And...We're Working!

Yup...EK is still working. I feel so lucky to have a rockstar kidney. Last Creatinine level (the amount of waste in your blood) was .98. For your information, "normal people" have creatinine levels of .5 to 1.0mL, so my one transplanted kidney is working as well as...well, YOUR TWO! Rockstar kidney for sure!


The last couple of weeks have been pretty good for me. I was having some residual pain over the incision, but it was mostly just the nerves reorganizing themselves - it wasn't so much as pain, but feeling like I had a rash or burn. That sensation has faded and I feel really great. I have some swelling in my abdomen still, which makes my work pants a little uncomfortable. And my energy level is still pretty low - walking around the block gets me pretty winded. I'm hopeful that I can soon start regular exercise and that will help not only the energy level, but also help get rid of the swelling.

This past weekend, Brian and I took the kids to our annual Lake Weekend with Brian's college friends. We've gone the last six years and it is always a fun weekend. This year was of course significant for me, for several reasons. First and foremost, this weekend was what I've been looking forward to since my transplant. I knew it would take time to heal and I knew that six weeks after my transplant I would be feeling good. I just kept saying to myself, I feel awful now, but when Lake Weekend gets here, I'll feel great. And I did. We had so much fun, even though I didn't go out on the boat. My skin is pretty sensitive to the sun and being out in the heat for just a few minutes exhausts me. So I got to stay in, relax, read and play with all the babies that have started to join us. Did I mention that our friend Brian fashioned a kidney skiing out of rice krispie treats?

Sunset at the Lake

So for those of you that don't know, today was my first day back at work. I have been sooo ready to go back to work - excited to see my stellar co-workers and start using my brain again. Six weeks of resting, healing and watching mind-numbing daytime television may have caused my brain to be put on pause. I'm ready to recharge and start my new "normal." A normal life that includes me feeling great and not having to deal with dialysis. Work went well. I feel pretty out of the loop...in the six weeks I was gone, our department moved locations, we hired 5 or 6 new people and got our second batch of summer interns. So I'm feeling pretty disconnected, but hopefully I can get right back into the swing of things.


Tomorrow is my first clinic appointment at Barnes. All my labs have been good, so I'm looking forward to a nice, easy appointment. I get labs once a week instead of twice and soon, it will go down to every other week and then monthly. I honestly keep waiting for someone to say "just kidding" and that I have to go back to a life with dialysis. I am so hopeful that this kidney lasts me long enough to "forget" what a life on dialysis is life.


Love and Kidneys,
Emily

Ladies and Gentlemen...Four Weeks Out!

Hi everyone!
Can you believe its been four weeks since Kidney Day 2012?!? EK and I are settling in to a nice rhythm...learning how to hang out together fulltime. I'm sorry for not having written in a while, but as I said in my last post...things haven't been all rainbows and unicorns.


So...to catch up...last time I wrote about the stupid drain and now I'm happy to report that they took it out last Friday. And boy, did I turn a corner last weekend! It was almost instant - as soon as they took that thing out, the pain that I had been feeling the past week was instantly gone. The day before, they took the stent out that was helping keep the connection open between EK and my bladder. It was causing me pain and the drain was non stop pain. So both of those out and last weekend was a huge sigh of relief. It has been so much easier to get up and down, in and out of bed and even walking. Sleeping was so much easier as well, I attempted sleeping on my side, but needed lots of pillows to support, but I'm happy to report that as the weekend and week has gone by, I'm able sleep on my side pretty successfully. EK is letting me sleep about 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours at a time now, which is so nice and I'm sure is contributing to my road to recovery. Sleep is so important!

My three childhood best friends got together on Monday...Julie was in town from Colorado and I haven't seen her since our 10 year reunion 6 years ago! So, since I can't really drive yet, mom and dad came to pick me up and drop me off at Jeannie's house. We kept joking about how funny it was that my parents were dropping off their 34 year old at a friend's house. It was such a nice time with those girls. I love that although we don't see each other as often as I'd like, we can fall right back into laughing hysterically at everything. I kept having to tell them to stop because I was laughing so hard it hurt my poor incisions! Thanks Julie, Jeannie and Tracy for making me laugh so hard I cried and for just being so awesome.

Speaking of childhood friends...one of my best friends in junior high and throughout high school was Candi Razer. I always looked up to her because she was such an great athlete and could hold her own with sassing any boys that tried to pick on us. We walked to school almost every day and afterschool we would head down to "Jack's" Convenience store and have pizza slices and just laugh. As usually happens, we didn't really stay friends after high school, but since facebook exploded and you can find almost anyone from your past, we have since connected. A few years ago, she even offered her kidney to me. I was so touched. Yesterday, I received two lovely letters that brought tears to my eyes. Her two kiddos, Ashley and Nick, both made me the cutest, sweetest get well cards and mailed them to me. It totally made my day and just shows me how their mother has done right by teaching them to care for people they don't even know...like me. Ashley and Nick...your lovely cards made me day and I can't thank you enough for sending them. Please hug your mommy for me.


So to summarize...I'm feeling really good - have even walked all the way around the block (1/2 mile!) and am starting to do stuff around the house, tackling small projects, like organizing recipes and going through old magazines. EK is still going strong and working really well. I've wrestled a couple of times with writing my donor. I've started and stopped several times. I just don't know how to put into words how I feel about what he did. How do you say thank you to a stranger that saved your life out of the goodness of their heart? I suppose that I can't really do that in a letter, but it will serve as a starting point for me to express how thankful I am.


Looking forward to several visits I have coming up and to getting out of the house on little excursions. Still taking it easy and being really careful. Want to make sure I heal nicely and am ready to go back to work at the end of the month!

Love and Kidneys,
Emily