Fifty-Eight and Counting

My kidney transplant took place on April 9th, 2024. I thought I’d describe a little about the process (what I remember anyway) and my progress so far.

I checked into the hospital early that morning and was brought to the nurse’s station where they got me ready for surgery. I changed into hospital attire and they installed the IV. The surgeon and the anesthesiologist came to talk to me, and before I knew it I was being wheeled into surgery. The last thing I remember was the  anesthesiologist saying, “O.K. we’re going to get started.” He put something in my IV and they asked me to move from the gurney to the surgical table. I barely remember complying. The next thing I knew I was in recovery. My tounge felt like a ball of cotton and I was very thirsty. I drank quite a bit of water but my tounge felt like cotton for a few days.

I remember my husband talking to me but I don’t think I said much back to him. Eventually they took me to my room. I remember being surprised that it was about eight o’clock at night because the surgery started st 9:30am. I also remembered being thankful that they didn’t make me walk that night as they promised they would in the pre-surgery training.

I woke up with three IVs which was very uncomfortable. One was in my neck, one was in the bend of my arm, and one was at the bend of my wrist and hand (which was super uncomfortable as it hurt every time I used my hands to reposition myself).

My incision is about 8 inches long. During surgery, they gave me a nerve block so that I would not have to rely so heavily on narcotics during recovery. That was a blessing. It took about two days for the nerve block to wear off. Then, there were two or thee days where the pain was significant, to the point where getting out of bed was so painful it made me nautious. I tried two drugs to overcome that pain, neither seemed to work well.  Infact, one seemed to inflame my incision and make it burn. Ultimately, Gabapentan and regular Tylenol worked the best. Gabapentan is a non-narcotic epileptic drug that has the ability to numb pain. That along with regular Tylenol did the trick and I used that for about two weeks.

My incision was glued together with surgical glue, not stitches or staples. Praise God it is healing very well and the scar looks as though it won’t be noticable. The glue was another blessing as stitches and staples can be hard to take care of and often times the scar is significant. With the surgical glue, I was able to get it wet (although not submerge it) from the first day. 

I came home after four days in the hospital. The biggest immediate change was my diet. Before the transplant I had to avoid animal protein, and foods with sodium, phosphorus, and potassium. The doctors immediately told me to do the opposite. Infact, they told me to eat 4 oz. of protein with every meal! I was elated and did not argue.

The second significant change is staying secluded. They are medically suppressing my immune system to ensure that I don’t reject the kidney. This leaves me suseptible to sickness and infection that can also jeopardize the new kidney. The doctors advised that it will take 3 – 6 months before they bring my immune system back to an appropriate level. Until then, I am keeping to myself, using grocery delivery services, and cooking all of my own meals.

Praise God, I could not have asked for better results. Not only is the surgical recovery going well, my kidney metrics are responding in kind. My kidney function has gone from 14% to 58% and counting. And, I feel many changes. I no longer have bone pain from the imbalance of electrolytes, my nails are not breaking before they grow out of my fingers, I am not getting vertigo, I no longer have an ever present itch from high potassium, and my skin is recovering as the uric acid is no longer over concentrated in my blood. I am still anemic but I pray with time that will reverse itself as well.

When I sit for a minute and think about all that has happened, I am only amazed at God’s work. I am praying for all those involved in the exchange and I thank you for your prayers.