First I'd like to apologize for not writing sooner... Today is Thurs, Dec 13th. Surgery was Monday, December 10th. I think I left off where I was eight hours till i had to be at the hospital. Sunday I was on a liquid diet so essentially the last time I ate was Saturday evening at Cheesecake Factory, till today... (I've had no appetite) We arrived at the hospital Monday morning 5 AM. I registered for surgery on the kiosk and was shown where to go, to the second floor to the surgery waiting area. We waited there for a few minutes and they called my name. They took my vitals, my weight, and started an IV... that was a chore. Before long, Dr. Shea Samara and Susan came in. He marked my left leg to show that that was the side they were going to operate on. Then my surgery nurse rolled me back to the operating room. I've asked for plenty of pictures, anything that they can provide for me so I could pass along on the blog the more education out there I think the better people understand and the more likely people will be to help a fellow person in the future. I am waiting for the pictures Dr.Scott Samara took with his phone in the OR, how awesome!! Once in the operating room, I just remember moving from the gurney to the table and that is pretty much it, after that I woke up in the recovery room with my back hurting pretty bad which was a combination of the bed that they had there and the way that they have to remove the kidney. I was a little nauseous but I think it was the taste of the medicines in my mouth that was making this happen. I was able to sit up in the recovery room. Then I was taken to my own room on the seventh floor,which is where the liver transplant patients are. Myself and recipient on separate floors. Susan had prepared me for the second day, saying it was going to be my worst day. I would say that she was pretty accurate on that. My biggest challenge was fighting headaches, fatigue, back pain, and nausea. With medication they were able to control all of those. Tuesday, day two, I pretty much slept all day with the exception of a few visitors coming in. I did managed to walk the halls a couple of times. The catheter was removed that morning my kidney was functioning perfect. The doctor had also mentioned that the recipients new kidney(John Matthew) started functioning right away and producing urine for him:-) Day three of the hospital stay, I was able to meet the recipient so I got up in the morning took a shower and waited to visit him. At this point I still knew very little about him I been told several different ages 28, 29, 25, turns out he's 26 and a history teacher. His wife is also a teacher. He actually teaches a mile from my house, small world! I learned that when he was a junior in high school he lost a lot of weight.. Doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him... Finally one doctor did a urine test.. And that spring break day he found out he had Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis
FSGS, Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, is a disease that infects the kidneys. It is also termed focal glomerular sclerosis or focal nodular glomerulosclerosis, because it is the scarring of some of the glomeruli located in the nephron of the kidneys. Every year five thousand four hundred patients will be diagnosed with FSGS. FSGS is an autosomal dominant disease so it is inherited by a mutated chromosome from one of the one though twenty two chromosomes and is very common in the family history. Scientists say it is the nineteen or sixteen, but in most cases it is the chromosome that is affected is chromosome eleven. He has been on dialysis for three years as well as the list. Milton and Brittany are amazing people... They loved the gifts as well as, all the bible verses I quoted. And they thought the names for the kidneys were perfection! I loved meeting this couple.. We Skyped his mother and 6y/o daughter. ... Just an amazing story in God's plan. I am so pleased that they want to be part of our lives, as we want to be part of theirs. I am overwhelmed with emotions. I am just so happy that we were compatible and then able to be part of each others lives... Exchanging our information just takes me to the nth degree... Shortly after our meeting we were both released from the hospital. I'm feeling pretty good right now... The pain levels have not been crazy high. The worst of all the pain has been the pain from the laparoscopic gas that they use... It makes it feel like when you run for a longtime and get stitch in your side. Other than that some back pain, from laying around. I had my first outing today to get my meds... It was a little much.. But just rested on the bench while they prepared it ANC I was good to go..
If I was asked would you do it again... ABSOLUTELY without hesitation... Was it worth it???? Yes it was.. Actually, more than worth it.. For two strangers to meet and see that we already had so many connections. And to save a life and allow someone to raise their child and that sweet child be able to hold her daddy's hands and his beautiful wife to be able to grow in love for years to come... Yes!!! Yes!!! Yes!!!!
I want to give a big THANK YOU! To the doctors, nurses(especially David's Humor), Susan, my friends, family, my coworkers, just everyone that has supported me through this whole process!! All of our prayers have been answered!
I will be updating this blog for a long long time... Thank you for reading and sharing!!! GOD BLESS!!
