Got my transplant surgery date today

[kidney4traci]

Mo - awesome news!  Keep up the good work and keeping yourself healthy!!  Time will be here before you know it!  Mangos are loaded with potassium, as are watermelons, bannanas, avaracados, and more I am sure.  I get ordered to eat more too sometimes, however MOST dialysis pts cannot eat these items.  Ask your dietician first. But boy, they are yummy!!!

[monrein]

I'm eating the mango because my potassium is low and I'm very strict about sticking to the renal diet.  My doctor ordered me to eat more potassium rich foods and relax my grip a little.  I won't be eating masses of them or anything.

[Run8]

great news Monrein.

[thegrammalady]

i guess i shouldn't be allowed to leave town, i miss too much, just saw this!    i'm so excited for you, best of luck.

[Jill D.]

So excited for you!!!! 

[TynyWonder]

I just seen this thread Monrein!!!!   WWHHHOOOO!!!!      I am soooo excited for you!!!

[Mizar]

How Exciting! Will say a Prayer for You!

[donnia]

   This is super fantastic news   

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond.... I have been so busy I just read this! 

[Deanne]

I haven't been out here much lately so I just saw this. I'm thrilled for you! 

[Falkenbach]

Ah, Monrein, fantastic news.

In the lead up to my transplant I said a few times that I was really nervous, but in hindsight I was actually surprisingly calm. Especially on the day of surgery. It was almost as though I was heading on a picnic!

You will probably surprise yourself at how calm you can be, but if you do get nervous - that's okay! Jus try to relax as best you can.

Ah, just think, bye bye dialysis!! 

[pelagia]

It's less than a month now! 

[kidney4traci]

Is time flying yet?

[monrein]

And how!!!  Appointment with surgeon tomorrow, regular dentist visit too, gym to keep my heart in shape then D.  Busy busy busy.  I'm going to stop going to the gym two weeks ahead of the transplant just to avoid potential cold germs.  I'll jog on the spot at home for thirty minutes instead, just to keep things going.  Boring as all get out but effective.  I'm still doing abdominal crunches too even though I know my stomach muscles will take a big set back from surgery.  I'm really looking forward to some increased energy if all goes well and then I can start back at the gym in earnest when I'm off of house arrest. 

[kidney4traci]

That sounds great.  I had to decline a friends kids birthday party this weekend - don't want to be around a bunch of little kids right now!  Take care - it sounds like you are.

[Falkenbach]

I also stayed home in the final fortnight prior to surgery. I cancelled my weekly social outings, and basically did not go anywhere. It's only two weeks, after all! Best to keep yourself as healthy as possible for surgery. 

[willieandwinnie]

  Take some deep, deep breaths Gail. 

[monrein]

For your amusement, here's a recent string of email exchanges between Kathy and me, regarding our rapidly approaching kidney hand-off.  She is the most fanatical sports person I've ever met in my whole life and I am the least interested in watching sports of any kind.  If I wake up liking sports, we'll know for sure that interests and traits are passed along with transplants.  KD (as many call her) is also a really fantastic Mom and I'm so pleased that my baby brother found her, kidney donation or no kidney donation.


On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 10:34 PM, <KD wrote:

    Joan left me a faint hearted message (her voice is so ultrasoft) saying my bloodwork appointment was on the 17th and another appointment was on the 20th.  That was great news.  I got busy at work and could not call her back in time, but she said she sent the appointments to you.  I will call her tomorrow.  I was happy she made them that week and not earlier.  I can finish basketball season and spend valentines day here and work that last saturday..that gives the girls one extra saturday in feb. with me there.  I will get my plane ticket soon...I got this computer fixed today and will have it up there...stealing your internet all the way!!!  Alex ordered me a new phone today and it is rather modern.  I can email and check the internet with it...not sure I need it, but our plan is a family one and the business pays for it, so I will allow the extravagance this one time!!!  Alex suggested I could watch baseball on it...but that would be like doing drugs...so I will pretend he did not tell me that!!!!  I bought some pajamas and hope to finish any clothing purchases this weekend.  I might get a down jacket on sale....hope your prep is going well...it is a tad weird to think I am the steward of the kidney that you await!!  i am currently drinking a tasty craft brewed beer, but will not overdo it....got to keep the filters in order!!!   Love, KD

Reply

Hi KD
Yes, I was given an outline of our final appointments, starting with the 17th.  I also discovered that I'll be admitted on Sunday at noon and you will come in at 6:oo am the morning of surgery.  I've been told that my heart is in great shape, showing zero signs of ever having had high blood pressure or of having been on dialysis.  I was super pleased as you can imagine.  I also laughed my head off at your comment about being the steward of my kidney.  So now I guess you know how it feels (sort of) to be a surrogate mother.  The absence of hormone swings probably helps however.  I find myself becoming more and more anxious which manifests itself with my wanting to put (read impose) order on everything in my path.  Oh joy.
Joan's voice BTW is a royal pain.  I can barely hear her even live, let alone in a message.
TTYL



Reply
      

      
   
KD to me
   
11:35 AM (6 hours ago)
   
   
Reply
   
   
Absolutely LOVE your disclosure about control...that helps me a great deal.  I am attempting to be very "unattached" to the idea of controlling any of this.  I have anxiety also, but lately it has turned to a feeling of wanting to go and do it and see what the hell happens.  Kind of tired of playing it out in my head.  I have always said, "Do it or don't do it...stop talking about it."  I know it is bigger than you and me as individuals, so I am trying to just roll with it.  Syd is ok, but really needs to see you prior....so Saturday will be a love fest between the two of you!  Joan really needs her blood pressure checked!!!!     PS.  On a psychological level I think shifting thoughts to being a steward is good prep for waking up with one kidney.
Don't you???  I've just been cradling it all these 24 years, waiting for you to need it....Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend, and that is the day I first knew about you and your cadaver kidney.  Pretty wild stuff.  Jim and I celebrate that day over our actual wedding day!!!  Take care...wash hands!  Love, KD

[willieandwinnie]

Have you told her (Kathy, great name by the way  ) that we think she is an angel, a hero, a saint. Well, I don't know about the saint part but we think she is pretty special. 

[monrein]

Actually, I emailed her the link to this page so she's read many of the comments.  She remarked that she feels like all of a sudden she has some "serious" friends out there in the world.  She's ben very private about the whole donating thing but is starting to let people know now.  She doesn't like being called or thought of as a hero, saint would really crack her up, although of course she really is all of those things and more.

And yes, Kathies are special people, Miss Kathy.   

[xtrememoosetrax]

I am reminded of a statement on stewardship that I found very moving and helpful as I went through the donation process.

*************************
A Simple Matter of Stewardship

By Jim Falsey

In April 2004, I became a non-directed kidney donor. Dr. Hawasli performed the laparoscopic surgery at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, Michigan. I was inspired to do so by my younger brother, Tom, who anonymously donated one of his kidneys to a young man who was dying of kidney failure. I learned that the average person can live normally with only one kidney and still have plenty of kidney capacity to spare.

I was back to work celebrating weekend Masses three days after my surgery. For me it was simply a matter of stewardship. Stewardship begins with the basic principle that we do not 'own' anything. God 'owns' all that is. "The heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord, your God, as well as the earth and everything on it." (Deuteronomy 10:14)

We are the stewards of God's creation. Everything that we claim to possess is merely entrusted to us by God to be used in accord with God's will for our good and the good of all God's creatures. Not even our bodies belong exclusively to ourselves. Every mother who has given birth or nursed a child knows that.

Learning of my brother's experience got me thinking. I have been blessed with exceptionally good health. If I could use part my body to improve the quality of life for someone who is suffering, why not? That is what led me to donate a kidney. Some have called that “heroic” or a “great act”. No, not really. It is simply a matter of stewardship. I had two functioning kidneys, someone else had none. God had entrusted those kidneys to me. I believe I took good care of them; and they took good care of me. That left kidney had served me well for fifty-nine years. Now it is someone else's responsibility. It is simply a matter of stewardship.

Does that mean that everyone should consider donating a kidney, a lung, part of their liver, or some other body part? No, absolutely not! It does mean that we should carefully consider how we use, and care for, our bodies. They are not our own. They are not entrusted to us for ourselves alone. They are entrusted to us to be cared for, and used in accord with God's will. For 99.9% of us, that means keeping our bodies intact. It means using them to make a decent living for ourselves, our families, and for the least of our brothers and sisters. It means using the time, the talents, and the treasure that God has entrusted to us to build up the Kingdom of God. If, however, you find yourself thinking: "I, too, have been exceptionally blessed. I could do that", then give it some thought. Look into it; pray over it; and follow your heart.

[monrein]

   extrememoosetrax, I forwarded the link again to Kath.

[xtrememoosetrax]

Oh, another thing:  I HIGHLY recommend setting up a CaringBridge web site. It's super easy -- technical know-how NOT required.  I guarantee you that it will make life easier for your caregivers, and I/we also found it to be a wonderful source of moral and emotional support from friends and family.  My CB site has been dormant for a while now, but it's still there if you want to take a look; the link is in my signature line below.  Be sure to take a look at the journal and guest book and you will see what I mean about how helpful it can be.

[del]

Only another few weeks Gail!!  bet your getting excited, scared and every other feeling you can have.  Hope everything goes well for you and your sis in law!!! 

[okarol]

Oh, another thing:  I HIGHLY recommend setting up a CaringBridge web site. It's super easy -- technical know-how NOT required.  I guarantee you that it will make life easier for your caregivers, and I/we also found it to be a wonderful source of moral and emotional support from friends and family.  My CB site has been dormant for a while now, but it's still there if you want to take a look; the link is in my signature line below.  Be sure to take a look at the journal and guest book and you will see what I mean about how helpful it can be.

  Good suggestion! We have one too.

[monrein]

OK, added to the to do list.  Thanks everyone.