Hospital Stay

Our hospital stay at Good Samaritan was a great experience, but not without it's ups and downs. The second day is when the true healing begins. I was warned that this would be a difficult day because they make you get up, walk, and sit in a chair, and the pain is excruciating, even with a pain pump. I was pushing that thing every six minutes as long as they allowed me to.

James was finally brought down to the ninth floor (the kidney floor) by that afternoon. The difference between a transplant recipient and the donor is striking. His IV was the biggest I have ever seen. It had six different regulators all going at once. He had massive amounts of tubes plus the catheter and bag. It's amazing he was able to walk at all! I had just had the regular fluids plus a pain pump. James was able to eat regular food right away while I was finally given soft food by the third day. The biggest difference was that he got a single room and I got to have a roommate.

This roommate I had was an elderly lady. She had been there at least a few days before me. I never quite figured out what was wrong with her but she had a cough you would not believe! The first night after surgery she kept me up all night coughing and then she got out of bed and started wandering around, almost fell down. The next day, people would call me to find out how I was doing and she thought I was talking to her. She would yell at me through the curtain and think I was the nurse or that I should call her nurse. I finally started talking back trying to tell her where the call button was and how to turn on the TV.

The nurses there were fantastic. As I said, the second day was tough. I had a hard time going to the bathroom after the anesthesia, and my nurse had a hard time helping me. My roommate's nurse was Nathan and he had this knack of getting me up and down without hurting. I would wait to go until she called for him and then asked him to help me. After a while he started checking in on both of us. By the end of the day, I was just asking for him. My nurse finally came in to help him with me and said, "I need to learn your trick. She won't let anyone else touch her now!" That was very true. He was great.

The third day, I got off the pain pump, and things got easier. I was put on a super Ibuprofen and it finally took the pain away. Nathan was still the other ladys' nurse, but he helped both of us when he could. James also really liked his cute nurse, so we both had our favorites. This was Thursday and that night, my mom-in-law and I went into James' room and watched American Idol together. Everyone on the floor thought James and I were very cute. It's rare enough to have husband and wife, but even more rare for them to be just a few doors down from each other, young and cute that we are.

The doctors wanted me out Thursday night, but I talked them into discharging me the next day after they let me have real food and get out of bed by myself. Mom-in-law was staying in Guest lodging just one building away and that's where I went Friday afternoon. James followed by being discharged on Saturday.

Surgery Day

We had been told to be at the hospital a 5:00 am on March 8. James, myself, and my mother-in-law were all there, although we were about 10 minutes late. The waiting area around registration was packed full of patients and families waiting for surgery. Every few minutes someone in scrubs would come down, read off a few names, and take a group up to pre-op. By 7:00 am, there was just us and another couple left. We started talking to them and found that their surgery involved the same group of doctors that did our surgery.

After sitting there for 2 hours, we finally realized that we weren't the first surgery of the day after all. I'm not quite sure why they asked us to be there at 5, but oh well. We pulled out our favorite card-game, Rook, and started half-heartedly playing. I called my transplant coordinator and found out that we were second in line for the day.

A little after 8:00 am they came to get us and it was like winning the lottery! We got up to pre-op and they let James and I be next to each other. There became some confusion about which doctors were going to perform the surgeries and that was the only time I really got nervous. Dr. Cashman performed my mother-in-law's surgery, and had been treating James, knew his brother, basically our whole family. He was supposed to my my doctor! I don't know how they worked it out, but he came through for us and I was so relieved. I put a lot of trust in his hands.

We like Dr. Cashman because he is compassionate, aggressive, but also has a sense of humor. When he came to see me before surgery he asked if I had any questions. I only really had one and I wanted to know if my kidney went right into James and if not, where did they put it. He responded that they have up to 6 hours to get it into James, but it wouldn't be that long. "In the meantime, we put it on ice in a bucket. I move my beer to the side to make room for it."  I laughed and thought, "What a kidder." Then, not 5 minutes later, the O.R. nurse passed through my room to get paperwork and was carrying a 5 gallon bucket full of ice that read "KIDNEY" on the side. I couldn't believe it! I exclaimed, "Is that where my kidney goes???" She looked down, and basically ran out of the room. We all just burst out laughing.

My surgery was at 11:00 am, but James' wasn't until about 2:30 pm. I was glad I was first. I finally got scared when they wheeled me down the hall because I did not want to see the surgery room. I don't think I could have handled that. They gave me twilight medicine to make me fuzzy. I remember getting wheeled to just outside the O.R. doors, where they scrubbed in. They had to stop me to let another patient through and that is the last thing I remember until I woke up in recovery.  I guess I was in recovery for a few hours, but I only remember waking up a few times and there was no one around. There must have been a nurse around, but I never saw one. My mouth was incredibly dry from the intubation tube and it also gave me a fat lip.

From what I've heard, as soon as they hooked the blood supply from my kidney up to James', it started working. We had heard it could start working at a minute, but mine was immediate. The surgeon told my nurse that my kidney was "beautiful" and she had never heard him say that before. James had carried so much fluid without having kidneys for 6 weeks, that my little kidney started working overtime and he went through six catheter bags the first night alone. We call it "Liquid Gold".

James came out of recovery smiling and waiving to him mom, but when she came in to see me, I wouldn't even move. I was afraid to move because of the pain. I've never experience pain like that and was pushing my pain pump every six minutes. I would watch the clock. Bless his heart, James walked down 2 floors from ICU that night to see me. He looked so different. I could already start to see color in his face and he just looked amazing. At that moment, I didn't care what kind of pain I was in because it was worth it to see him and know I had saved his life.

Last Night

We have made it! It is now the night before the big day. Kim, James and I drove down to Phoenix yesterday. It was tough saying goodbye to the kids, especially LJ who is only 2 and doesn't know why mom and dad are leaving. The girls are taking this all very well. I explained to them that it's ok to be nervous. We are all nervous, but we aren't scared. Daddy and mommy are going to be just fine.

We took our time driving to Phoenix and had a nice last meal. We stayed the night at a little hotel on the hospital grounds. It's really just a hallway of rooms inside a medical plaza, but it's right next to the hospital. We will be staying there again when we get released.

We got a great call first thing this morning saying that not only are James and I totally compatable, but also that our surgery has been moved up to 7:00am. That means we need to check in at 5:00am. I'm so glad we don't have to sit in pre-op all day.

James and I are nervous, but mostly just grateful that this has worked out and it almost over. "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow..."

Preparations

My mom Claudia flew in yesterday. She has come to take care of the kids while James, Kim, and I are down in Phoenix. It is so nice of her to come and having her here has really made it seem real. This surgery is really going to happen! James is at dialysis for the last time here right now. He is scheduled one more time at a center in Phoenix on Monday.

The three of us, James, Kim, and I are leaving on Sunday so we can take our time and relax before this. On Monday I am on a liquid diet and James has to eat light. Then neither of us are to eat on Tuesday. We check into the hospital at 11:00 on Tuesday. My surgery is scheduled to start at 2:30 and then James goes in at 4:30. He has to wait in that pre-op for a long time, poor guy. 

Just a few more days now!

Hurry Up and Wait

March 1 has come and gone. It was difficult to not spend the day wishing we were in the hospital. Who actually says that? It's just so hard knowing this could have been all over today if I had gotten my wish, but I didn't. Hopefully now that today is over, it will be easier to look forward to next tuesday when we really will be in the hospital. At least that is for sure.

I say hurry up and wait because I know that this week is going to just drag on and on. James goes to dialysis in the morning and only two more times thereafter. We have actually heard that every day of dialysis can take up to 5 years off your life, it is that hard on your body. It is not the solution. James is being brave, though, and I really admire him. People are calling me a hero and I'm so grateful to be able to give James my kidney, but he will always be my hero for enduring his PKD.

How I Became a Kidney Donor - Part 3

On Tuesday night we announced to everyone that we were doing this and that it would be on March 1. That is the date we had been hoping for, but by Wednesday morning, the chances of that faded away and I was devastated yet again because we were so close, yet so far. I called and asked the living donor advocate if there was anything I could do that day, but she said no and she would be doing everything on her end for us.

Wednesday slowly dragged on because James had to be really careful with his diet since he couldn't have dialysis until Thursday and we were just on edge, not knowing what would happen. Somehow we passed the time because it finally became Thursday. Thursday was huge because our biggest hurdle was meeting with the surgeon, Dr. Cashman. He was the one who originally did not want me as the donor because he "Doesn't want to put both parents under the knife,"

We were afraid that he might say no, but actually I was able to plead my case to him and he jumped on board just like everyone else had. He is really nice and saw that I am very healthy and motivated, and ready to do this. He saw from my CT SCAN that my left kidney is the best, so that is the one they are going to take. He showed me what he will be doing during the surgery.

They will put one probe in right under my ribcage and another, with the camera, on the side. Then they will cut a three inch incision through my belly button and pull the kidney out through there. It's not a very big kidney, just the size of my fist, but it will be a great one for James. They will reattach the kidney on James' right side by his hip.

The surgeon then looked at the schedule and the 1st was not available, but he said he will do it on March 8. A few new arrangements had to be made, but we are all very happy with March 8. James and I together met with the team one more time this morning to get our picture taken for the scrapbook and to get our transplant books with instructions on what to do before and after surgery.

In 5 days I went from being the sad, frustrated and helpless wife of a kidney patient, to being the strong and tough kidney donor. It has been quite the transformation. There is hope again and I cannot wait for 10 days from now when I get to give my husband that gift that only I can give.

How I Became a Kidney Donor - Part 2

On Monday, Feb 20, first thing, I called up the transplant committee. They oversee the donors and recipients for all organ donations. They, of course, knew all of us very well and when I called and explained our situation they were very understanding. I told them that I had cleared my schedule for the rest of the week and I was willing to do whatever it took to get through the process quickly, because it is a process.

The first thing they did was schedule my blood test. I had to be fasting and had eaten half a piece of toast at 6 AM, so I had to wait 8 hrs after that, but it did work out luckily. I knew that James and I had the same blood type, but they also had to check everything about me to make sure I was healthy enough. Then they scheduled me to come in on Tuesday and to meet with everyone. You sit in a little room and person after person come in from their perspective backgrounds, ie, finance, social work, nutrician. They each tell you what to expect with becoming a donor. The truth is, as they like to point out, there is all risk and no reward for the donor, except that you are saving a life.

For me that is not to true because I get to have my wonderful husband back. I don't have to watch him suffer anymore. My children get to have their father back and hopefully someday soon we will get to move on with our lives together. That's all I have ever asked for, so getting to be the person that makes that happen is actually an honor.

After everyone there cleared me to move forward I spent the afternoon going back and forth between James' hospital room and the tests downstairs. I had to have an EKG, a chest X-RAY and a spiral CT SCAN. James pushed himself to get out of the hospital and he was discharged by Tuesday night.