Thank you God!

I'll say it again. Thank you God. The kidney is working inside Kristie's body and loves to pee...this is a good thing...its means its happy.



To those who have emailed....this is the first time I've been on the computer since July 16 so I apologize that I haven't responded to emails yet. I'm still not thinking as clearly as I would like because (I think) my body did not like all that nasty anesthesia and medicine. I wasn't prepared for the pain or the exhaustion and still haven't really made my peace with it but am trying to get thru it with as little complaining as possible.



Here's what I remember.



Thursday the 17th - surgery day. We all arrived at 6 a.m. as instructed. Katie, Kristie, Nigel and I all went up to our assigned hospital rooms on Floor 11 of Swedish Hospital. We had rooms next to each other so that was GREAT! Kristie and I got the fashionable gowns on and visited each other in our rooms. At about 7:30, they put me in the hospital bed and I said goodbye to Katie and Kristie as they wheeled me to the pre-op area to get my IV and wait with Nigel.

At the pre-op area, they put in my IV in my right arm. It went smoothly. Then about 8 a.m. they wheeled me away to start the surgery. I was asleep before I went in the surgery room.

I woke up hours later with no memory of anything. I woke up in my room on Floor 11. They told me that Kristie was doing great but that she was in ICU because of the anesthesia.

Evidently, both of us liked the anesthesia so much that we did NOT want to wake up! I took an extra 3 hours to come out of it and so did Kristie. Dr. Marks said we get the gold medal for sleeping.

I remember seeing Katie and Nigel Thursday evening but I was drifting in and out.

Friday I was on heavy pain meds and slept a lot. They wanted me up and walking so I did it but was sort of grumpy about it...I did get to see Kristie - she arrived in her room on Floor 11 (next to my room) about 3 p.m. So I slowly walked (with my IV pole) into see her. She looked GREAT! Her complexion was back to being pink and her new kidney was happy.

Saturday, I took 4 walks throughout the day. Problem: the pain meds they were giving me made my nauseaus so they gave me medicine for the nausea and so the vicious cycle continued. I'm fairly sensitive to medicine so they finally found one I did okay with. And I got to visit with Kristie alot. She was doing great.

Sunday I went home about 5 p.m. My friend, September, came up and spent the first 4 days with me...thanks September! She was very patient with me since I was a little grumpy because of the bloating, pain and constipation. Yes, folks, constipation. Not pleasant. In fact, the worst part about this whole experience was THAT! Geez. Nuff said.

Kristie came home on the 8th day and she was soooo happy to be home! Kristie's surgery was actually easier on her than mine was on me. But, the massive drugs that Kristie needs to take is now a challenge for her little body.

She lost 5 pounds and I lost 5 pounds. Yay. (I would have preferred ten but I'll take the 5!)

Kristie was home for a week and then started becoming naseaus and started having major diarreah because of certain meds. So, she was admitted back into the hospital for a short two day stay last Wednesday. She needed fluids and one of her meds levels was too high so the transplant team decided to admit her to get it all under control. Kristie cried but we talked about having a good attitude and being flexible and that right now we need to baby her new kidney.

She's coming home today. I'm in the hospital with her as I'm posting this. We're waiting for the last of her meds to get thru her IV. She's still got diarreah but its diminishing.

Okay, I'm off to get fish tacos for Sue and I...will write more later.

P.S. Its Friday, August 1st. I started this post last Saturday the 26th and am just now finishing it.