23 Oct 2010 - Things are Good !

Note from Kate:

We met with the surgeon yesterday and he is very pleased with the pancreas transplant results thus far. All my test levels have been in a normal range. He did point out that the pancreas is not up to full function yet because it is still getting settled after the stress of the transplant. Just what I need - a primo dona organ!

Once I came off the steroid high after being released from the hospital, I now find I am exhausted all the time. Sleeping frequently.

And of course I would not be me if I weren't frustrated. It is very difficult for me to be dependent on others for help. I can go to the basement to do the laundry, but I can't carry the baskets up to fold it. The other day I was going to have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. It was a new jar of PB and I couldn't get it open. The bread was good! If this is all I have to complain about, aren't I blessed.

Your prayers, cards, and calls have been wonderful. - I am ready to go back to bed!

LV
Kate & Fran

19 Oct 2010 - New Fungus Found

Note from Kate:

The Dr called today to say that the transplant center received notice from UNOS (United Network of Organ Sharing) that the heart and liver recipients of my donor have developed a fungus infection. So I will start a regime of some medication to ward off that potential risk.

18 October 2010 - Kate - Pancreas - 2 Week Posting

Dear All,

Today was 2 weeks from the pancreas transplant and my numbers continue to be in a safe range, At today's Dr visit when I inquired why I am more tired now then when I first got home, the Dr indicated that when I first got home I was on a high from all the steroids they had pumped into me while in the hospital.

Now the reality of 2 transplant surgeries within a 6 month time frame is setting in. The only number the Dr is concerned with is my anemia. He was going to give me an infusion of iron today but said some people have a pretty bad reaction and didn't want to risk that at this time. So when I got home I purchased liver and iron pills. If the iron level is a bit higher when I go in on Friday, they will give me a shot to try to get the level to improve.

It is also amazing how the drug that protects the kidney from rejection is toxic to the pancreas. They are continually adjusting the dose to find the right balance.

Today the Dr told me to stop testing my BS so often - I was only testing 4 times a day. He said I should only test 2 times a day. After all these years, it seems alien not to be testing at least 4 times.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and positive thoughts. They keep us going.

Love
Kate

Pancreas Transplant - 11 October 2010

Kate posted a note on Facebook that the pancreas transplant has been much easier than the kidney transplant.

It has been that way for me also.

Update from Kate - 10 October 2010

Kate is home from her pancreas transplant and sent the following message this morning:

Dear Family and Friends,

A huge thank you is sent from us to you for all your support this past week. Your prayers and best wishes have lifted us once again.

Sunday October 3 we got the phone call a pancreas was available and that I would get a follow up phone call later in the evening once the cross match testing with the donor's blood was completed.

We had the chance to attended our usual 5:30pm Life Teen mass and asked Fr. Jim to keep our transplant intention in his heart as he celebrated the mass.

We got the next phone call at 10:30pm Sunday Oct 3 to come in for the next waiting stage. Once the transplant coordinator told me October 4 was the Feast of St. Francis, I knew in my heart we were golden. My own living St. Francis has been on this roller coaster journey for 27 of the past 42 years - never missing a beat!

Somewhere around 6-7am Monday Oct 4 I was taken into the operating room.

So unlike my kidney surgery which had complications, it was so wonderful to open my eyes at some point in recovery room and be able to breathe on my own. Your prayers were working.

Unlike my kidney surgery where they had to keep me and extra 2 days, today - October 9, I came home 2 days a head of schedule.

I am back to the protocal of tight restrictions with the outside world for the next 30 days. After the setbacks I experience with infection and ending up back in the hospital within days of coming home after the kidney - this time I am being more careful since now I have 2 organs at risk.

We are taking it one day at a time to see how this pancreas works. We thank God for each day it does provide my body with the insulin it needs. Many have asked about what my eating restrictions will be. My new pancreas may cover my insulin needs 100% such that I don't have to take any additional insulin. Or perhaps it will only cover part if my insulin needs similar to person's that have type 2 diabetes.

My biggest prayer and reason for taking the risks associated with the transplant and living on prednisone for the rest of my life is to be relieved the the hypoglycemic unawareness episodes (blacking out with no warning) I was having very frequently. Each day without one is a gift from God!

We thank you for your continued support in prayer, best wishes and phone calls.

--
Kate

I saw Kate today and she looked wonderful. She was up and had cooked breakfast and was planning on going out for a walk. Amazing!!

Norm

Note from Kate's Husband, Fran - 4 Oct 7:15am

Hi Everyone,

I am sending this message to you a waiting room at NY Presbyterian Hospital. Kate was just sent into the surgery room in preparation for her surgery to receive a pancreas!!!! I was told the surgery runs in the 4 from hour range, and I believe they were hoping to start the surgery around 8 a.m. Kate and I received the phone call to be ready around 3 p.m. on Sunday, then got the go ahead to come to the hospital around 10:45 p.m. Please keep Kate and the surgeons in your thoughts and prayers, as well as the family of the young man who passed and is donating his organs. I will update you as I receive more information

Love you all

Fran

Pancreas Transplant - 4 October 2010 - 7:00am

I received a call from Kate's husband about 30 minutes ago that she was being brought into the operating room for a pancreas transplant. Please say a prayer for her. I will do an update when I hear more news. Norm

1 July 2010 - Three Months

Today is three months since I walked into the operating room and climbed up on the table to donate my left kidney. I am feeling great and have no ill effects. We are at the beach riding the waves. Last week I biked over 100 miles. Life is good.

As far as I can tell, Kate's life is back to normal also. We both lead busy lives, so we don't communicate too often, but what I do get is good news.

Thanks for all the prayers,
Norm

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.

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.