photos of John in hospital

Hi you all.  I thought I would post some photos of John, for those of you who have never seen any of him, so that you could put a face to him.  These photos were taken while he was in the hospital for Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (hospital stay before last).  In the next entry of him I will post the most recent hospitalization photos, because I want to show you how much he has improved!  I think he looks so much better in them.  I like to think he is making progress.

This first photo is of John with his Shiley Hemodialysis Catheter in.  He got his kidney dialysis through it.

            

As you can see, the Shiley protruded from his neck (actually it was inserted into his jugular).  It was sewn onto his neck to stay in place.  It used to stick straight out, and he looked like Frankenstein, LOL.  So that was his name for awhile.  But the bandage kept ripping off, because the Shiley was too heavy.  He had to have the Shiley sewn on again.  And still it wouldn't stay in place.  So the nurses hooked up this contraption where they put a netting band around his head, to keep the Shiley in place.  From then on he was called such names as Indian chief and tennis player, LOL.

The next photo is a photo of John learning to use his walker.  He was in bed for a month and was so weak he couldn't walk after awhile.  So he had to use a walker to walk again.  He hardly ever has to use it now, but he had to for awhile.  Actually, he does have to use it now if he goes a long distance, or sometimes I have to push him in a wheelchair.  But he is doing a lot better.

         

Now, what a picture that is, LOL.  He needs a shave and a haircut!  Oh, what a horrible thing for me to say!  The whole time he was in there I kept saying, if we could just get this band off your head, we could wash your hair properly, and maybe even give you a haircut.  Your hair is way too long!  LOLOLOL.  I am always trying to get him to trim his hair and get dressed up when he goes to see the doctor, LOL.  Maybe I am shallow!  I just want him to look his best, LOLOLOL.  But who cares about such matters when you are sick?

So anyway, on to the final photo.  This is towards the end of the stay, when he was feeling a lot better.  He entitled this one "Getting Better".

         

See the pink bracelet?  That is called a transfusion bracelet.  Everybody who gets transfused has to wear one.  They have a lot of information on them, such as your name, and your blood type and antigens.  They have to be replaced every three days or so.  A person receiving blood has to be typed and made sure they are receiving the right type of blood.  Especially a transplant patient.  His blood is constantly changing, it is becoming the type of the donor.  So John has to get labwork every few days to see exactly what his blood type is (antigens and all) and then get a new bracelet, before he can get any new blood.  Interesting, huh?

So anyway, all of these photos were taken towards the end of John's hospital stay.  I couldn't bare to take any while he was really sick, and we didn't know if he would die.  I didn't want to remember him that way.  I shudder right now to think of how sick he was and how we almost lost him.  Last night I got kind of insecure thinking about it.  I kept thinking about how fragile life was.  And how we almost lost him.  I think I am going through some after effect thing.  I need to come to some kind of terms with things and settle down some...

Okay, I hope I am not getting to morbid or too deep.  This entry was not supposed to go that way.  I really am okay! 

Well, I need to run.  I have a lot of things I have to do today.  I will show you some more photos of John later.  They will be of his next hospital stay.  His hair will be short, he will have a nice hair cut, care of me! ;)  I made sure he got one before his next hospital visit started, LOL, because I knew he would end up in the hospital again, and we wanted him to look his best for the doctors, LOL.  So you will see pictures of his good looking self, LOL.  Oh, I am being so silly this morning.  I am tempted to erase this last paragraph, but I guess I will leave it in!

Love you all, Krissy :)