I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: Transplant Discussion => Topic started by: Fighter on May 16, 2007, 10:36:07 PM
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I just got 'the call'!!! I probably won't have any Internet access while I'm at the hospital, but I'll give you a detailed report of my transplant once I'm back home. Wish me luck!!!
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:yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo;
You Go Boy!
Congratulations !
Tamara xxx ooo
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Fantastic News Take Care and keep us posted when you can :clap;
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Fabulous news Fighter.
:cuddle;
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I am so happy for you!!!!! :bandance;
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Thats Fabulous News Fighter! :clap; I'm so happy for you
Take care of yourself... Sending positive thoughts your way!
Amanda
xxoo
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:yahoo; Thats fantastic news Fighter..... may you be home peeing in no time! :cuddle;
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:bandance; :bandance; Outstanding News Fighter Good Luck!! :bandance; :bandance;
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Congrats! Please update as soon as you can.
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Fighter that is great news. I know all to well how good it feels to finally have a transplant. I wish you all the best with your new kidney. :2thumbsup;
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:clap; YES!! :D
Best of luck!
So happy for you!!! :cuddle;
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:clap; :clap; :clap; :clap; :clap; :clap; :clap;
CHEERS TO YOU!
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Great news---This sure is a good year for IHD member transplants!!!!!
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Stand up to your NAME!!
:bestwishes; :bandance; :cuddle;
Stikied This Post - Rerun, Moderator
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Awesome news... :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :2thumbsup; :2thumbsup; :2thumbsup; :clap; :clap;
Hope all goes well and hurry back .. :beer1;
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Go Fighter, it's your re-birthday ;) Wishin' you all the luck my friend, and most importantly Godspeed, :clap;
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:yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo;
Wonderful news Fighter!!!!
Update us when you can. Godspeed!
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:yahoo; :2thumbsup; Awesome! ! ! ! :yahoo; :2thumbsup;
:2thumbsup; :yahoo; Congrats Man! ! ! :2thumbsup; :yahoo;
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Congratulations :clap;
I hope everything goes well :grouphug;
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:yahoo; :clap; :clap; :clap;
Wonderful!
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:bandance; :bandance; :bandance; :bandance; :clap;
good luck!!!
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:bandance; :bandance; :bandance; :bandance;
Good news! and good luck!
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Congratulations!
Best wishes to you.
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:yahoo; Fighter,
All of us at the Cowen home are sending hugs!!! God Bless and I will be praying for you!!!
Lori Cowen mom to Dustin 21 esrd
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:bestwishes; :bandance; :bandance; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; tell us everything when able!!!!
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Speed Recovery.
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Great news! Can't wait to hear your story! :2thumbsup; :2thumbsup; :2thumbsup;
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Yay!!! Congrats! I'll be keepin you in my prayers!
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Just read the news! Hope you're doing well!!
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Thinking of you Fighter! Hope to hear from you soon!
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So glad for you , Fighter, hope all is going swimmingly! Take care of YOU! :cuddle;
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Hope all is well. :waving;
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So excited for you! Keep us posted!
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I'm still at the hospital, 8 days post-op, just to fill you in really quickly: the procedure was a success but my kidney function is slowly picking up and my creatinine is still kind of high at 7.8, but it's been going down everyday now. I peed 3 liters yesterday (which is about as much as I peed in the last couple of years!). The first three days were a hell of pain and dsicomfort but I guess that was expected. Since day 4 I've been feeling fine apart from the obvious pain from the scar. I'll give you more details once I'm out of this place, hopefully it won't be too long now. Thanks to everyone for your congratulations and best wishes! More news soon!
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I'm still at the hospital, 8 days post-op, just to fill you in really quickly: the procedure was a success but my kidney function is slowly picking up and my creatinine is still kind of high at 7.8, but it's been going down everyday now. I peed 3 liters yesterday (which is about as much as I peed in the last couple of years!). The first three days were a hell of pain and dsicomfort but I guess that was expected. Since day 4 I've been feeling fine apart from the obvious pain from the scar. I'll give you more details once I'm out of this place, hopefully it won't be too long now. Thanks to everyone for your congratulations and best wishes! More news soon!
Great news, Fighter. Keep healing. Take care.
:cuddle;
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:waving; Great to hear from you Fighter!
Best wishes to you!
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I'm glad you're ok, we're thinking of you. Update as soon as you can. :cuddle;
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WOW, I missed this thread totally! Im happy for you fighter, glad all is working out.
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Congratulations Fighter, your news is the kind we all like to hear. Enjoy all that food they are bringing you that was off limits just a short time ago. Keep us up to date on your progress and don't be a stranger in the chatroom. It is always nice talking to you. :thumbup; :thumbup; :thumbup;
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Woohooo, Keep on keepin on Fighter, i am sure you will be up and outta there and enjoying life again in no time ;) Thanks for coming and updating us, looking forward to hearing from you again soon :cuddle;
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Thanks for the update Fighter. get stronger everyday my friend, your in my thoughts and prayers for a quick recovery.
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Hang in there Fighter! You keep the faith. Things are going to be good here pretty soon. Prayers to you.
:cuddle;
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Great news fighter! keep healing..... :cuddle;
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Thats awesome news fighter. Hope u get out soon.
Hey, drink a Dr. Pepper for me. Thankx! ! ! :beer1;
Later,
O0
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excellent news- hope you continue to do well!!!! :bandance; :bandance; :bandance;
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So very good to hear from you, fighter, and that things are progressing as hoped! Best wishes for a speedy recovery and hoping your creat. continues in a speedier decline!
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:bandance; Thanks for the update. Keep healing and peeing too!! :cuddle;
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Congrats!!!! I'm glad to hear you got the call and your doing great! Look forward to hearing more good news :) :grouphug;
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I'm back! Things were starting to get boring at the hospital since the head doctor insisted that my creatinine had to be at most 2 for me to leave even though I was feeling fine, didn't need any particular treatment and had had all the exams that were scheduled. So I was pretty happy to learn that my creatinine was down to precisely 2.0 yesterday morning! It's been going down steadily for the past week, and hopefully it will go down some more... I'm feeling full of energy and sooooooooooo happy to be off dialysis, hopefully forever! For those who care I'm currently on 10 mg Prograf (twice daily), 500 mg Cellcept (twice daily) and 8 mg Medrol (steroids - twice daily). That's a lot of immunosuppressive drugs even though the pills are tiny and I don't feel any side effects at all, though I know some are of the silent type - e.g. my blood pressure has risen sharply even though it was always fine on dialysis, so I'm also on 5mg Zestril (ACE inhibitor) which is doing a good job of controlling my BP. The docs say that when they start lowering the Prograf dose I'll be able to quit the Zestril. Hopefully I won't have to take steroids forever, they'll see if they can wean me off completely from them even though it's not really standard practice at my hospital just yet.
As for the transplant experience itself, I have to say that after a super-tough first three days, things haven't been bad at all, actually quite pleasant with a very nice team of nurses taking care of me and really not much pain or discomfort. I've had lots of visitors come by to support me and I've met some intersting people with pretty amazing transplant stories to share (not all kidney transplants). The scar is very long but so thin that it might become invisible after a couple of years. My lower belly is still a bit swollen two weeks after the operation but it's getting better - at first I couldn't button my jeans all the way up so I walked around holding it with one hand so that the entire world wouldn't know the color of my underware. They didn't perform a nephrectomy of my native kidneys so I guess that spared me much of the pain that others feel. Since then I've already taken a shower and driven my car, everything seems to be back to normal apart from a slight but constant tingling in the scar area.
So basically up until now it's been a real success story. I hope it stays that way!!! I've missed a couple of weeks on IHD, what's been up? :)
See you guys around and thanks for all your wonderful posts of encouragement!
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Fighter its wonderful to hear how great your going i hope it keeps on going and going :2thumbsup; take care
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:bandance; :bandance; Woohoo.. Welcome Home Fighter.
Thank You for sharing your experience with us all. :grouphug;
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:2thumbsup; Hey Fighter - happy you're back!
The creatinine may drop when they reduce the Prograf, Jenna's did.
Keep drinking loads of water and take care!
Best wishes,
Karol
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Thanks for the update Fighter and I'm glad things are going well. Keep on Keeping on! :yahoo;
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Way to Go!!
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:thumbup; Great news Fighter!!!
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Welcome home, Fighter! Sounds like everything went smoothly............. :)
Congrats!
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Hooray :yahoo; So glad that everything is going so well for you Fighter, now just cuz you got that beautiful new kidney, i surely hope you dont forget about us. Keep us posted on how your feeling and how everything is going, it is such an inspiration to know that one of our members is doing so well. :cuddle;
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Great news Fighter. Thanks for the update :grouphug;
I hope things continue to go well for you!
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:bandance; :bandance; :bandance; :yahoo; :yahoo; :yahoo; so glad everthing is going so great for you
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Isn't this amazing? Fighter tells us he got the call and now telling us how good he is doing! It really helps to hear these reports first hand and it gives such hope to all of us waiting. Fighter, we are so glad for you and will keep praying for your continued recover. Take care and keep us updated.
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Yay Fighter! :)
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Great news fighter!! :2thumbsup; i'm so happy for you.!
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Hooray :yahoo; So glad that everything is going so well for you Fighter, now just cuz you got that beautiful new kidney, i surely hope you dont forget about us.
No worries, I'm not going anywhere... :beer1;
As requested in a PM I got yesterday, here's a more detailed account of my transplant experience...
I guess the first days post-op are different for everybody, but here's what happened to me:
I actually don't recall the exact moment when I woke up (apparently this is pretty common), but the nurses told me I was very agitated and started screaming that I was in a lot of pain (they had already given me morphine, but not enough it seems!), so they gave me extra morphine and that's when my first memories came: I calmly asked the nurse next to me (wh I had just screamed at) how the operation had gone and she said just fine. I was the only patient in the reanimation room, probably because I was transplanted on a public holiday. A friend of mine who happens to be a surgeon was there when I woke up and he called my family to tell them that I was awake and that everything was fine. At that point I was pretty oblivious to all the tubes sticking out from my body because I was very drowsy from the morphine.
After a short while they brought me back up to the room where I would spend the next couple of weeks. My mom was there waiting for me. At that point I was a little euphoric so she felt that the worst was behind me, but she was wrong! The first night wasn't the worst because I was on lots of morphine and still felt the effects of the anesthetics. The following day, however, was hell. I realized that I was bound by plenty of tubes (central catheter in my neck, twin drainage tubes sticking out of my scar to evacuate the internal bleeding - and there was a lot of blood, a urinary catheter - pretty unbearable for a guy!, plus an extra tube sticking out of my hand). The scar was hurting big time in spite of the morphine and I had to keep very still or it would really hurt like hell. If that wasn't enough the first day they immediately put you through a number of tests (including a scintillography of the kidney, to make sure it looks good and is adequately perfused) and they make you stand up to get weighed! I was terrified by this prospect even though it went OK in the end (though very painful!). An experienced kinesitherapist managed to get me on my feet with minimal difficulties thanks to a couple of tricks of his.
The second night was my low point: I couldn't get a minute of sleep as the heavy doses of Prograf and steroids were keeping me awake and my back started hurting as I practically couldn't move and had been on my back for more than 24 hours almost non-stop. The hours seemed endless and I called the nurses every half hour for extra pain killers and tranquilizers. Thankfully the staff was very understanding and supportive and always had a smile on their face so that helped.
The next couple of days were more of the same even though the pain in my scar started receding. I quit the morphine pump after a couple of days but still needed a lot of less potent pain killers, especially at night. The doctors' main worry was that my creatinine was stuck at 14 even though I was urinating quite a bit. They told me the new kidney had tubular necrosis issues which means that it hadn't been irrigated with blood for too long between the moment it was taken from the donor and the moment it was transplanted. However this is completely reversible and they were expecting some real kidney function to kick in pretty soon. Sure enough, after a couple of three-hour dialysis sessions (and a small glass of yucky Kayexalate), my creatinine started to drop steadily (I got out of the hospital with 2.0).
Another thing in the beginning was that after the operation your intestinal transit shuts down so basically you can't eat anything for a few days (in my case, three). This wasn't much of an issue for me as I wasn't hungry anyway from all the meds I was taking.
On the fourth day things started to really look up with much less pain, better nights and less tubes every day (they took out the urinary catheter on the fourth day which meant huge emancipation!). I still felt a little nauseous for another three-day cycle until the creatinine started to drop and that's when I really started feeling good, as in better than on dialysis. I started getting a lot of visitors, my friends were all very supportive and I started getting a little euphoric as things were going better and better. On the ninth day they even let me out for half a day to go to one of my best friends' wedding. It was great to get out and see some people in normal circumstances!
The last week was completely different as boredom became the main inconvenient. I went through a number of exams (to check the state of my new kidney, heart, lungs, bones, eyes, nervous system and teeth). No problems to report and the days started to get long with little to do besides watch TV and read... But they were waiting for my creatinine to drop to 2 before they would release me, which eventually happened on day 15.
I'm now 19 days post op and I feel fine most of the time, but my mobility is still hampered by the scar (though the pain has disappeared) and I sometimes feel a little nauseous in the morning. I also have to go to the bathroom very often because my bladder has shrunk after years on dialysis, but the docs say that won't last long. They have already started weaning me off some of the Prograf and steroids so things are looking up! It's great to be free from dialysis, and soon I'll be working, travelling, partying, doing sports, etc... For those of you who have yet to be transplanted, some of the above details may seem a little frightening, but the tough days are so few and the rewards so great that in this day and age I'd recommend just about anyone on dialysis to go for that transplant (if you get the green light from the docs that is). The wait can be long but it's just so worth it in the end... I know some people on this site will disagree with this but as far as I'm concerned I can't imagine staying my whole life on dialysis.
I wish you all the best whether on dialysis or transplanted! If you have any questions, shoot!
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Thanks for the OUTSTANDING update fighter. It is always a pleasure to hear the details especially for those who are on the fence about considering a transplant.
I'm glad you are doing well and I hope you resume a normal life again. What ever normal is. :thumbup;
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That is AWESOME! So glad you are doing so good! :clap;
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Hurray. I am glad you are home and healing!
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Thank you Fighter, thank you for being honest and just not telling us that you woke up feeling great, lol, I am so glad you are feeling better and you are on your way to living a normal life and doing all the things you cant do on dialysis. (just dont get too carried away) ;) Keep on keepin' on my friend... :cuddle;
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Great update Fighter. Glad your well and home!
I also had a simliar experience during my first transplant, with the waking up from the surgery. Except for me, I woke up directly out of the OR before I was in the recovery room so I wasn't even hooked up to morphine yet, and started screaming and my dad heard me all the way in the waiting room and came running in despite nurses saying your not allowed back yet, and demanded to know what was going on. He saw them holding me down and rushing the morphine over to me, soon as they injected it, I was off to lala land. LOL, Luckily that did not happen the 2nd transplant, of course before they put me under I made clear the situation I went through the first time and wanted them to make sure they put me under long enough! :)
I wonder why they made you get up day 1 to weigh, most hospital beds now have a scale in them to weigh you. Either way, getting up as soon as possible after is great for faster healing so it probably helped ya :)
I'm so glad your doing well, and it's another person off dialysis!!! :yahoo; Hereis too a long future with your transplant. :wine;
Angela
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Can you drink alcohol after having a transplant?
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Can you drink alcohol after having a transplant?
I can and I have ;D :wine;
Moderation is the key though, as always...
I wonder why they made you get up day 1 to weigh, most hospital beds now have a scale in them to weigh you. Either way, getting up as soon as possible after is great for faster healing so it probably helped ya :)
I could have used one of those scales in my bed ;) Although they did tell me that the sooner I'd be up and walking, the faster I would heal...
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Can you drink alcohol after having a transplant?
Um? are we NOT supposed to drink? *puts bottle down* :oops; :secret; please dont tell ::)
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Thanks fighter for going into detail with my request about your transplant. I love to hear everyones different experiences with transplantation.
Amanda xxoo
:cuddle;
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Can you drink alcohol after having a transplant?
Moderation. You can't become an alcoholic... but a drink here and there is ok. I had a few strawberry daiquiris once in awhile after my 1st transplant, like once a month, but my doctor said once a week is kewl..
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Thanks fighter for going into detail with my request about your transplant. I love to hear everyones different experiences with transplantation.
Amanda xxoo
:cuddle;
You're welcome. I've been meaing to send you a PM, but oddly it always fails with a 'Max PM' error... Even though I haven't sent that many PMs lately. Oh well...
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Thanks fighter for going into detail with my request about your transplant. I love to hear everyones different experiences with transplantation.
Amanda xxoo
:cuddle;
You're welcome. I've been meaing to send you a PM, but oddly it always fails with a 'Max PM' error... Even though I haven't sent that many PMs lately. Oh well...
No it was my side, my inbox was full. Its fixed now :)
So many people have had transplant this year, im so glad they are all gong well. :clap;
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 i'm glad things are going so well.
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Can you drink alcohol after having a transplant?
They tell you to DRINK A LOT!!! But they mean water.
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Can you drink alcohol after having a transplant?
Moderation. You can't become an alcoholic... but a drink here and there is ok. I had a few strawberry daiquiris once in awhile after my 1st transplant, like once a month, but my doctor said once a week is kewl..
That is very good advice Angela. My friends and I had a girl's weekend last weekend, and I drank more than I should have. Mind you, I didn't get drunk but we had a leisurely time floating on the lake all day, with cocktails (and plenty of water), trashy novels and good tunes. I didn't drink at night, but for three days afterwards my blood pressure was high, my BUN was slightly elevated, there was some protein in my urine and I felt a little "off" (PMS didn't help!). That's enough to scare me into either abstaining or being on the conservative side of moderate. For instance, I went to a huge wedding last night and only had a glass of wine for the toast.
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Hi Fighter,
Was just thinking of you and wondering how you are doing!
Hope all is well!
Karol
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my prayer's go with you and many blessing's to ya :clap;
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Good Luck Fighter.
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Can you drink alcohol after having a transplant?
Yes. Recommended (by Australian authorities, anyway) is no more than 2 standard drinks at any one time. I would be extra careful to rehydrate with water after each one, personally.
I am a fan of a good drink, but I haven't had a single one since my transplant on 30th May. Just haven't wanted it. But I will, in good time, share one or two with friends again.
Fighter, your summary of your experience was excellent. A lot of it was similar to mine, though you sound like you went through a bit more, being in hospital longer and so on. I don't know if that's because you had a cadaver kidney and I had a live donor, or just individual differences. I also had a very difficult time for the first couple of days, even wondering "what the hell have I done??!!" for a short time. But yes, definitely worth it in the long run.
I too have to visit the rest room very frequently, even though I have never been on dialysis (my transplant was pre-emptive) but the time spent in hospital with the catheter, and the increase in fluid that you have to drink is enough by itself, and the bladder is just not used to it! Also, the first couple of weeks I was on diuretics for massive fluid retention as well, so I just about lived by the rest room door - always making sure I was never far away.
I really admire you for being brave and strong enough to have all your friends visit. I had family only, and whenever friends asked if they could come in, I said "no" because I wasn't feeling up to it! I was just too worn out. If the phone rang beside me, I just got frustrated (couldn't reach it most of the time anyway, and have a vague memory of knocking it on the floor by accident - it magically re-appeared back on the side table, so a nurse must have snuck in whilst I slept and fixed it for me).
Unlike you, I DO remember waking up and thinking I could feel the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life. But then I remember nothing again - must have gone back to sleep and when I woke up next time, I was back in my room and that bad pain was gone. By then, I think I was hooked up to the pain machine with the button by my hand.
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We are so glad to hear of your progress. Our caring thoughts and prayers continue to be with you. How are you doing today?
my prayer's go with you and many blessing's to ya :clap;
SILKYKEEPINGITREAL, could you please go to the Introduce Yourself section and tell us about yourself. We are glad that you decided to join the IHD family, and we need to get to know you. Thanks in advance.
Bajanne, Moderator
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Thanks everyone! Basically everything is going very well; I am now almost two months post-op and though the euphoric state I mentioned earlier has died down a little I still feel fantastic and relieved to be off dialysis. My creatinine is still dropping, but very slowly - sometimes it even goes back up slightly, but it's currently at its all-time low of 1.5. The docs are busy weaning me down from the high doses of anti-rejection drugs I was taking at the beginning. I now take 4mg of steroids once daily and 8.5mg Prograf twice daily. The CellCept remains unchanged so far at 500mg twice daily. I've been on and off the blood pressure meds (currently back on at 2.5mg Zestril once daily). I'm going back to work on Monday which is about time considering I feel well able to do pretty much anything at this point. The discomfort from the scar has receded nearly 100% and I don't have any side effects from the drugs to report so I guess I can't really ask for more. I'm gradually including more sports into my daily routine - I've even played tennis a couple of times. I'm still going back to the hospital twice a week, and usually they just take a blood sample and my blood pressure and the doctor asks me how things are going. When I say I'm fine they let me go but the entire process usually lasts about two hours counting all the waiting time. So I feel like I'm still going there constantly but pretty soon I'll be down to one consultation weekly, then once every two weeks, etc... I feel like travelling and I've already been to Berlin for a weekend and am going to Switzerland this coming weekend. I'll also go to Sweden for a week at the end of August (can't wait for that one!). I feel very grateful towards all the people who supported me while I was on dialysis and when I was recovering from the procedure. To thank them I'm organizing a huge dinner party for thirty people next Thursday at my place! I've never done anything like that before (the biggest dinner party I gave to date was for ten people...) but I'm looking forward to the challenge! Well, that's about it, hopefully things stay that way for a long, long time...
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Thanks for the update and I'm so glad it is such good news!! :yahoo; :2thumbsup; Hope it continues to go so well and that pesky creatinine behaves. ;D
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It's great to hear an update Fighter!
:cuddle;
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Great news.
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The discomfort from the scar has receded nearly 100%
That IS good news, I look forward to not having any more discomfort in that area! To hear that this discomfort can be gone so soon for some is really encouraging - I hope this happens for me too! :2thumbsup;
Have a great dinner party, too. That is quite a challenge, but you sound like you're well and truly up for it. Congrats!
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Thanks for posting your experience, it gives us hope to know you are doing so well!! :bandance;
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Thanks for the update Fighter. :beer1;
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Hey Fighter :)
How did your dinner party go? :bandance;
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Thanks for asking, it went great! I cooked like crazy for 28 people. We really had a great time. Here's a pic... I'm in the middle on the right hand side in the white pullover.
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Great Picture Fighter, I'm so glad for you at how your life has turned around. :2thumbsup;
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Fighter - so glad you are feeling well. Great picture - you look great and it looks like a nice bunch of fun people. It's wonderful that you felt well enough to cook for so many people! :2thumbsup;
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What a way to celebrate :yahoo; Looks like you have a wonderful support group Fighter. :grouphug;
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What a great picture!
Thanks for sharing that with us.
How wonderful for you!
Enjoy your travels, your new life, your work to the utmost.
Best wishes to you in everything you do.
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Fighter - what a username, it suits you! You look fantastically healthy! What an effort, cooking for 28, too awesome for words. And the table looks fantastic. Brilliant job!
:bandance;
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So happy for you! :bestwishes;
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I totally missed this thread and enjoyed catching up on your news. Congrats and thanks for the updates, it offers something to look forward to personally! Keep fighting!
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Thanks everyone!
This website really helped me get through some of the rough times (along with amazing support from my family and my friends...). Times aren't rough anymore, far friom rough actually, thank god they came up with kidney transplants, I can't imagine staying on dialysis forever...
I'll give you another update sometime soon...
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Give er hell fighter, don't let the grass grow under your feet. :thumbup;
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Jealousy rears its ugly head...Down fang, down.... Good luck my friend.
:bandance;
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That is great Fighter. I hope and pray that this kidney lasts you a life time. Best of luck to you and you new kidney.
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:clap; Fighter, I wish you all the best with your new kidney. You look fantastic, and its nice to see you have great support. Take care of yourself and enjoy your fluids...Liz :yahoo;
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Congrats on your transplant fighter, :wine;
I have been doing so much reading now on transplants and I am in shock how fast people are feeling better. Its an amazing thing
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Congrats Fighter. When you're back we'll have to compare scars!
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Thinking of you and sending love :yahoo;
Rose