26 May - Update from Kate

Dear Family, Friends and Prayer Warriors!!

Things are really progressing quite good. I went back to work on Monday, May 17. It was really quite good to be back to work. They held the abuse to a minimum. It was good to be back to a routine. I only worked 4 hours a day (my boss would kick me out). This week I will go back to my 6 hour day. I still have to take a day off each week to go into NYC for check-ups. My boss wants me to wear a berca to ward off germs while I am at work or in a crowd. Then I only have to worry about getting detained!

Today I drove into NYC for a follow up appointment with the surgeon. It is such a quick visit, 10 minutes max. He looks at you and tells you, "you look great, see me again in 4 weeks". It is an hour and a half drive to get in. My friend said I should see if he is willing to do these follow-ups via Skype!!

My nephrologist sees me weekly (also in NYC) to adjust the multiple meds I am on and to interpret the weekly labs I have done.
He laughs at me because I have the opposite of White Coat Syndrome. I go in telling him how the readings I take daily at home are and he gets readings of 120/60 when he takes my reading!

While my hemoglobin level is still below 12 (at 9), I do feel a bit more energetic. I think that may be driven by necessity now that Matt and his girlfriend are with us as they both look for jobs.

I was starting to get back to the pool to work out, but this morning I cut my finger on a shard of glass so they said I should stay out of the water until the steri-strips fall off.

I can't believe June 1 will be the 2 month mark. My brother Norman has done quite well in his recovery as well. He is pretty much getting back to his former routine as well.

With our thanks for all your thoughts and prayers,
Love,
Kate & Fran

14 May - $10,000 Bill from the Surgeon

Today I got a $10,000 bill from the surgeon. After a small amount of CPR, I was fine. They should at least send some morphine with these bills.

Also gained a couple more pounds. My appetite is back with a vengence. However, I am still five pounds lower than when I left for NY for the surgery -- but it is slipping away fast.

Feeling good -- at least for an old guy!

10 May: My Weight

I gained four pounds yesterday. Looks like I can no longer eat with impunity! All good things must come to an end -- I knew this was going to happen.

Felt tired yesterday. Probably more due to too many carbs, than anything related to surgery.

I think I better go workout!!

6 May - Update from Kate

Thanks to all your prayers that we are blanketed in, we continue to do well. Today's visit into NYC ended up being quite a bit longer than the 1 hour I told the parking garage attendant when we dropped the car off!! After the usual visit with the Dr., he decided to have me have a sonogram to follow up on the sono's while I was hospitalized.

So we had to hang out for a 3pm sonogram. I also learned that the evening rush hour out of NYC on the LIE starts at 3:30pm

I asked the Dr about resuming my water aerobics. He said as long as I had no open wounds, I could give it a try. When I asked about using public transportation, he said that was up to me. He said some people wait a month, some wait a year and others wait what ever time in that window. Well it looks like my friend and I will be using the trains next week because my appointment is scheduled for 9:40am and there is no good time to drive in for an appointment at that hour. I will be wearing a mask and will be armed with Purell! (Maybe I'll get a seat!)

No antibiotics this week, the White Blood Cell (WBC) count was back to a normal range. The iron count is creeping up ever so slowly. I continue to take an iron supplement.

Driving this past week was great. A new sense of freedom - even thought I only drove to mass and to grocery shop!

Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers.

Love
Kate & Fran

4 May - One Month plus

May 1st was one month since our surgeries.

I got a note from Kate (and a phone call). She only has to go to Presbyterian hospital once a week for tests (it sounded like this is dictated more by the insurance company than any medical decision -- surprise, surprise!!) She started to drive this week and hopes to return to work within two weeks. She has to drink 3 liters of water per day -- I think I would worry about drowning. She also has to be extra careful about sun exposure because of the anti-rejection drugs.

I biked on Friday and Sunday and helped Patricia and Erik build a swing set for the kids on Saturday. Although, with the 90 degree heat, I was doing more supervising than manual labor.

I have started adding more weight to my morning lifting workouts and increasing my jump rope reps. Today I got back to my ball class for the first time (after four week restiction on core exercises). It was my first extensive abs workout since the surgery. It felt good and I was able to do all of the exercises, although some with reduced intensity.

I am also noticing that I am less tired on most days.

One other thing that happened after the surgery is that my taste for foods has changed. I don't know if this is due to my digestive system being less tolerant of high fiber foods. I have had no desire for fruit, although I have slowly started getting back in recent days.

Each day I get more back to my normal routine and the surgery seems further and further in the past. The four months from start of the process to recovery seems to have flown by. Last night I was actually thinking; "did this really happen!" I guess that is a good thing.