Some warm fuzzies

[jennybebopper]

I have the pleasure of working with many kidney and liver transplant patients.  While I appreciate my recipient's privacy (at another hospital), I sometimes wish I could see the (assumed) direct benefit he received with his new kidney.  Today I worked with a patient with a new bean and when she found out she was now on a regular diet and could order a CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE, she just about lost it and I had to fight back tears myself.  I know transplant recovery is long and often has obstacles, but we are so blessed to have this medical technology available.  Good lord, I don't even get to see how much my patients' general lifestyles are changed, but if enjoying a milkshake is any indication, I am beyond satisfied.  The world is a good place.

[jatopa]

My brother planted a peach tree and a vegetable garden, especially tomatoes and artichokes.  to celebrate his new diet! 

[CK]

I can't imagine not watching my recipient get better.

BTW, his recovery has NOT been difficult. Even though he had a double nephrectomy, he was back to work in 3 weeks, down to biweekly clinic visits after the first week and has had absolutely no complications. 3.5 months later he's off all meds except the immunosuppressants and low dose of BP meds. He's able to do anything and eat anything. He's like brand new.

Recovery is not long and hard for everyone. I often wonder if it's easier to recover from the donor surgery when you can see the direct benefit of what you've done.

[audrey12]

For my recipient it was a hamburger and fries.  He called me to tell me he was eating them, less than a week out of hospital.  I hadn't realized his diet was so restricted.  It was a revelation to me, that what I did made such a little thing as a fast food meal a monumental moment for someone else.

Enjoy life while you can, even if it's just a fast food burger and fries.

I am going to see my cousin briefly tomorrow while on a layover at O'Hare in Chicago.  It will be the first time we've been together since Joe's memorial service.  We just have time for lunch, and I think I'll have a burger and fries.

 

[Snoopy]

   I was a non-directed donor, but the transplant system in our area kept throwing me together with the recipient who had been chosen for me, so we met and became good friends.  The funny thing is, he never looked too sick to me, due to his extra-bouncy, twinkly personality...until the very night he drove me to the hospital for our surgeries, when I noticed how slowly he was walking in the parking lot. 
   After our surgeries, we were eventually roommates again, and our trajectories went in opposite directions.  He kept getting perkier, bouncier, and twinklier, and I...slumped lower and lower in my chair, and grew more and more quiet (most atypical for me).  Before my surgery, I already had had a chest cold, and was running a very slight fever.  Although I did not suffer, I did not feel like doing a jig right after the surgery.  After a few hours, my "partner" ordered his sons to give me his comfortable lounge-type chair, and he took my hard chair.  Eventually, as my chest cleared and my temp. came down, I perked up, too, and we had a lot of laughs together.
   One thing about my recipient's food:  for over a year before the surgery, I'd been watching my salt intake very, very, carefully (to the point that "normal" things taste quite salty to me now), and this watchfulness has only increased since the surgery.  On the other hand:  when I went back roughly a week after discharge to get my staples removed, his sons were also coming to visit their father, who was still in-patient.  They brought a huge shopping bag for him filled mainly with jars of pickled vegetables, each containing more salt than I expect to consume over the next 7 decades.  I almost fainted, but then decided that it's none of my business.... 
  Be well, Snoopy

[WilliamLFreeman]

jennybebopper & y'all,

The recipient of the then "new-used kidney" -- now a 3-year-old-used kidney -- was/is able to do many things.  Probably for her, and certainly for me, is that she is a "close to normal healthy Mom" for her son, then in upper middle school, soon to be a junior in high school.   

Bill

[cupid]

My recipient told me that as soon as he was feeling better he was going to have a Coke and a bag of chips. Sure enough, two days after the transplant, he was sitting in his hospital bed with a Coke, bag of chips and a huge smile on his face!!