Saving Tyrion Lannister - Update

Sorry for the absence of updates lately, but for once I'm happy to say, there isn't much to update!

Tyrian's transplant surgeon Dr. Aronson calls every morning and says that he is looking great and there are no concerns and good days are certainly starting to outnumber the bad.

But not without a few blips in the radar.

Last Saturday night he spiked a fever of 105. Unsure of where it was coming from, one of the critical care docs was called in around midnight to investigate. Likely, the source was one of his lines, his IV catheter or his feeding tube, and hopefully nothing systemic. For most a fever would mean a spell of illness, for him a high temp could've secondarily put his new kidney at risk. Yet even with the high temp, clinically he looked great.

Anyway, it was determined that it was his feeding tube, so it was removed. We were all pretty confident, due to his "healthy" appetite, that he'd be just ok without it.

His temp came down and he had another great day in Sunday.

Monday his blood pressure went up a bit. Apparently, this is not uncommon in transplant patients. He was started on a low dose of blood pressure medication, but only needed it for a day. He was moved from the ICU to the transplant "ward" of the hospital. This morning his urine concentration was checked (we want him to have concentrated urine - a good sign that the new kidney is fully functional) and it was perfect.  I know he is doing better than ever expected.

Seriously, I cannot get over how this tiny kitty (now weighing in at a whopping 4.1lbs!) just bounces back at whatever adversity is thrown his way. It is a miracle that he made it this far after all of the complications he's been through & an even bigger miracle that he will be returning home on Monday!

I also cannot express my gratitude to all of our friends and family who continue to reach out to us with love & support or even ask how he's doing. It makes me SO happy to finally tell people - he's coming home! While we were always hopeful this day would come, I know there were plenty of times I'd never thought I would get to say that.

The doctors and nurses at Penn Vet - miracle workers by day and night. They have pulled out more brilliant moves than I have ever witnessed in the 20 years I've been in human health care. Tyrion was so lucky to have them as his team.  We were assured this morning by his internal medicine doctor, Dr. Cleroux, that he is being thoroughly spoiled, held and hand fed....a lot!

So that's all for now! The next time I update will likely be when we are all home. Four more sleeps.