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| archive for December, 2008 |
Post-release blues
30 Dec 2008 18:48 EST
Well, I’m home and the organ’s working. I’m still not well yet, of course, and it seems I’m experiencing a bit of the post-surgery blues. This is to be expected, and I’ve got psychiatric medications just for the trick. Essentially, though, I’ve been psyching myself up for months now to “get the transplant” – now I’ve got the transplant and still have a bit of healing and normalization to do. So it’s a bit anticlimactic right now. I’m home but can’t lift anything or climb stairs, so no sleeping in my own bed yet…
Some things are still rough: still have some drainage from the incision, lots of abdominal swelling, not sleeping at night, painful micturition, a low-grade fever in the nights. Some things are going well: the organ is making LOTS of urine, my blood pressure is doing much better, the swelling is going down every day. I know it’s just a matter of time. Monica is taking very good care of me.
UPDATE: Let me expand. On the one hand, I am bloated, sore, wet, tired and none of those things make anybody feel good. Not sleeping in your own bed for going on 2 weeks is difficult too. They shot me full of steroids which put me into a horrible cranky mood. On the other hand, I know that this is a step along the way, and that all the signs are going in the right direction: my blood work, my pee, the amount of pain I have, etc. It’s all going according to expectations, I’m just anxious.
Ready for admission
20 Dec 2008 14:35 EST
The nurse coordinator from OSU transplant called yesterday with admitting instructions. Shark and I are to report to OSU at noon on Monday. She gave the usual instructions to bring a list of my medications (a long list indeed), loose confortable clothing, a robe, pajama bottoms, and slippers. After admission, I’ll be taken to the 9th floor until I’m taken to surgery early Tuesday morning. Surgery should last about 3 hours for each of us.
After surgery I’ll be in the “special care unit” (4-bed mini-ICU for organ recipients) for 24 hours so the doctors and nurses can play with all the tubes they’ve inserted into me. They’ll bring Shark down to see me on that night. We will be in different rooms post-surgery so that, in the words of the nurse, we can each concentrate on our own recovery.
She said I’ll be staying in the hospital for 4 days after the surgery…meaning I should be home on Saturday! Woo hoo!
Here we go again…
19 Dec 2008 01:11 EST
In four days, my good friend Shark and I are going to be admitted to OSU Hospital, whereupon doctors will render us unconscious, remove a kidney from him, and then insert it into me in the wrong place. Which is exactly what I’ve been hoping for for many months now.
I have Goodpasture’s Syndrome. It’s a blessedly rare disease which, in short, causes your body to completely destroy its own kidneys as if they were foreign bodies; while it’s killing your kidneys it’s also attacking your lungs. Its cause is not entirely known. It struck me quite suddenly when I was a young man of 22. I was on dialysis for 2 years after that, then in 1991 received my first kidney transplant from a very young man who had died in an automobile accident.
During dialysis I continued my classes at Michigan State University. After the transplant, I graduated; somewhere in between those two things I married the most wonderful woman in the world. After I had my first transplant, I fathered three children, traveled the USA and the world, and embarked on a successful professional career. Life with a kidney transplant freed me from the shackles of dialysis and allowed me to live a completely full and normal life. Although my transplanted kidney had declined in function gradually over the years, it still served me very well for 17 years, longer than the original owner who tragically died at 16.
In May of 2008 my monthly blood work came back with bad news: the transplanted kidney was no longer working well. Subsequent testing proved that the kidney was on its last, um, legs. Doctors told me that they could keep me going for a few more weeks to maybe months, but that I would need a new kidney again, and soon.
In May I had few symptoms. But by June I began to become very ill. The kidneys filter toxins from the body, regulate blood pressure and electrolytes, balance your fluids, and produce hormones that control red blood cell production and parathyroid function. All these things began to go wrong in me. I lost 10+ pounds very quickly, and became extremely weak and anemic.
In September I started dialysis. Since then I have undergone dialysis three times a week for 3+ hours each session. This treatment has greatly improved my health and helped make me ready for surgery. However, dialysis is very rough on the body and is not a good long-term treatment compared to a transplant.
When we found out I needed another kidney, a number of friends and family graciously offered their very flesh to help me. After an interminable series of invasive and annoying tests, my friend Shark persisted and is considered to be the best candidate. Surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday.
After Tuesday, my #1 job is complete recovery. Years of kidney disease have wracked my body; I suffer from arthritis, muscle wasting, brittle bones, and an enlarged ventricle in my heart. Once I get the transplant, my regimen of getting back into the peak shape of my life begins. I figure if my friend is good enough to actually give me an organ, the least I can do is make sure that the organ lasts as long as possible.
So on this blog I’ll keep the world posted on my surgery, recovery, and progress toward my goal.
Another update. Don’t you love updates?
02 Dec 2008 21:02 EST
Don’t you just wish I’d hurry up and get the transplant already? I know I sure do!
Anyway – Shark has a CT renal angiography scheduled for Monday. This is used to take a picture of the vessels to his kidneys, in order to determine which kidney to use, how its vessels are set up, and to make sure there are no physical abnormalities.
According to the folks at the transplant clinic, this procedure is one of the last things they do before the actual surgery.
Keep your kidneys crossed, everybody!
about mark beadles
I write the things you read here. Polymath renaissance redneck. I build software, stories, and young men. More...on the desk
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