Her protein levels in her urine are down to .8 which is where mine are as well. That is a normal level and just before transplant her levels were above 9.0! Her ankles are all skinny and normal sized now, her face has thinned out!! Her body has adjusted perfectly to the new kidney. I am so glad to see her not having to struggle with some of the things she had been for the past several months. Now her daily struggles will be different. She has no immune system from the anti rejection drugs she is on. This means she needs to be very careful when out in public. She absolutely can not be exposed to germs that will cause a cold or flu. This could make her extremely sick. She has to take 27 pills a day. Eventually they can adjust her meds and lower her dosages, but for now it is a crazy amount of pills she must take. She also has to measure all of her fluid input and output to ensure the kidney is functioning properly, as well as take her blood pressure, weight, and temperature several times a day. It is more work now that she has the new kidney than being sick was, but i think once she is healed she will feel 100% better than she did and that is what is important. As time goes on this routine will be shaved down and she won't have to do as much checking vitals and medication. That is the time i am looking forward to for her the most!
As far as my healing is going i think i have a bit more pain than Molly does, but i don't have to do any of the maintenance that she does. I just have to heal and then i will be good to go! I do have to get check ups at the doctor at one month, three months, six months, then yearly to make sure my one kidney is doing it's job. Molly just had one very large incision on her tummy as they placed my kidney in the front of her abdomen by her bladder. I have 4 incisions, 3 small and one large one where the doctor stuck his hand in and pulled my kidney out. They are all healing very nicely, it is just hard to stand or walk for long periods of time. It feels like tiny people are hanging on my insides pulling down when i stand up!! So after standing too long it becomes quite uncomfortable. But each day it gets a little better and i get a little stronger. My voice still has not returned to full strength. I feel like i can't project my voice fully and that i have to take several breaths while speaking. I suppose it has something to do with the tube that was down my throat for surgery. Molly says she is having the same issue with her voice. It too gets a little better everyday.
But no matter what we have to go through during recovery it is all more than worth it. Making Molly's quality of life return to a mostly normal state is so worth any pain involved in the process. Now that it is all over and my kidney is safely in her body, i can let go of all the fear that i had going into the surgery. I was so afraid that something would happen and i am so grateful that it did not. Right when we got started the transplant team asked me why i wanted to donate my kidney to Molly and how would i feel if i was not a match. The answer to the first question was easy and self explanatory. The second question i told them that i would feel really sad if i could not be the one to give Molly a kidney. I know if i was not a match or i was not healthy enough there would have been nothing i could have done, but i still would have always felt disappointed that i could not be the one. So i am more than elated that things worked out the way they did.
No comments:
Post a Comment