Today is the one year anniversary of receiving my new kidney at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.  For those of you in the area who see me regularly you know what a wonderful gift it is and how it's dramatically improved my life.  For those of you outside the St. Louis region or out of  country, I'm back doing whatever I want and have not felt this good in several years. I'm able to eat and drink what I want and I no longer have any physical restrictions. I will take anti-rejections meds for the rest of my life. But, my doctors have taken me off several meds I needed after the transplant. Tomorrow I will stop taking another.

You will never know how thankful I am for this miracle that arrived literally days before I would've started dialysis.  God's timing is perfect and the kidney he gave me is a champion. For that I am thankful. To God be all the Glory!

I'm also thankful to the nurses, doctors and health care professionals on my transplant team who have worked with me since May 11, 2024. And a shout out to my transplant coordinator Char, who I've probably driven crazy with a million questions and concerns.

Thank you to my family, especially my sisters Lynn and Cara and my brother John. You will never know how much what you did for me means to me.

Thank you to my friends, neighbors, coworkers and church family.  You were all there for me when I needed help.  As the saying goes, "A friend in need, is a friend indeed".  Thank you all for the love and compassion you've shown me in the past 365 days. I will never forget it.

I had a few minor setbacks during the past year including losing a battle with my yard waste container in October. I fell on my abdomen and put a few large gashes in my left leg in the accident. It ultimately required three interventional radiology procedures at Barnes on Kingshighway to drain fluid from the area around the new organ.  A week later I also managed to get bit by a dog.  When I called my coordinator to see how to handle it, she said there was no protocol for a transplant patient getting bit by a dog.  My guess is there is now!  My PCP handled it by removing torn skin, cleansing the wound, putting Neosporin on it and giving me a tetanus shot. In the big picture those incidents were just blips on the radar screen.

This is much longer than I intended.  But, if I may leave you with a thought, please consider becoming an organ donor if you've not already done so. You can help many lives by signing the back of your driver's license. It only takes a minute.  One very generous person, who signed the back of their driver's license, gave me a second chance at life

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I Got to Come Home from the Hospital!

Image courtesy of NKF

Five days after my kidney transplant surgery I was discharged by the transplant team to come home.  The doctors said I was making good progress and there was no reason to stay at Barnes Jewish Hospital any longer since a minor issue with bleeding was now under control.

I had been bleeding from near one of 14 staples that were used to close the incision site.  For a few nights I had bled heavily onto my hospital gown and the mattress pad on my bed.  I finally got the attention of a resident and nurse practitioner, who like two other doctors, said "we're not worried about it.  After he looked at a layer of blood on my abdomen beneath an abdominal pad, that looked like clotted barbecue sauce, he said "Oh".  Once he knew I was right about the bleeding he made a change to stop it. My fear was I would go home and then bleed on the mattress and sheets and ruin my clothes.  The bleeding was controlled by packing gauze into the hole near where the staple had been located.

I was anxious to get out of the hospital on the Thursday after the four hour surgery.  But, first I had to have a blood transfusion. The doctors reason was my red cell count was low and they wanted to "top off my tank" before I left.  My thought was I bled so much they wanted to "top off my tank" before I left.  The transfusion took two hours and then labs were drawn by a new tech apparently learning on the job which took longer than anticipated.  I finally was told I could leave at 2 p.m. but then I had to wait for meds from the pharmacy.  My ride had waited for over an hour while techs and pharmacists did their job.

One great thing on being wheeled out of the hospital to my driver's car was stopping at the nursing station where I was given a kidney bean and told to place it into a special jar.  When I did so, the nurses who were at the station charting and eating lunch, stood up and cheered my success.  I tried to tell them thank you for the outstanding care I had received, but my voice cracked up and I ended up with tears in my eyes.  They just cheered me on and wished me good luck.  I told the nurse pushing my wheel chair it was the steroids talking and not the real me.  She smiled and looked at me like "yeah, right".

I finally got home about 3:30 p.m. and immediately my sister and brother-in-law went to the grocery store, since the cupboard was bare.  My sister brought groceries and my brother by another mother, bought beer for himself and me.  I didn't have the heart to tell him I couldn't drink alcohol for 30 days.  But, when I finally told him, he said he would drink one more for me.

After dinner that night I posted an update on a social media site.
 

"UPDATE: At the risk of being repetitive, my blessings continue. This afternoon I was discharged from Barnes Jewish Hospital by the kidney transplant team. The doctors told me I was healing quickly and was strong enough to come home with help from my family. I am still in disbelief at how quickly this all happened. First to receive the kidney exactly when needed but now to be back in the comfort of my own home just five days after the surgery. " Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good". 

I have a very long road to recovery in front of me and I ask that you would keep me in your prayers that the bag full of medications I have been given to fight rejection, viruses, infection and fungi does the job. Likewise, I ask that God give me the strength to follow all of the restrictions in place to insure the safety of the new organ. It will be 90 days before I can be around large groups of people and a minimum of 30 days before I can drive. I also have a lot of medical appointments in the coming days. Thank you everyone for your prayers, concern, kind words and support since last weekend. It means more to me than you will ever know."