Teachers recover after transplant

[okarol]

Teachers recover after transplant

10:00 PM PST on Friday, February 26, 2010

By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise

Since a kidney transplant a month ago, John Brannon, 40, a choir and orchestra teacher in San Bernardino, says he feels 20 years younger.

His kidney donor, Lori Bonner, 41, a music teacher in Corona, Norco and Eastvale, called the experience at Loma Linda University Medical Center amazing.

She said the color in her friend Brannon's face improved dramatically by the second day after surgery.

"He's been dying five years and now he's not even sick," she said.

Brannon said he didn't realize he looked that bad before.

"My overall health and disposition have improved," he said. "I have so much more energy now."

The two music teachers have been close friends since junior high when her mother would pick up Brannon and drive them to rehearsals.

In the hospital, they had rooms across the hall from each other, an incentive to start walking soon after the transplant, they said. But, Bonner said, she hasn't been able to see him since their discharge Jan. 30. They send each other frequent text messages.

Brannon said he is taking three medications to prevent his body from rejecting the transplanted kidney. The drugs suppress his immune system. He has been quarantined for a month and won't get to return to his students at San Gorgonio High School until May 3, although he did go out to lunch with his wife Friday.

"I have no immune system right now," he said by phone.

Bonner returns to her elementary band students Monday. She walked up Mount Rubidoux three times this past week to get back in shape after the surgery.

"I'm feeling good," she said. "The only thing that hurts is when I sneeze."

Brannon said he hasn't had any pain since before they both left the hospital, and only feels the transplanted kidney when he doesn't drink enough water -- a reminder to drink more than two liters a day. Before the transplant, he said, he had to restrict fluid intake.

"It's a whole new world for me," he said.

Brannon, of Colton, said he is writing a book about his experience to answer questions people keep asking and to encourage others in a similar situation.

They said Loma Linda filmed the transplant and is making a documentary. Filmmaker Cosmin Cosma filmed his school concert in December before the operation, Brannon said.

He's playing his violin and viola every day again and looking forward to performances in May and to his students' concert May 25.

He said he's getting stronger and has gained 14 pounds since the transplant, with 120 pounds on his 5-foot, 9-inch frame.

Brannon said his two children are eager to go swimming with him this summer.

"I get to be normal dad now instead of sick dad," he said.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/healthcare/stories/PE_News_Local_W_kidney27.484b4c1.html