Living Donors Online Message Board
Living Donation Discussion and News => Living Donation Forum => Topic started by: bergstromtori on September 05, 2011, 09:53:15 PM
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Tomorrow is the Day. I will be at IMC in Salt Lake City Utah. I hope to be home by Friday.
Thanks for all the info.
Tori
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Best wishes and prayers for you. Use the meds, sleep, drink ginger ale if water doesn't taste good. Ask for anti nausia stuff right away if you need it. Be sure you are having bowel action before going home! Did I mention, take the meds?
Take before pics of the belly, no really, those TT are amazing. Check in here after the surgery and when you are up to it. I have a great website Breast Health on Line that has a TT forum and healing information that is really great. Those ladies over there are the best to help you through the healing, offering support and answering questions.
Sleep as well as possible tonight. Thinking of you tomorrow, Janice aka dodger
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Best wishes and prayer for you both!
Fr. Pat
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I hope all is well and you are not too uncomfortable. Take it easy we will be here for you. Best wishes and prayers. Janice
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Praying for you both Tori - please update us when you can.
Scott 8)
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I hope you are doing well. Please update when you can.
Best Wishes!
Linda
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Eat prunes as soon as you are allowed soft foods. Prunes are your new bff and really sit well on the stomach.
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Billy the Kidney’s Adoption
(Written 4 days post op still on pain killers)
I thought many of you would like to read what I remember about the experience.
Monday night: Did the bowl prep so that everything would be spanking fresh for the surgery.
Tuesday (Sept 6, 2011): Arrived at IMC Same Day Surgery at 5:15 am and got all signed in. John and Rebecca arrived shortly after. Around 6:30 they called me back. John and Rebecca met us in the prep room and we shot the breeze for a couple of hours. The surgery was postponed a two hours because of an emergency surgery at another hospital. The plastic surgeon came in and did her markings. They wheeled me back, while they were putting me on the elevator John ran up to say good bye and give me hug. When I arrived in the OR I learned that the anesthesiologist went to high school with my Dad. Don’t ask how this came up, it was very convoluted. I was happy to hear the PA say, “Hey the A team is in here”. They showed me the door that Billy would be exiting through for his adoption in the OR next door. They put the mask on my face….
This is what I have been told took place. Rebecca, John’s parents, Ali, my Dad and Eric waited and received updates throughout. Everything went very smoothly. Billy worked so well that before they could hook the ureter up to John’s bladder is fire hosed the PA with urine. Way to go Billy. When the plastic surgeon arrived my belly button was missing. This was recounted to be while I was on a lot of drug and I was trying to figure out how you lose a belly button. Do you just set it down some place and lose track of it. What really happened was that the Kidney surgeon had to cut through the belly button. No worries. I will not be a freak. The plastic surgeon has made me a fake belly button with a skin graft. We will know next week how good it looks. I believe I was out for about six hours. Not sure how long John was out.
I woke up in the recovery room, which John has described a gymnasium full of moaning people. I have the impression that John had been there awhile before I came it. All I remember immediately was that I was in a lot of pain. They gave me phentanol. Thank you phentanol (sp?). The nurses said someone really wanted to see me. They wheeled John over and we held hands for quite some time. It was a very touching moment. I wish Eric and Rebecca could have been there to share that with us. They then took John up to the transplant floor and I was wheeled up about an hour later. My family visited me during this time, but I do not remember much. I do remember a very nice conversation with Rebecca. Around 10:00 pm I went on my first walk and felt great. They mentioned that I may be able to go by Thursday.
Wednesday morning: I woke up feeling pretty good and went on a walk with John. We also had many visitors. Wednesday night I was relying pretty heavy on the pain pump. I decided that I wanted to get my digestive system working so I started to wean myself. Still not sure if this was the best idea. That night my body realized what it had been through. John also describes this as his most difficult time. I got very little “real” sleep.
Thursday: I was a mess. I had nausea and headaches. I would dry heave and it would make my body ache. The plastic surgeon came to see me and straightened everything out. She save me an anti nausea drug and I slept for six hours. Thank you Kim Mallas for taking care of me when I woke up during this crazy sleep. She took me to the bathroom and made me a pillow nest to sleep in. When I finally woke up I felt 1000X better. Things had really turned around. I slept most of the next two days, but I was out of pain.
Saturday (Today): I woke up feeling good. I even showered myself for the first time since Tuesday. It was my day to be emotional. I visited John and Rebecca and let them know how special I felt to be part of this. I really do feel like they are family. John made it out of the hospital a couple of hours ahead of me. Always so competitive John.
I want to thank everyone for visiting, well wishes on Facebook and prayers. All of you have help to make this an amazing experience and something I will define my life as. Eric and Rebecca, thank you holding down the fort and for taking care of us. There is still recovery ahead but the worst is behind us. John came home with a lot of med and I emphasize “A LOT”. I came home with gross drainage tubes, a belly button “plug” and a walker. On an upside, John and I both got a free t-shirt. ;)
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Congratulations on being on the other side of donation. Welcome to the club!!! So glad those first few days are behind you.
It is a wonderful thing you have done. You deserve all the time you need to heal and be taken care of.
So glad "Billy" is working so well for John and hope it will for a very long time.
Kinda funny about the BB thing. Hope you weren't real attached to it, haha Maybe the new one will be prettier and you will want to show it off, haha.
It will take as long to recover from the TT as with the donation, so please go slow, you only have one chance to heal properly. Keep a pillow close to hug when laughing, coughing, and sneezing. Eat healthy, at least 25 grams of protein per meal for now, try some fresh squeezed lemon in water, hot or cold, at least 2 times a day for swelling. Plus drink your water to flush you body.
Best wishes for you and John. Janice
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I am amazed at how much I can sleep. I sleep all day and still sleep all night. Did everyone else experience this?
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Your body has been assualted and abused it needs lots of sleep. I did not get out of the hospital until day 5. When I got home I would have broken down into a sobbing fit but I did not want my wife to see that. I'm at day 27 and every day gets better especially after 2 weeks. Good luck
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Congratulations and welcome home!
Sleep - oh my goodness how we slept those first couple weeks! We had to have a nap mid morning about 10. Then we would have a nap mid afternoon about 2 or so. After that, it was in bed about 8. I've never slept so much in my life!
Sleep is your body's time to repair and recover. Enjoy the rest and sleep when you need it. Your body will let you know when it no longer needs the sleep.
Hope all is well.
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;) Welcome home Tori - Congratulations to you and John - Sending best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery. Wouldn't it be great if we had a video of all that occurred so we would know for sure about the conversations, activities, sequence, etc... of the entire process - then we wouldn't have to wonder if it was a real occurrence or some delusional recollection? Anyway, I'm glad things went reasonably well and hope you both have smooth sailing from this point forward. Please keep us updated on your progress. Welcome to the club friend!
Scott 8)
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Tori (& John),
CONGRATULATIONS :D and WELCOME. ;)
Great description of your events. I luv the holding hands in the "gym" (= Recovery Room). The anti-memory-plus-anesthesia med I got means my first memory is in my post-op room with my wife.
Fr. Pat will send you privately the secret handshake for our club, I believe. ;D
Bill
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Am so glad all went well and your experience was good! I love hearing other people's experiences because I get to live through it all over again! I feel a bit odd, but because my donation went well, I wish I could do it all over again. Like someone addicted to plastic surgery only I'm addicted to donations! ;D I empathize with you on the yucky drain. It didn't bother me too much until I had to clean the tube where it was inserted into my body....that grossed me out to feel the tube moving around, etc. Up until that point, I actually thought maybe I could handle nursing school with the end result being a transplant coordinator.....now not so sure! I am so jealous that many of you talk about how much you slept after surgery. I did sleep a lot and VERY well in the hospital (4 days) and I really enjoyed that. But once I left the hospital and flew home, I really didn't sleep a lot...not more than normal except I'd force myself to take naps each day...some days I felt I needed one and others not so much. It was at the 6 week mark when I was getting ready to come back to work that the exhaustion kicked in. Then I felt like I had to sleep a lot. But that could have been anxiety about going back to work too.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us! I do wish we could have cameras go along with us like a documentary. Wish I'd thought to get a small camcorder for recording at least the before and after. Tried to get the surgeon to record the surgery, he said he'd try but the camera didn't cooperate very often (I'd signed off on it saying I was fine with them recording surgery for education....as long as I got a copy too!), but they couldn't get the camera to work. I had taken a disposable camera and they were very good about getting pics for me. Lefty is famous now on facebook! She's not only on my page but also my recipient's and everyone agreed she's a looker! ;) Hope you get to feeling better quickly and your new belly button is beautiful!
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The two drains were removed today and I was shocked about how big they were. They we twice as wide as the external part of the tubes and probably eight inches inside my abdomen. Also, the surgeon said that it would just pinch a little when she removed them. I get why she did this (so I wouldn't freak). But holy cow, they hurt coming out. The belly button took and it looks good.
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Thanks for posting, glad the TT is coming along. Are you fairly comfortable? My understanding is the recovery time is about the same for both you are going through. Did you have muscle repair along with it? I recently had drains removed from a surgery just recently. One I didn't feel, the other really stung. The drain sites are a bit ouchy even after a week later. Glad the BB is a keeper, haha.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Janice
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Yes, I had some muscles repair. I am feeling pretty good. I find now that every once and awhile my stomach muscles spasm. The doctor said that is pretty common.
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So glad to hear you are doing fairly well. Please take it easy, you have only one chance to heal properly. You have had two major surgeries at one time. I hope you have a great support group to help you during this time. Eat well, sleep often, and heal well, Janice
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Tori,
I'm nearly a year post-op and I still experience the spasms on my left side (by the port incisions) and every so often, around my main incision. It only hurts for a few seconds and is tolerable when I think about how it reminds me of the experience of donation once again (positive memories).
Glad you're recovering and things went well my friend. Best wishes and prayers for continued recovery for both you and your recipient.
Scott 8) 8)