Life After Transplant

Well, it’s been one week of waking up with a new kidney. I still can’t believe it has already happened. I imagined that waiting for a kidney would take years, not months. Now I am adjusting to life as a transplant recipient. Here are a few things I’ve learned.

1. I’m not sure when I’ll ever be able to wear real pants again.
2. After having 2 C-sections and now this even larger surgery, there is no hope of ever having abs again. I need to accept the bulge.
3. Taking 12 pills with breakfast and 6 pills after dinner is a lot and my body is adjusting to some side effects (heartburn, shaking hands, hot hands, nausea, etc).
4. Trying to find comfortable sleeping positions is hard.
5. My body looks battered and bruised where all the needles, IVs, and shots went in me everyday.
6. Lifting legs to put on pants, socks, shoes, or shave is hard.
7. I still don’t like needles.
8. Taking a shower or emptying the dishwasher makes me tired.
9. I walk like an elderly woman.
10. I have a lot of medical appointments. I am going to the post-transplant clinic twice a week for the first month and then it will go to once a week.
11. I’ll be glad when my stomach feels normal again. The discomfort and bloated feeling as well as the irritation around the incision just won’t go away.
12. Sitting up or rolling over is hard.
13. My back hurts. I don’t know if it’s always trying to find a comfortable position, my weakened abs pulling at my back, or my compensating for my stomach discomfort. Lying with a heated rice bag under my lower back is my new favorite hobby.
14. I haven’t gotten my appetite back and almost anything I eat gives me heartburn.
15. I’m afraid my donor didn’t like coffee because I haven’t had coffee or even a taste for it since my transplant. I really want to want my Dunkin’ Donuts again, but her DNA may be taking over!
16. I don’t really know what to do with myself. I don’t have much energy or comfort to do much, but I feel like a slug lying around.

But most of all, I have found what amazing people I am surrounded by! In a time when our world feels ugly, I have been shown the most kindness and generosity. First, it goes without saying that none of this could have happened without my friend who went through the process to be my donor and now is giving to a stranger so that I was put in the kidney swap chain. This transplant would not have happened without her. She not only got me this kidney, but will be giving one of her kidneys to a man in kidney failure in a couple months. How do I ever really thank her?? And, of course, the woman who actually donated to me. These are two very giving women!

Even as I went through the referral process and the days leading up to the transplant, people have been so caring and shown such concern. Friends, family, co-workers....everyone. The day of the transplant I had two friends wait with Jason during the surgery. I was completely overwhelmed by the number of texts, Facebook posts, and messages I had waiting for me after the surgery. I couldn’t respond to them all, but I did read them all! Thank you! I have had a number of people send me regular check-ins to see how I’m doing. I get texts from friends saying they’re heading to Hannaford or Target and wonder if I need anything. I’ve gotten cards from people from Maine to Washington! I’ve received so many way too generous gift cards from friends and co-workers that we can probably eat out every night for the next 6 months! Teachers at my high school signed up to make us meals, so yummy, healthy dinners have been arriving almost nightly. Teachers at the elementary school in Cape gave us housecleaning services. Numerous flower deliveries were made to the hospital. Even the nurses on R5 at MMC got me a stuffed kidney that they signed. Not to mention the great care they gave me. Jason has some pretty awesome co-workers. Those nurses and CNAs have a hard job and they did it with ease and were always there to help with anything. My family has also been great. My parents stayed here to help with the kids, cooking, and housework while I was in the hospital. They would come back at any minute if I needed anything. And my honey...he has had to do it all! He’s been a husband and a nurse. The poor guy even had to make his own birthday dinner!!

So, as I adjust to life with a third kidney, I am very grateful to all of you for the kindness and support that you’ve shown me. Thank you for proving that there is still good in this world.