Happy 1 Yr Kidney Birthday, Heather!

Check Out the 1 Year Kidney Congrats Card for Heather!

Kidney Photo

March 13 is National Kidney Day

I received an email from the National Kidney Foundation and wanted to share it with you:
Dear Friend of the National Kidney Foundation:
World Kidney Day is March 13… Do you know how your kidneys are? So many Americans have no idea, including those with high blood pressure and diabetes who are at greatest risk for kidney [...]

Desperately Seeking REM

My sleeping scheduled is still fucked up. It’s been long enough post surgery so what the heck is going on here?
Last night was probably a typical night. The kids and I went to bed first. Guru is usually up until around 2am. He’s one of those sucky people that only needs [...]

Heather’s Surgery

I mentioned in a previous post that Heather had some problems with the hospital. I neglected to mention them before so I figured I would summarize the most grievous one’s below.
22 hours spent in post op as no room available.
She had a skin graft taken from her thigh. Saturday evening it split open [...]

Setting the Record Straight

If you were at the beach and saw someone drowning, would you swim out to save him/her? Or perhaps you would assist by calling 911, flagging down a lifeguard, or doctor or someone trained in CPR to be on hand when they were brought in.
Each of us has different levels of comfort and experience for [...]

1 Month

Tomorrow is our one month surgery anniversary. The months building up to it seemed to go by slowly and now that we’re post surgery, time is flying by again. Tomorrow is also my first day back at work. I planned on going back sooner but my sleeping schedule is so out of [...]

A Christmas Miracle

Throughout the entire kidney donation process, one source of great information has been www.livingdonorsonline.org. Many of the postings in the past few days have been about kidneys with multiple arteries, which mine had. What I didn’t realize before donation was that multiple arteries are not a good thing and this can disqualify one from donating. [...]

Communication Skills

In eighth grade I switched from public school to St. Cecilia’s Elementary. My favorite teacher was Mrs. Grennan, my English teacher. She was a fantastic teacher who had a great rapport with all the students. She taught diagramming by pretending to be a robot. We’d have to give her instructions on [...]

Pictures

This is the beautiful bouquet of flowers my cousin’s family sent me. I don’t have any favorite kind of flowers, just like colorful and wow, this is gorgeous. I thought it was really cool that the card included “and inspirit, Leo”. I’ve thought a lot about him before and now after the [...]

Trouble Sleeping

It’s 2:50 am Wednesday and I’m still having trouble sleeping at night. My days and nights are mixed up, just like before California. Actually, Llana, my 20 lb Bichon, has a habit of walking on me and laying across me when I’m sleeping. So, if I’m asleep, I may not be able to protect myself [...]

Memorable Times

Most Anxious
Flight out on Monday before surgery
Most Confident
In Omaha and whenever I was with my cousin
Most Memorable
The grin on my cousin’s face Friday morning after surgery when I ran into her at clinic. I didn’t take a photo but I will always remember that moment.
My confident confident mother, before and after surgery.
How much fun [...]

Home Sweet Home

Mom and I got home Saturday and boy was I POOPED! I didn’t sleep well the night before and I had a knot in my shoulder blade that just killed me on the first flight. A lot of shoulder stretching on our short lay over as well as laying on the floor made [...]

Coming Home Tomorrow!

I just saw the doctor this morning and yes, I can come home tomorrow! Whoo Hooo! Hubby and kids, here I come – Your vacation (and silence) is O – V – E – R !!!
The doctor’s office will call me this afternoon with my lab results as they weren’t in yet. [...]

6 Days Post Op

Mom and I got up around 8 today. Neither of us slept good last night. But we were motivated this morning!

Yep, had to have our morning Krispy Kremes! The tall building in the background is our hotel. It was about a 7 minute walk from our hotel – piece [...]

NEW PHOTOS

Heather was discharged yesteday around 11 am. This photo was taken last night after we had dinner their house – Heather, Jim and Glorius. Glorius is coming home with me…..

Heather and I after dinner. I actually had to find the energy to curl my hair before going to dinner [...]

5 Days Post Op – POOPED!

Sorry I’m a little behind in my posts. I woke up today a little low on energy as you can see by the photos below.
Today, I slept til 11:30. Then got up, took a shower, got dressed, at a big breakfast (muffins, fresh fruit and hot tea) and literally dragged myself outside for 2 laps [...]

Got Poop?

I’m back and with a stellar looking rack! HAHA And I’m pleased to announced that yep, I got poop! What happened to the days when hospitals wouldn’t discharge you before you could keep solid food down and before you had a BM? I guess it’s cheaper to send you home with [...]

UPDATE

Connie called today & sounded great! I thought she would have been more groggy sounding but she was her normal self. They took her left kidney lyproscopicly, which was nice of them to not cut over her “Annie” tattoo. She did 3 laps around the floor even though her stomach was still tight. Heather is [...]

BREAST IMPLANTS A SUCESS ***UPDATE****

Heather finally made it out of surgery 30mins ago (915pm central). A very long surgery and there were some complications, not sure what at this time. She is doing good & is in recovery. So far her body has accepted the kidney lets just the hope it stays that way. Connie was sick from the [...]

BREAST IMPLANTS A SUCESS

You all should ask Connie to take her new breasts for a test drive. Knowing Connie, I’m sure taking “the girls” out would be quite a wild ride. ha ha Well after a 2 hour delay on hearing how “the twins” did, we finally got word that Connie did very well and is [...]

Twas The Night Before Surgery

Believe it or not, this week has gone by pretty slowly. It’s been a terrific week. I got to spend lots of time with Heather and Jim, our mom’s arrived, successfully passed through all of the medical testing, and actually got to meet my surgeon. I don’t feel rushed, just prepared and [...]

I Snowed the Social Worker

I met with the social worker yesterday and passed with flying colors! It took a lot of work to convince her I was normal and sane but I managed to pull it off!
She was a really neat lady and I enjoyed her a lot. I was with her for about an [...]

Day 4 Summary

Today was a long day – 12 hrs. It was a good day because I got most of my medical appts out of the way. But most importantly, I got to spend most of it with my cousin, catching up. It’s scary how much alike we are. Guess I should send [...]

4 Days Prior to Surgery

I arrived safely in California yesterday afternoon. No problems on the flight except for the HORRENDOUS snorer on the flight from DFW to CA. I’m surprised the pilot didn’t have trouble flying the plane.
Heather and I had an early start on our day – blood testing at 7:30. Then I was off [...]