One year ago today, my older brother gave me one of his kidneys. It's been a long year of recovery for me, with rehospitalization due to bad reaction to new meds, weakness, physical therapy, and persistent scar pain, but one year later, I finally feel like I'm back. As of 2 weeks ago I'm back to full time work, I'm seeing friends, I'm participating in my life in a way I hadn't fully for years. It's an amazing realization.
It's been a tough year, one made possible by unwavering support from Michael and the kids, and by the incredible ongoing encouragement and love from all of our friends and relatives. There are times that it truly does take a village. So, happy kidneyversary to you all for seeing us through! From here it just gets better.
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6 comments:
YAY YOU!!!! :) I can't believe it's been a year.
Yeah! What a good anniversary - and many happy returns of the day!
Wonderful! Here's to many more years of a normal life!
Wonderful news about your current health, Ruth!! Happy kidneyversary to you!!! Love the Mexico photo too, and of course that means you can return next month! Love and continued healthy wishes, B & G I.
I just found your blog. I received a big kidney (docs call it a super-kidney) from my son Jan. 16th, 2013. I am physically weaker than I expected to be 4 mos post-surgery. I have a long history of hypomagnesia and have to take 10 mag-gluconate tablets per day AND eat diet high in magnesium in order to keep my magnesiium barely in the normal range. The magnesium and the Cellcept and maybe the Prograf, too, are causing me to have nearly constant bathroom runs! I go through a roll of toilet paper daily! I have to take Immodium daily or if I need to leave the house to drive to store or doctor! I am soooo tired of this aspect! I also thought that even the past 7 yrs of increasing inactivity would be overcome by now and I'd be able to walk through the market without feeling challenges and exhausted. I sure would love to know more details about your own recovery experience, which sounds similar to mine. I am 20 yrs older than you are, my kidneys were damaged by Cisplatin chemotherapy I had in 1981 for stage III ovarian cancer (another time I miraculously survived against all odds, and the chemo failed, but I was extremely proactive in my nutrition and other healthful things I did to heal myself, plus radiation). I was in awful shape in 2008 when my urology team and I first got together and I was able to greatly improve my symptoms (at first I was on crutches and even in a wheelchair!) and keep my GFR stable for 6+ yrs at around 20 and avoid dialysis (my veins were ruined by chemo). So, my point is, I am constantly being proactive and trying to make the best I can of the rest of my life and especially to honor the gift of life from my son and the tremendous support I have received from my daughter and the hard work of my transplant team. I searched for anything you might have written about during your first post-transplant year of recovery, but could not find anything. Thank you for anything you might be willing to share with me on this.
Anonymous, I'd be very happy to share details with you, but your comment did not include an email address. Please email me directly at rwellsfischer (at) hotmail (dot) com, and I will fill you in. The short version is that recovery took me MUCH longer than I expected, and I had a very bad reaction to Cellcept. If you are still having such severe digestive issues, please let your team know right away and ask if you can switch from Cellcept to Immuran or another protocol. I ended up losing 10% of my body weight in muscle (and was hospitalized for dehydration and tachycardia) and it really extended my recovery time.
I hope to hear from you, and wish you the best in your recovery. You sound like a very strong women!
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