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Last Wednesday I went to the IMC a day before my nephrostogram (“tube removal”) was scheduled because I was leaking from the insertion site in my stomach again. The leakage wasn’t as bad as before, but it was still unpleasant.
I was told the angiogram team was too busy to squeeze me in, however I was given a bunch of tape, gauze, and pads to keep me as dry as possibly until my appointment the next day.
Fair enough.
I went home and changed into sweat pants and an old T-Shirt. If I was going to leak all night, at least I could do it in comfort.
Upon examining the stay-fix bandage covering the insertion site, I noticed it was soaked and needed to be changed. After removing the damp bandage, I noticed the nephrostomy tube was sticking out a lot longer than it should have been. I tried to push it back inside of me, and to my surprise it went in easily and without pain or discomfort. Amazingly, this solved the leakage problem! Nice!
The next day, I went to the hospital and had the tube removed. During the process, the doc noticed some “cloudiness” in the fluid. She said this could be a sign of infection. So I lay there on the small procedural bed while she called Dr. Stinson from the transplant team in the adjacent building.
By now, this sort of thing is so normal, I don’t even flinch. My immune system is suppressed and always will be, so any little thing needs extra caution and concern before just treating it in a normal way. No big deal.
They decided to give me a week long dose of antibiotics. I showed no symptoms of anything serious- I wasn’t sweating, experiencing fever or chills, nor was I in any pain, so they let me go home. Once again I left the IMC hospital with nothing attached to me. BIG YES!!
On a side note, my body is absorbing the anti-rejection meds very quickly, so the dose has dropped to less than half the amount it was on the day of my initial release. After the 1st of December, I will stop taking 3 other pills completely, and my anti-rejection meds will drop again so it is very possible that I will take less than 10 pills a day! We’ll see...
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I was given the link to my donor’s obituary from a friend online. I also searched for his name on Facebook and found a memorial page as well as his personal profile. On the memorial page, someone posted a video set to music using photographs from his life. It was difficult to watch, but very touching. I feel a mix of immense sadness and gratefulness all at the same time. It’s hard to separate the emotions because they are so interlocked in my head and in my heart. I am saddened that this person was taken at such a young age, yet I am grateful that he made a choice to help so many people. I will always remember him.
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I met a woman online who had a k/p transplant in February of this year! I am excited to hear from her because our surgeries happened so close together. She lives in Texas with her family and has started a blog of her own. She is a very positive person and has nothing but good things to say about her transplant team.
She’s posted pics on Facebook, including an album called “Before and After Transplant.” I looked through them and noticed how much more vibrant and healthy the “after” pics were compared to the “before” pics.
Now I understand what people mean when they say I look so much better...
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For those who might not know, I used to do a podcast with my ex-wife Erin, called “Just not Right.” It ran for three years over the internet and can still be downloaded via iTunes or straight from the website: http://notrightpodcast.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
Last week, my good friend Bart told me he was appearing on a local internet radio show. I tuned in to discover that the DJ was an old friend of ours who we hadn’t seen in almost 20 years! Her name is Terra and she is the host of a show called VOX HUMANUS that airs every Thursday night on http://utahfm.org/ from 6-9pm MST.
Stay tuned…
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