If things went according to plan this should be Day 5 for me as an official kidney transplant recipient. Actually I don’t know if that’s an official designation. I don’t believe it comes with a membership card or even a secret handshake although it is an ever growing cohort.
I started with that “If things went according to plan” because we have somewhat deviated from that plan. Sometimes things are going to go as well as a textbook procedure, maybe with a minor glitch creating a minor challenge that makes a learning opportunity for everyone. Then there are the things that happen to me.
Sometime last Wednesday a kidney was removed from my donor angel, walked into the operating room next door to that activity, and placed into my body. It was a moment unlike any other. Literally. The organ was a sewn into place, arteries and veins connected, clamps opened, “dirty” blood flowed in and “clean” blood flowed out one way to be recirculation while waste flowed out as urine to its ultimate elimination. It was working! And it continued to work for about 18 hours. Then the reason consent forms came to be came to be realized.
Without getting into the many reasons that could have caused it to happen, partly because specialists are still trying to determine all of the reasons that might have caused it to happen, the blood stopped flowing. I immediately was prepared to return to the operating room where the kidney was removed, arteries and vessels cleaned of some newly formed blood clots, the kidney bathed in an anticoagulant solution, new ties and connections again attached the new kidney to my old body, and then the cleaning process reestablished although at a less than optimal rate.
The kidney was saved, the kidney was working, but to exactly what degree and for how long is still yet to be determined.
As I am writing this samples of my blood are being sent off for examination into why it is clotting at a rate the would not allow the process to be without the corresponding infusion of anticoagulants. Perhaps in another week I can share the reason or reasons and some resolution for it. Until then I can tell you the good things that have happened.
The earth angel who parted with one of her kidneys for me is well and at home already establishing a new normal that remarkably resembles her old normal and doing it much faster than expected, waiting anxiously and praying devoutly for me to to do likewise. Her former kidney is doing its job well enough that I for the first time in almost 3 years lived through a full week without once being attached to a dialysis machine! And we made the right choice of transplant centers where I have never seen such coordination of care and research happening to see that her kidney successfully transitions to being my kidney in its new forever home.
I am walking and eating and generally being a pest to the doctors asking for more freedom of motion, less dietary restrictions, and answers, please more answers. In general, if asked how I am feeling I am clearly feeling better and stronger than a week ago. But I also know I am not yet out of the woods or out of the the weeds or wherever one gets out of when things are not working at their tip-top-pi-est.
I also feel closer to the donor than I have for not just a week but for almost 57 years. That was how long ago the girl who shared her kidney with me was brought home by my parents and introduced to me as my new little sister. Like most siblings particularly a middle and a youngest, we spent many childhood years fighting for attention. Now we are fighting together and discovering even after all these years, new reasons to get our way. Only now finally a common way! Someday soon we will have our answers and we will get our way. How can I let her down?
Transplant Journey Posts
First Steps (Feb. 15, 2018)
The Next Step (March 15, 2018)
The Journey Continues (April 16, 2018)
More Steps (May 31, 2018)
Step 4: The List (July 12, 2018)
Step 1 Again…The Donor Perspective (Sept 6, 2018)
And The Wait Goes On (Oct. 18, 2018)
Caution: Rough Road Ahead (Nov. 19, 2018)
And The Wait Goes On (Jan. 24, 2019)
A Worldbeater of a Story (March 14, 2019)
Spare Part (May 22, 2019)
Other Related Posts
Walk This Way…or That (March 9, 2017)
Looking Good (May 18, 2017)
Technical Resistance (May 25, 2017)
Those Who Should Know Better (July 24, 2017)
Cramming for Finals (May 3, 2018)
Make Mine Rare. Or Not (Feb. 28, 2019)
Parts is Parts (May 6, 2019)
The Real Reality Show Blog 
Praying it all goes well and your body accepts the new kidney. What a lot for both of you to go through, but what a blessing to have a loved one willing to love that much!! Blessings for your future!
Thank you so much. So many people have reached out. Their prayers get us going every day.
Amen! God is good!
Indeed He is!
I’m praying your body accepts your sister’s sweet gift of life to you fully and completely. No problems. And that your story will impact so many others with the selfless love and connection you two share. Thanks for being so vulnerable.
Thank you so much. That’s my mission..to share my reality. It’s not always pretty but it is always real and prayers and their answers, even if it’s still just “maybe,” is what makes life worth living.