Transplant Day 43
The actual surgery now seems like it was longer ago than it actually was, and dialysis is a distant memory. I think it’s due to feeling so much better, and pretty much being fully recovered from the surgery. I also tend to look forward more than I look back, so that could also explain it.
I really have to remember to continue checking my fistula for the “buzz” (layman’s term for what medical professionals call a “thrill”; there is a palpable buzz that is felt due to the turbulence caused by the mixing of higher pressure arterial blood and lower pressure venous blood). I did check it yesterday, and it’s fine. I’m hoping to get it stented sometime in August, but haven’t brought that up in a few weeks. I do wonder if they will be able to do the fistulaplasty without dye, because the Transplant Surgeon says ABSOLUTELY NO DYE!!!
My appetite when on dialysis was horrendous; fortunately I could afford to lose weight (although it did affect my nutritional status adversely). I thought that once I got my transplant, my appetite would pick up. However, we went out to dinner Friday night, and I’m not eating much more than I did a few months ago. I’m not complaining, because I would like to get under 200 lbs (in addition to the weight I’ll lose once my native kidneys shrivel up and fade away). I think my appetite might be due to the fact that I’m drinking so damn much water, that I’m not hungry.
I mentioned to my Nephrologist how amazed and happy I am that after being on BP meds for close to 20 years, I’m finally off of them. I thought after my Gastric Bypass Surgery that I would be off of them, but I wasn’t. I’m thinking now that the hypertension prior to that was weight related, and after that was kidney related. Now that I’m “fixed” from a kidney standpoint, I’m relatively normo-tensive.
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About
My name is Jeff, and I was born in 1963. I married Jackie in 1990 after we met in a psychiatric hospital (we both worked there). Kevin is our teen-aged son.
RN since 1989. I currently work in a hospital-based Pediatric Clinic.
Dog lover. We have 3 2 dogs: Kelsea (Springer Spaniel), Chester (Sheltie), and Digger (GoldenDoodle).
Hobbies: genealogy (main areas of research are Scotland, England, Ireland, and Northeastern Pennsylvania), computers, listening to music (Celtic, Rock, Classical; my current favorites are Enter The Haggis, The Screaming Orphans and Flogging Molly), and following news and politics (I’m a Libertarian but registered Republican, as Pennsylvania doesn’t allow cross-party voting in the primary).
I have 2 major chronic illnesses: Polycystic Kidney Disease and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (a form of muscular dystrophy). I’ve also had gastric bypass surgery successfully (I’m 200 lbs less than my pre-op weight from January 2002), and most recently received a kidney transplant on May 3, 2008 at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, PA. Thank you donor and donor family!
Philosophy: Chronic illness is all in what you make it; it is what it is, and I won’t let it limit what I do…
Feel free to send me an email; address here.
Do you like to drink smoothies? That would be a good way to stay hydrated and get nutrients.
I like smoothies, but tend to not drink them often, due to calories. When I had gastric bypass, they ingrained into me that I should not “drink my calories”. Although one a day probably wouldn’t hurt…