29 April: Four Weeks

Today is four weeks since the surgery. I am no longer restricted to lifting only 10 pounds and, I believe, I am able to resume normal activities and everything will stay in place and nothing will break. I did some testing, (jumped rope, lifted weights, mowed part of the lawn) and so far so good. I also took a nap and did two computer appointments.

Have not heard too much from Kate -- assuming that no news is good news.

26 April - Weight Lifting

I tried a little very light weight lifting today. Felt good. Will gradually start building up the weights, but have to be sure that there is no stress on the incision.

Also received a bill from the hospital for $29,000. Nothing that a little CPR couldn't fix. I am assuming that this is the usual procedure where the insurance company initially denies all claims without even reading them.

April 24 & 25 - Passed the Mexican Test

Saturday, 24 April: We attended Christopher's First Holy Communion in NC. Annmarie had it catered with Mexican food (my favorite)! I ate it with reckless abandon and no problems!! I must be cured.

I have not been getting any naps, but have been going to bed early. I think that my energy is returning.

Today, 24 April: We drove home through the Shenandoah Valley. What a beautiful drive, the red buds and dogwoods are in bloom and the hills are lush green.

Barbara was into a good book on her Kindle, so I did most of the driving. Felt fine.

23 April - Tired

I wound up doing a good bit of the driving yesterday on our trip to NC and only got a short nap.
Result: tired this morning.
One other observation: I seem to feel better on bright, sunny days than cloudy, rainy days.

As a result of eating some new foods yesterday, my digestive system let me know that I need to back off a bit. Trying to be more careful today.

I am also wondering if part of my brains were removed with my kidney. After we drove about 100 miles yesterday, I realized that I forgot my wallet. And this morning I discovered that I had forgotten my electric toothbrush (which I had carefully laid on the bed next to my suitcase when I was packing.)

I got my steri-strips off my incision in the shower this morning. I was afraid they were going to be there forever. I can't believe how small the incision looks and how he ever got the kidney through that size hole -- I have this picture of him with his foot on my stomach and pulling with two hands -- no wonder I was sore!

I got the results of my blood testing from Kaiser. The doctor said that all of my kidney related tests were fine. I did notice that cholesterol numbers on my LIPID panel tests were going in the wrong direction from my previous test, so I have resumed taking my Simvistatin.

Today, Barbara and I went to Mass with Annmarie, then to Starbucks (they let me in without a gun!) and then shopping at Sam's Club. After lunch I took a delicious two hour nap. Weather looks pretty good now -- think I will take a walk.

22 April - off to NC

Yesterday I had a busy day. Only got one small nap. Today I am a bit tired, but taking short turns driving.

Testing more foods - so far so good!

20 April - Cracking the Code ??

Yesterday I was more careful with my diet. This lead to my digestive system doing better, which meant that I slept better last night and I don't feel tired this morning. Maybe this is all related!!

19 April - Good Day - More Energy

Photo (L to R) is my brother, Keith, who donated blood for Kate, Kate, me. Photo was taken one week after surgery.


Today was good. Had quite a bit of energy -- hope I don't pay for it tomorrow.

18 April: Went to Church, but slow day.

My digestive system is still not back to normal. I sure wish I could get this moving in the right direction. I am also very tired today. I think that a major activity, like biking or mowing the lawn requires two days of rest afterwards.

Comments: I think that I fixed the setting that requires login for leaving comments. I was wondering if there was anyone out there? Please give it a try and let me know if it works.

17 April - Cut the Grass

Finally got to cutting the grass. I was only going to do the front, but felt good so I did the whole yard. As I was pushing the lawn mower, I was thinking that it was only two weeks ago that I was walking the halls in the hospital pushing on IV pole. I am not a big fan of grass cutting, buy I will take the lawn mower over the IV pole anytime.

16 April: Biking

Yesterday was the two week anniversary of my surgery. It was a nice warm day, so Barbara and I biked seven miles -- not too much, but it is a start. Today looks like another nice one, so maybe we can get in some more miles.

I was thinking that I should do a little lawn mowing, but I seem to have more energy in my head than my body.

Spoke to Kate. She was released from the hospital on Wednesday and doing well at home. She has another appointment today (two per week). The bad part is that they have to drive into NYC -- I did not realize that she is not allowed to take public tranportation because of the reduced immunity due to the anti-rejection drugs.

15 April: Still Getting Better - Additional Thought

I just realized that today is the two week anniversary my surgery. It is 6:55am. About the time that the anesthesiology tech came and got me from the family waiting room and we walked to the operating room. We stood outside and chatted for a while and then I walked in and climbed up on the table and got comfortable. I think that was the last time that I was comfortable for several days. Everybody was very nice and very professional. The tech said something about giving me a little anesthesia and that is the last thing that I remember until I woke up at 2pm in the afternoon.

15 April: Still Getting Better

Each day I am getting a little better. I think my energy level inched a bit higher yesterday. I hope to try a little biking today. Temperature is suppose to be in the 70s.

Kate wound up back in the hospital, but it seemed to be mostly precautionary. Her temperature was slightly elevated on Sunday night, so they told her to come in. After monitoring her temperature, white blood cell count, etc. for two days she seemed to be OK. I believe that she came home yesterday.

13 April: 12 Days after Surgery

Yesterday, I did a couple of computer repair jobs and drove for the first time. I am feeling better every day and my systems are getting back to normal. I am varying my diet more, and without any adverse effects. My appetite is not back to where it was, but I enjoy eating small meals and have cravings for different foods -- we think this means something and usually go with them.

I make it a point to sit and read and snooze between activities. Really enjoying reading with my new Kindle that the kids got for me. It is so easy and convenient.

We walked about two miles before dinner.

This morning I discovered that I had lost another 1.5 pounds (a total of 10 pounds since we left for NY on March 28th). Would all the people who have decided to donate a kidney please form a double line!

I suspect that my weight will pick up once I am able to go back to biking and weight lifting.

12 April - Monday

I seem to be inching back a little each day. My GI system is heading in the right direction and I am sleeping better because the gas pains are not keeping me awake.

I also feel like my temperature regulation system is getting better -- I was very chilled when I had to get up during the night. That didn't seem to be an issue last night.

BP: 105/70, pulse: 55 this morning. I lost another 1/4 pound (total 8.5 pounds).

I feel like my energy level is better this morning -- maybe due to sleeping better.

I got a funny note from Kate yesterday. Before the transplant, I was kidding her about how active my kidneys were. She said that yesterday was the first time in 25 years of 24 hour urine collections that she needed a second jug.

11 April. - Sunday

Thought I would go to church this morning, but eating breakfast consumed all my energy
Back to resting. Guess you can't rush mother nature.

10 April - Saturday

First day home in VA. I still have to be careful about what I eat. However, I went on the BRAT Diet (Banana, Rice, Apple Sauce, Toast) to slow things going through my system. Actually, BRAT with pizza supplements. My stomach seems to be doing better.

The weather was beautiful and we did three nice walks. I am very tired and resting a lot. The good news is that I lost eight pounds from when we left for NY. I have a feeling that I will find it when I am able to eat properly again.

T - 0 to T-2: Saturday: Calling Mother and Going Home

I wanted to catchup on this last day in the hospital while I can still remember.

Friday night to Saturday morning seemed like I had a much better night's rest with fewer interruptions. They seemed like they were being merciful and letting me sleep. However, I think I missed one of my four hour percocet fixes.

I woke up about 5am and it seemed like my GI system was showing some activity -- at least a little bit. I also felt chills and was a bit nauseous. I was able to go back to sleep.

When I woke up later, I felt terrible and could not imagine that I would go home that day. When I reported my GI activity, the food service person came right in and offered me this huge variety of food for breakfast and lunch. I thought I was on a cruise -- I expected the Viennese table for dessert. None of it really appealed to me -- I got dry toast and yogurt for breakfast and hummus and pita bread for lunch. I kept thinking of Jackie Gleason and the "Loud Mouth", where Art Carney would order a piece of toast floating in a bowl of prune juice.

I got back on the percocet. I also found that Joanne was back, something that I didn't expect because of the weekend -- things were looking up. We talked about discharge and I opted for 3pm.

Barbara and I called Kate and decided on 12:30pm to call mother and break the news. I also called my brother, Keith, and asked that he go over and be with my mother. Kate and I made the call. It was quite a shock to my mother, but she did well. At 90 years old, she has been through a lot of things. I told her that I would be home later that day and fill her in on all the details.

Barbara and I walked back to my room. Joanne came in and asked about going home (Barbara had everything packed and laid out on her bed). We said that we were ready whenever it would be good for her. She came back shortly with all of the paperwork and carefully explained everything. A couple of signatures and we were ready to go.

Fran's sister-in-law, Kay, drove us home. She was wonderful to us throughout this whole thing and I, especially, appreciated her gentile driving.

We got to my mother's in Farmingdale by mid-afternoon. I spent a lot of time talking to my mother and Barbara went to town and filled my prescriptions.

T + 6 Wednesday, 7 April - Turnaround

When I woke up, I was still having terrible gas pains. Anything that I tried to eat or drink immediately made this worse. Suddenly the logjam broke and all of my systems were working fine. I had no problem eating or drinking and walked about four miles (not all at once). I was like a new person. It was six days after my kidney donation and I was almost back to normal -- except for being tired.

Kate came home from the hospital. We had a long talk on the phone. She is doing well and so happy that she can sleep through the night and no longer has terrible "night sweats" requiring her to change the sheets.

Life is good. Tomorrow (Thursday) is my one week checkup at the hospital.

T - 0 to T + 2 The Next Day - Nurse Joanne

Surgery was Thursday, Thursday night/Friday morning was a lot of monitoring and nursing care throughout the night. I did not get much sleep.

The nurse's aide took my vital signs every 4 hours. I remember BP about 105 over 65, or something close to that. My oxygen was 91. This was always an issue and I had to suck on a device to get it up. With hard work and much pain, I could usually manage to get it up to 94.

I was constantly reminded that I would have to get up and walk. At that point, it hurt to LOOK up, I could not imagine that I would GET up.

At 8am the shifts changes and shortly after that I met my day nurse, Joanne Ramoutar. I know that so many of you have been praying for me, but I didn't know that God sends a special nurse. Joanne was wonderful. She asked how I was doing and about getting up and walking. I told her that I felt terrible and the thought of getting up was painful. She said, "OK" and came back in a few minutes with two Percocet and told me to rest. I went into a deep, uninterrupted sleep. When I woke up, Joanne was there and asked if I felt like walking -- I said, "Sure". She adjusted the tubes attached to me, adjusted the bed, and I got up with no problem at all. The next thing I knew, I was walking up and down the hall with the other pole pushers. It was easy and I felt great!

The next time that my vitals were being taken by the aide, Joanne came in. The aide told her about my low oxygen level. Joanne said that she would try it. First she switched the oxygen sensor to the opposite side from the BP cuff and then she said that I need to sit up straighter so that my diaphragm was not compressed. She gently helped me do that and my oxygen went from 91 to 99.

After I was able to get up and walk, Joanne said that she could remove the catheter for my urine. I asked if she was good at it, she said yes and got up and walk to the other side of the bed. It was out and I never felt a thing.

Joanne kept a close watch on my pain medications and also started me on stool softeners -- something I would appreciate later.

Later that day, Barbara and I were going to visit Kate. We asked for the "Escort Service". Someone came to disconnect the IV, but he got flustered because he didn't know how to disconnect the fittings that were used. He said that I needed to wait for a wheel chair to take me down. We never got a wheel chair, but Kate was sleeping anyway. The next time Kate was available, we asked Joanne. She fixed my IV tube, disconnected it and said that we could walk down. It was so easy and so nice to be free of the pole.

I had my first visit with Kate. She looked good. She said that she had no pain -- I was amazed.

Our son, Norman, visited for a while on Friday morning and then left to catch a plane for CA. It was so good to see him.

The rest of Friday went well and I got more rest on Friday night. The next challenge was to get some output from my digestive system. It was a criteria for going home on Saturday. I, actually, did not care if I had to stay until Sunday. The atmosphere was pleasant and the care was good.

T + 5 (Tuesday, 6 April)

Today as a very small step forward. GI system issues are still the major problem. I took two tylenol in the morning and two at night -- just because they may help with gas pain. I also took two stool softeners. None of the other pain is an issue -- like there is none.

I was able to walk outside today. The weather has been beautiful.

Trying to figure this out: What to eat, how much to eat, should I take pain killers. I am erring on the side of moderation.

Monday - 5 April

Today was a step back day. Although I am down to 2 tylenol a day, the effects of percocet on my digestive system are in full force. A couple of donors have told us this is normal, but it is still quite unpleasant.

I think Kate is working on adjustment of anti-rejection drugs. Think it could take a couple of days. My brother, Keith, talked to her. She is walking and eating a lot.

I am still getting to walk outside, which is nice.

T - 0 to T + 3 (Waking Up)

When I woke up I noticed that the clock was a little after 2:00pm. I was disoriented, but the pain in my gut quickly brought me to the reality that I was now a kidney donor. I asked to see Barbara and she was brought in almost instantly. (Please be reminded that things were pretty hazy at this point, but she confirmed seeing me shortly after 2pm).

(Snopes says that the story on the internet about going to sleep with a pretty nurse and waking up missing a kidney is a hoax -- I need to write to them!)

The next thing I remember was being told that I would be brought to my room. The thought of being moved was very painful. I felt every little bump, like getting on and off an elevator. Sliding from the gurney to the bed was actually worse in anticipation than the actual move.

The nurse, Steve, put some morphine in the IV and that put me in la la land and took the sharp edge off the pain. My vital signs showed that I was still alive, although my assessment was, just barely. MY BP was about 100 over 55. I may have discovered a cure for high blood pressure, but I don't recommend it.

The next time that I needed pain medication, Steve said that he was going to switch me to Percocet because I need to be on oral medication before I could be discharged. A BIG MISTAKE!! After some time I told Steve that the Percocet was not taking the sharp edge off the pain. He said that I would have to wait a little bit and he would be able to give me some more morphine. When the time came, Steve put some more in the IV and things got better.

I had no pain at the incision, it was all related to my core muscles and the bloating putting pressure on things. Actually, most of the pain was where the kidney was. Having to turn in bed was the worst part. I never thought that I would be happy to have a catheter, but not having to get up to urinate was wonderful.

I had a complete team of people attending to me and somehow they would know when I got sleep and send in the next team member.

Dr Delpizzio's Team -- They were concerned with the incision and would give me the big picture about what was going to happen.

Nurse: She answered any questions and took care of pain medications.

Nurse Assistant: She took my vital signs (BP, Heart Rate, temperature and Oxygen level) every time that I managed to get to sleep.

Nurse Practitioner: I never figured out what she did. She asked if I had any questions and every time that asked one, she told me that the nurse would answer that. I tried five or six questions, but never hit on one that was within her purview, but she was cute.

Norman came in some time early evening. It was wonderful to see him. That brightened my day.

Barbara was checking with Fran (Kate's husband) on a regular basis. Kate did well and the kidney was functioning, but she had other issues like nausea and a rash. She stayed in the recovery room until the next day (Friday )-- more due to room availability than medical reasons.

My room was great. It was quite large and the staff immediately brought in a bed for Barbara. We were treated very well.

Thursday night was pretty tough -- the percocet wasn't cutting the pain all that well.

An aside: We have learned a lot about the Civil War because of living near Manassas, VA and numerous hiking trips to battle ground area. These soldiers were in make shift hospitals with limited supplies and freezing weather and I was in one of the best transplant hospital in the nation, if not the world -- I decided that I was going to live.

T - 0 to T + 3

This is actually the first time that I have gotten to write since the operation. The previous T - 1 entry was written by Barbara with some fuzzy input from me. We are now back at my mother's house in Farmingdale.

On Thursday morning we got to the hospital at about 5:15am. It was surprising how many people were on the subway and streets at that time. Kate and Fran and Kate's sister-in-law, Kay, were all ready there. They quickly took us all to a family waiting room and then Kate and I to rooms where we could change into those famous gowns with open backs, however, they gave us nice robes to put on top. It was kind of strange to remove my wedding band for the first time since we got married, almost 46 years ago. Barbara put it on and wore it the whole time.

We went back to the family waiting room. They came for Kate first because they needed to start an IV on her. My surgeon, Dr. Delpizzo, came and got me and marked my left side with his initials.

About 7:00am the nurse anesthetist (N/A) came and got me and we walked into the operating room. I layed down on the table and there was flurry of activity. They put compression legging on my legs, something on my back and an IV port in my left hand. Everyone was very nice and they explained everything to me as they did it. I thought of a recent Netflx that we saw where everyone was singing in the operating room. However, this group seemed totally focused on the task at hand. Very comforting.

The N/A said something about starting some anesthia and that is the last thing that I remember. I thought that they ask you to count -- I guess not.

I will continue in the next installment to keep these in reasonable size pieces. I, also, might need a short snooze at this point.

T+1

Short note....
All went well and all kidneys are working! The pain is less today and I've been up and walking. Very tired. Visited Kate and she was sleeping.

Our son, Norm and good friend, Marion were here yesterday and today. That was so special! zzzz