remove it :) He was writing us notes with a pen and paper and winking once for yes and twice for no. What an amazing thing!!!

Will post more later!

LOVE YOU!
~All of us!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! And what a wonderful day it is! It is raining, windy, gray skied, and beautiful :)

So, the updates on Pop -

13 has always been Pop's lucky number and yesterday was no lie. He was called in on the 13th day of listing. His surgery began at 7:13 am, and his surgeries lasted 13 hours. What do ya think about that? Crazy, right?

We were finally able to see Pop at 10pm last night in his ICU unit. ICU is absolutely 600% standard after this length and level of an operation. He was heavily sedated, but Mom and I were able to hold his hands and talk to him and hang out with him. His nurse last night was Gary and he was just incredible.

I was nervous to go see him; I had read that post-transplant the patient has lots of tubes and bags and all that on him. When I went in to see him, he looked great - I could not believe it. He had so much fluids pumped into him for the surgery that he actually looked good with some extra weight! Haha. The lighting isn't very flattering in an ICU unit, but from what we could tell his color looked good.

Mom, Grandma, Grandpa and I all went to the hotel last night and Mom finally got some rest. She really needed it.

This morning Pop is getting an ultrasound to make sure that his NEW Liver and NEW Kidney are working the way they should. So far so good.

I will keep you all posted throughout the day.

Merry Christmas to you all!! May this year be as Incredible for all of you as it is going to be for us :)

Love to all,

~Susan, Karen, Jennifer, and of course..... Ray.

Liver = Success!!

WE HAVE A LIVER! What a day! Part 1 (the hardest) has been successful!! The Liver doctor, Dr. Miller, came out to talk to us and said that the transplant was a success! He said that the liver looks beautiful and everything went fine. Pop is doing well and the rest of the team was "closing him up" as Dr. Miller was speaking with us. Now comes the kidney. What a day!

Someone has answered our prayers this year, and let me tell you, we will be forever grateful. I will keep you posted this afternoon as well.

Love to you all!!!

~The Crew

Surgery Day!!!

Merry Christmas is an absolute understatement. Surgery began at 7:13am today, the 24th. Pop has been listed for 13 days. Jennifer, Billy, and I arrived at the Cleveland Clinic about an hour ago to sit with Mom. The hospital is enormous, which again, is an insane understatement. This morning we met one of the Social Workers, Lisa. She is an angel.... hands down. Mom said everyone has just been incredible here, and from what I have seen in an hour, I believe her.

Grandmother and Grandfather should be here any minute. I will post throughout the day. Mom has a pager of sorts that gets messages from the OR periodically. The last update came at 9:15 and said that surgery is going well and that Pop is doing fine. My guess is that this surgery will take about 8 hours total, but could go longer. Again, updates to follow.

Love to you all,

Susan, Karen, Jennifer, Billy, Marie, Harold, and of course, Ray...

Call Number Two

Well tonight the phone rang at Mom and Pop's House at about 6pm EST. It was the transplant coordinator from the Cleveland Clinic telling us that there is another chance for a transplant. Mom and Pop left for the Clinic at about 6:30. It is just impossible to explain the feeling that comes across each time the phone rings, and then to look at the Caller ID and see "Cleveland Clinic" - your heart just stops.

I will post here as updates come in. I don't expect to hear anything from Mom until about 10 or 11pm tonight telling us that they have arrived. If Friday was any indication of what might be expected, it could be morning until we hear anything definitive about Pop.

Love to all..... Let's hope this is the Merriest of Christmases.

**Update 1 - Mom just called. She and Pop made it safe and sound to the Cleveland Clinic (in record time lol). The word is right now that the organs are not expected to arrive until around 2am. Tentative surgery time is 6am 12/24/2009. I say tentative because nothing will be definite until it actually happens. More updates tomorrow morning.... Gonna try to get some sleep tonight.

Flase Alarms. Long Days, and Snow

Hi Everyone...

So the latest. As I was getting ready to leave my apartment to go to the airport yesterday morning at 6am MST, I called mom to let her know I was awake. I said, "Did you know I am coming to see you today?" And Mom says, "Well Susan, there has been a change in plans... we are at Cleveland Clinic. They called at 3am with possible organs." OMG! He has only been listed for 8 days! This is a miracle!! Well, as the doctors warned us, there would be false alarms, and this was one of them. A friend of mine commented on my Facebook yesterday, this was a trial run to get us all ready for the real thing. Mom and Pop spent the whole day (literally) at the Clinic. They came home about 11pm last night because Ohio is supposed to get some nasty weather today. They made it home safe and sound and hopefully today we can all get together.

It is an odd thing, this whole transplant process. On one hand I am so grateful for the family who decided to offer their loved one's organs up to those who needed transplants, and at the same time, so sad for their loss, and then again, so disappointed that the liver was not a good match for Pop. We all knew this process was going to be.... emotional, but I personally had no idea what exactly that meant.

So we wait a bit more... as everyone keeps saying, "It will work out" and I know that it will. I am so glad that I am with my family right now, and hope that things continue to "work out."

I will keep you all posted as we hear news...

Love,

~Susan

and he's LISTED!

That's right, folks... Pop is now on the Organ Transplant List as of last Thursday Morning. Thanks to everyone for all of the love and support up until now, but we still need that all coming to Pop. The real waiting game is now on and as mom says, "Every time the phone rings, my heart just stops." The suspense is awful, I can't imagine what it is like for Mom and Pop.

We will keep you all posted as news comes, but I guarantee it will be sporadic at best. Please email or leave comments if you have any questions. If you want to send along those happy thoughts, prayers, mantras, whatever, we would all greatly appreciate it.

Love to you all,

Karen, Jennifer, Susan, and of course, Ray