Yesterday afternoon, I flew down to Seattle to visit Shelley & Tim, and Heather (recipient) & Libby (her daughter) & Dave (her husband). Over the past 1+ year, Shelley & I had e-mailed and talked fair amount about Swedish, the donor's surgeon (Dr. Chapman, who was my surgeon, too), the process, concerns, questions, etc.
I was in Canada from last Friday on until late Tuesday (day of surgery) night. Texting to-from cell phones was the only contact I could have (*NO* e-mail or cell voice where I was); the only cell between the 2 families was Heather's. So Libby & I texted a lot on Tuesday. (I came back a day early from Canada, late Tuesday, to be able to visit Shelley & Heather on Wednesday.)
It was GREAT to finally meet Shelley in person, even if she dosed off for a few seconds at a time from her dope-on-a-rope. Yes, she was/is a special person. We both agreed: she (and I) were not "heroes" -- we just did what needed to be done. Her fully supportive hubby, Tim, was/is great, too. And Shelley told me that Shelley's former kidney, now Heather's new-used kidney, is Sidney.
Shelley said she was not up to walking to meet Heather in the next room just then, so Tim took me next door to meet Heather & Libby. How often does a complete stranger-man say the very first thing to a stranger-woman, "Happiness is peeing!" -- and the stranger-woman immediately reply, "And real yellow pee, too!"? Well, that was the start of our long long chat. Heather is a special person, as is her daughter. Appreciative beyond words, she still can't believe that Shelley did such a thing. I did not meet Sidney in person, of course, but Sidney was "doing its thing" at well more than 100 cc. per hour.
AWW-RIGHT!!! And, shortly after I arrived, Shelley shuffled in holding her IV pole & nurse as back-up. That was when Tim took the picture of Shelley & Health that he posted. Then Shelley said she wanted to kiss Heather -- "ON THE CHEEK!" said the nurse -- and leaned over & did just that. Both women were beaming.
YYEESS!! It was good to watch such a happy, deeply satisfying, time -- and to have had a small supporting role in it.