Interesting Week...to say the least

Well, Graham is back in the hospital...to find the silver lining...NOT for a rejection!  We were trucking along, in pure bliss, when we decided to order Chinese take out.  The following day, Graham woke up swollen, like he was towards the end of his hospital stay.  We thought, "That's weird, must be the sodium."  So the real geniuses that we are, we ate Mexican food, I made Jambalaya (sausage, ham, chicken broth - sodium ridden) and by Tuesday, he woke up with his eyes swollen shut.  Had to be the sodium, right? 
We had big plans for the weekend, a childhood friends wedding, and we both really wanted to get out of the house leaving Jordan safely at home.  But by Saturday, his swelling hadn't changed (even with us eating sodium free all week).  Luckily, swelling went down my the evening and we headed out all dressed up to have fun.  And boy did we ever!  Vice President Biden was in attendance, and it was pretty cool getting to hang out with him.  Graham was excited that a Secret Service Agent liked his truck (big eye roll).  We hung out with my brothers and a friend I hadn't seen in awhile and left happy as larks.  Graham had spoken with the doctor on Friday, and just as precaution, he wanted to see him in clinic on Monday.
So on Monday, he went through his normal schedule: blood work, physical therapy, PT's, but then they added another test (and yep, the name has completely escaped me!).  The doctor who ran the test came out and told Graham to sit in the wheelchair and not move again.  Turns out, Graham had a massive clot in his right jugular, and a minor clot somewhere in his chest.  He called me around 4:30, I have my phone hooked up to my speakers in my car, when he told Jordan and I that he was being admitted, we both started crying.  We finally had our Man back and now he's gone again.  Poor Jordan just screamed for 30 minutes (until I could get her McDonald's - always cheers the kid up), she knows what "hospital" means, but doesn't understand why.
Turns out, Graham had all the signs of SVC Syndrome.  In layman terms, there is an obstruction (in Graham's case it was his central line during and after transplant, and also his port) that presses against the vessels that connect the chest to the head, and then causes clots.  So they had a plan.  First, pump him full of Heparin - thin his blood out enough to get blood flowing and hopefully dissolve clot.  Second, have a procedure done where they scope his vein/vessels/arteries to see what is going on.  If need be, balloon his vessels to help blood flow.  Third, medicate during procedure.  Fourth, start Graham on Coumadin, a blood thinner that levels would need to be monitored (why not add another one).  And last, put stints in.
After 24 hours of heparin, and no progress he went down to have the procedure done early Wednesday morning.  I was at work under the impression this was a quick thing, 4 hours later Graham's Mom finally told me that he was back in his room and that it was nothing what they thought once they got in there.
They found that he did not have SVC Syndrome, but a totally different one.  Instead of the vessels connecting chest to head, it was arms to head - and not just one side, but both left and right.  And instead of blood clots, they found that they were completely blocked.  They were able to get into his right side and balloon those vessels, but not his left.  Their only answer was he needed stints put in both sides and needed to remove his port; the consequence...they would be ruining any chance of him receiving IVs via port or pic line (his veins in his hand or arms have never been able to keep with regular IVs).  In a perfect world with no rejection, illness, accidents, etc. this would be fine.  But if we were ever in a situation that Graham needed IV antibiotics fast, did we really have the time for them to sit and think on creative ways to administer them to him?  Yes, if there were no other option, but are there other options?
I was so tense all day long, by the time I could relax, I felt as if I was in a car crash - ached all over.  Jordan and I went to see him - she was so excited, she missed him so much.  Graham was so tired, but he was already looking better.  Dr. Rosenblatt came in, we were talking about the wedding and I began to show him pictures.  Where everyone on Saturday night thought he looked so great, Dr. Rosenblatt was thinking how awful he looked (it's all about perspective I guess).  He took my phone and began showing the nurses, teaching hospital - signs of clots - ha!  When we began talking about stints, you could see the how uneasy Dr. Rosenblatt was.  He didn't like the fact that it would be difficult for Graham to get IVs either.  But the other doctors were still pushing it.  This was all on our 3rd Wedding Anniversary - I can think of many better ways to spend it.  But at least we were together.
Thursday came, and still no word when Graham might be able to come home; but the decision was made...not stints.  If everything works right - the ballooning, Coumadin, Heparin, Graham should have no more problems with clots.  No Clots = No Stints.  No Stints = possible IVs.  I feel better.  This world is a scary place!
So Day 6 in the hospital today and Graham needed a pint of blood - platelets were low, hopefully because of meds.  Jordan and I met my parents and Aunt Kim up there and we had a blast!  The blood really perked him up, I think we did too.  He is so tired and frustrated, he wants a break so bad.  And he deserves it!  Supposedly he needs his Coumadin levels a 2.0 and then maybe he can come home.  They are only at 0.9, ugh.