Years later ...

I am not even sure how many years it has been.

My mother in law is still ticking along. Kidney is good, her health isn't bad for someone in the 70's

I just ran a triathlon ... Blood work was done recently and the results were great.

It was still worth it!

Wall of Life (U.K. Campaign)

I received an email this morning asking for a link to a New Organ Donation Initiative from my home country, the United Kingdom.

Here it is ... http://www.walloflife.org.uk .. if you can, please make a donation and see if you can see me in the mosaic.

Btw, 3 1/2 year - Pam has been on cruises and is just ticking along nicely. I am watching my boys grow up, as healthy as I could be.

1 year (and a month)

We have just returned from a Walt Disney vacation with Pam.

She is so healthy now, that one year later she can walk around Disney World, go on all the rides and everything is great!

For myself, apart from the occasional soreness on the scars probably due to some rubbing from clothes I am perfectly healthy.

Was it worth it?? 100%!!

Nearly 4 months ....

It has been 4 months near enough, and I am back to 100%, in fact I have learnt how to ski in the past 2 months. The scars bother a little when I wear a belt, but that's it!

My mother-in-law is doing great - she's not 100%, but hospital visits are every 2 weeks. A very tough women; lost her husband (my father in law) of some 45 years and then 6 weeks later a kidney transplant - we were quite worried for a time because of her depression/grieving .. but she has pulled through.

The hardest thing to affect us was the financial obligations. Remember I was able to work writing programs, two weeks after the operation and even though it was only at a 25% rate, that was still 25% of revenue I was able to generate - the total cost to us, must of been CDN$ 10,000 (US$ 7,500) - we had to family or friend contributions, so thank God for credit limits - I honestly believe it will take us over a year to catch up ... of course our fridge died in January!

Was it worth it though - 1,000%!

One month later

It has been one month since the operation.

For myself, I fell fine - I think that I am back to 98%. I did too much over Christmas and went swimming ... I probably did 2 laps too many. I have "twinged" something, I am not sure what it is, but I will take it easy until I see the surgeon for my final check up in 2 weeks.

Pam, the recipient, is medically great - she only has to go to the hospital every 10 days now. She though is very depressed. I am not sure if this is due to the operation, losing her husband and now mourning or something else ... she does have great family support.

Day +10

Probably one of my last posts on this blog.

I am home, got checked out by Nephrology and everything was fine. I still need to meet with the surgeon in 5 weeks.

Even though it's been nearly 2 weeks, I was reminded that Kidney Donation by keyhole (laparoscopic), extenally may heal faster but internally it is still Major surgeory.

After a sneeze today, I can definitely attest to this. I think that I will stay home one more week from work, and can probably get started on the 16th.

Post Op Update

The past couple of days have been a little strange.

I felt great, albeit a little stiff & sore the first couple of days home, but these past 2 days, I have felt good and then very tired, achy and sore - like I have a "small" flu.

My taste has also gone haywire - I don't care for coffee or tea; my favourite pasta sauce does nothing for me ...

On a very positive note; Pam has come home from her kidney transplant - we purchased her drugs last night. If she were not on the over 65 drug plan, the anti-rejection medcine would cost over $1,000 every 30 days. How does anyone ever plan for that?

She is also needs to travel to hospital for a check up every 2 or 3 days.