Field Trip Day

After a good day with no complications, Samuel is scheduled to be transferred to the rehab hospital tomorrow morning. Thank you, Lord!! One giant step toward home!

To make the most of our last full day here, we made time to take some "field trips". I have been curious to see some of the departments within the hospital that have contributed to Samuel's care over the last 53 days. Unfortunately, Samuel hasn't been well enough to do much touring before now. Joanne and Kevin arrived just in time to accompany us. We got Samuel comfy in a wheelchair and headed out.

We first visited the mailroom where each piece of Samuel's mail is checked against the patient census to verify his current room number, then sorted by floor, and finally delivered to his room. The mailroom team of 2 (plus 1 part-timer) handles 15,000 - 20,000 pieces of mail each day!

Next, we went to the volunteer office where any emails that have been sent to Samuel have been printed out and then delivered by a volunteer. The volunteer office manages over 600 people who generously donate their time to do many, many jobs throughout the hospital.

Our next stop was the laboratory. Samuel was not at all interested in visiting the lab, but he graciously humored me. The laboratory is a huge, open room that bustles with people and whirring equipment 24 hours a day. We saw some incredible automated machines that are able to work more quickly and efficiently than the humans who used to do the same tasks manually. We had a little tour of the area where blood cultures are incubated and grown. The technologist kindly opened the large incubator for us....very smelly!! We saw several of the machines that are used to process and test Samuel's blood every morning. These blood tests provide the critical information that enables the doctors to monitor Samuel's kidney function and immune suppression.

Before I could get all my questions answered ....will that ever happen??.... Samuel ran out of gas and we headed back up to his room. Later in the evening, he took a long nap. Medically, Samuel is finally stable. Physically, he is very weak and deconditioned. The expectation is that his time in rehab will give him a jump start on rebuilding his strength and stamina. Despite his reserve, Samuel is excited about the next phase of his kidney adventure. He is hoping to be strong enough to play some pond hockey before the ice melts.