Here are the promised pictures. I, officially, have no photo editing/publishing skills! Use the back button to get back to the blog so that you can see the next picture. If you close the window, you will lose the blog.
This is Andrew at his dialysis, the day before the surgery. Andrew at Dialysys
Here we are making our way to surgical admitting at 5am on Wednesday. We all wore our Andrew’s angels shirt’s. On our way
Why on earth would Chris take a picture of a banner at Lehigh? Well, clearly he wanted us all to see the faces of the men who cut his brothers open. Duh. The Doctor second from the left is Dr. Moritz. He worked on Matt. The Doctor third from the right is Dr. Chakarbarti. He is the surgeon who worked on Andrew and is continuing his follow-up care. Banner of Transplant Excellence at Lehigh Valley Hospital
This is a picture of Andrew’s left arm, the one with the fistula. Becuase of the fistula, this arm can’t be cut into or ever used to draw blood. The red bracelet was to remind everyone in the room not to mess with it. Andrew will have to wear a bracelet that indicates that he is a transplant patient and that he has this fistula. Andrew’s DO NOT USE arm
Here is Matt’s stomach right after the surgery. Pretty huh? Matt’s Belly
Here is the 7 1/2 inch, stapled incision on Andrew’s stomach. Just as pretty! Andrew’s half smile
This one is only for those with a stomach of steel. This is a picture of the neck IV’s that Andrew received during surgery. These tubes were administering the anti rejection meds for the first few days. Everytime I see this, I shudder. Andrew’s neck
And last but not least. Pee. The money shot
Thanks to Chris, our amazing photographer, for finding this process worthy of photo documentation. The rest of us completely forgot our cameras! You saved the day.

3 comments
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August 23, 2007 at 6:54 pm
hallie
what is a fistula?
August 26, 2007 at 6:23 am
Stein
Hello there Hallie. I guess all the experts were waiting for the kid who actually has the fistula to answer your question. Basically it is a vein that is hooked up to your artery. Mine is located (as you can tell in the photo) in my lower left arm. Some people have them in their upper arms and they go in your nondominate arm. It cannot be reversed which means I will have it as long as it is functioning properly. If a problem comes up then they can roto-rooter it or they can go in and shut it down. There is a lower risk of an infection with a fistula as opposed to a tesseo which is in your chest and goes directly into your heart. They can run your blood faster through the dialyzer with a fistula which means your blood will cycle through the machine more getting cleaner. You can tell which patients have been on dialysis for a long time because their arm looks like they are on steroids; they vein popping out effect and that comes from lots of use. Hope that answers your question.
August 30, 2007 at 3:14 pm
maria Emery
how dare you go and visit dialysis when i’m off, mr. lynette???? heard you look great!!!! we miss you