Branden's Transplant

Branden had a surgical consult yesterday afternoon for his peritoneal dialysis catheter. This is the catheter that will allow him to take advantage of at-home peritoneal dialysis. It's to be inserted just above and to the right of his belly button, which is a location Branden finds obtrusive and unattractive.

I kind of think that if you're already married and your wife doesn't have an issue with it (and no one else is going to see it, darn it!), then who really cares if it's unattractive? And, seriously, how obtrusive can three inches of small tubing be?

But I guess that's all easier for me to say since I'm not the one having it protrude from my belly.

Really, I had no idea how difficult this dialysis was going to be for Branden. And again, no one has said to us yet that the process leading up to the transplant is hard too. We just keep planning for the Big Transplant Day and the year or two following. That's what everyone talks about. That's what the hospital social workers discuss. So at this point I'm wondering if that's the "really hard part," then what the heck are we in store for? Because between dialysis and just trying to get active on all these lists, it's a lot already.

Bottom line: I can't relate to what Branden's feeling right now and I don't have too much energy left to try to convince him that something that will save his life is a positive. I think it's time to bring in some support, but I just don't know what that is yet.

In other news, the surgical consult yesterday was interesting. The peritoneal catheter looks sort of like ear innards attached to a long straight tube. (Or a hermit crab without its shell...don't ask how I know that.) The circular "innards" part goes inside Branden's abdominal cavity. No one ever sees that. The straight external tubing attaches to a machine that - for about 8 hours every night - manages the fluid that then ends up syphoning across Branden's peritoneum.

(Branden's is the bottom of these two pics.)

What's a peritoneum? Well remember a few years ago when Dr. Oz held up that butterfly-shaped piece of fat on Oprah for all the world to see? That's a peritoneum. It's gross-looking but is also the protective sheath that covers our fragile organs. So it's important too.

And it acts as a natural dialyzer. How cool is that??

So Branden's catheter surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, October 13th at 8am. He's also having eye surgery this Thursday at 3pm for his retinopathy. Hopefully the eye surgery will be a fantastically good event because - yaaay - Branden will then be able to see again. (And I'll have a view of the television free of the back of his head.)

And then maybe also he'll be able to finally see a little light at the end of this long dark...catheter.