I feel great and I'm in better health overall than before donation. I'm 25# lighter(125#) and eating healthier. I drink 2 qts of plain filtered water daily, take in less than 1000 mlgrms of salt daily, exercise 5 days a week at least, and hope to learn to wakeboard this summer. Not bad for 60 1/2 huh? All the tests are great that I had to date.
My recipient, my niece, is also doing very well. She has IgA neuropathy and this was her second directed transplant. The first one did her well for 9 years. I hope this one can do as well for her at least, but, time will tell. She is a vital vibrant young woman that has certainly gotten on with her life.
The other great thing is my hubby lost 40# and with the exercise and diet changes is off 3/4 of his oral diabeties meds! How great is that?!
The first month of recovery was tough for me, partially because of being overweight and out of physical condition, bad reaction to the anesthestic, spiked HB and a had reaction to one of the HB meds, messed up bowels, couldn't eat, I really wondered what I had gotten myself into actually. I had a lot of trouble sleeping for about 3 months, most nights were 3-4 hours and no day time naps! I only had tylenol for pain and my PCP would not give me a script for sleeping meds. It took me about 6 months to feel like before donation really energy wise. But, it passed.
I had always appreciated my good health and now, I am making even better choices on my hopefully, continued good health.
I want to thank everyone on this site for all the information I had gleaned over the last year and for the future information which everyone freely gives. I have learned things I was never informed of or even thought to ask the questions about. I'm not complaining about my donation center. Maybe not everyone wants to know all the technical stuff, but I do and a lot of my suspicions have been answered here.
Yes I would do it again, but be better prepared for recovery, haha. I have always been a glass half full type person, but now, relish each day maybe a bit more than before donation. Best wishes to all, Janice