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.

Technical details

I thought that I would just add some technical details.

This operation Kideny donation was done by the keyhole.

I have 3 little wounds on my left side; one directly below my belly button, one about 2 inches above belly button and one about 3 inches on left side from belly button.

Apart from some soreness when getting in or out of bed, the wounds don't bother me very much.

My neck and shoulders: Aparently this is common in men with the keyhole operation, I guess due to the air pumped into my stomach, and/or my positioning during the operation, my shoulder really HURT the first day, and the pain moved in towards my neck. Far more painful than the incisions.

Peeing: Had a folly catheter for 48 hours (deep breath when that comes out). Couldn't pee for a bit, then couldn't stop (due to IV), had some air in there too which was the oddest thing ever.

Gas: You may chuckle, but this has been my biggest concern and problem since the operation (and purge) .... very gassy, at times not very comfortable either. There was a point night +3 where I could actually feel the gas in my tummy arrive - this is a good thing because things are starting to work - but the mucles to expel to gas aren't working, so I did get some cramping - but nothing compared with the purge.

Financially: It will hurt us - maybe Christmas won't be as grand, but who cares!

Overall; no big deal really - the really painful moments, the purge and having the IV removed.

Discharged

Last night I was discharged from Ottawa General Hospital.

I am feeling really pretty good this morning. Gassy and achy in the neck area, but really rather well.

One mistake we did make, Penny and Holly ordered pizza last night; considering that I have been on a 2 day diet of broth, cream of wheat - 2 large pieces of "Hawaiian" pizza was a very bad choice. I had chronic indegestion, gas ... I have learnt from that and made for a very uncomfortable couple of hours last night.

Once that had gone away, I slept really well.

I am using regular Tylelonol twos as we didn't get a chance to go to pharmacy, but is there a big difference between 3 and 2?

Pam, is down this morning because of the bag. Penny & Holly have just left to go see her and I will make an update later.

One funny little side story; I got permission to leave hospital yesterday morning but I had a choice; last night or this morning. Considering my nightly adventures with George, I decided to leave as soon as convenient, which was after watching the football. Buffalo Bills ended up losing the game in the last second. When I was leaving the nurse took my blood pressure, and I would never of believed it if I hadn't seen it for my own eyes, but it had climbed to it's highest level in the 6 days in Ottawa - the nurse was actually concerned for a moment!