3-Week Mark Report

Week 3: My tummy doesn't look pregnant anymore, unless I am sitting a bit inclined, but is still a bit swollen in the same area, under my navel.  That area is more tender to the touch or pressure than before, because of the cut nerves trying to repair, all in the skin. I still don't feel comfortable in jeans, although I can fit in them just fine.

I still cough gingerly and shallowly when I can, but I found out deep, heavy coughs really aren't hurtful either, with tummy muscle support (holding it in tight with my hands or a pillow). Same with sneezing.

I also found that pillow support over that part of my tummy also helps protect me from the skin sensitivity when I think something will rest on, rub, or otherwise disturb my skin.

I had been told by somebody that a strap-on support would really be a relief; however, the surgeon said to not use one, because it could rub off the scabs too early, causing more problems.

I no longer need medicinal help for bowel regularity, nor have I needed Tylenol for pain.

I need to stay away from crowds as much as possible, to avoid possible infections, but I may need to take short trips to the store occasionally during the week while my husband is working out of town.  He will do the shopping on Saturday when he is home.

I think it is time to start walking for exercise. I did walk swiftly for about 2 seconds today, but stopped because the extra bounce on my tummy didn't feel good, so I will still take a slower normal speed. When I say "exercise", what I mean is taking a more distant walk than I can get in my tiny apartment. I will walk my child 4 blocks to school in the morning and then walk home. Not much, but a transition from staying down all day to the treadmill, which I hope to start next week.

Other than these minor tummy symptoms, I feel normal.

2-Week Post-Surgery Check-Up

I was expecting much more at my 2 week post-surgery appointment...labs, urine test, pressing on my belly, meeting with a few from my team, such as my surgeon, physician, and donor coordinator...but it was much simpler than that. There were zero tests, and I saw only one person...my recipient's surgeon.

He came in and said, "You look well. Let's take a look at the incisions....they are doing great. Be sure not to pick at the scabs. They will fall off by themselves. When people start feeling better, they tend to do more than our instruction. You need to be sure not to pick anything up weighing 10 pounds or more. A hernia is the most common complication, often from picking up children, and you don't want a hernia. Are there any questions."

Since everyone was telling me prior to surgery that the recipient recovers faster than the donor, I was expecting it to last the whole recovery.  I suppose, now that I think about it, in the hospital my recipient felt great and enjoying complete meals, while I kept myself to saltine crackers, gelatin, and soup. That would be the only way I could think that fit this expectation.

I asked why I feel great and walk standing up, while my recipient looked sleepy and walked hunched over. (I saw her just the day previous.). He said the sleepiness is probably a side effect of the anti-rejection medicine she is taking, but the sleepiness will wear off as she gets used to them. I learned later that her staples (which were removed at the same time as my doctor visit) pulled as she stood up which made her hunch, but with the staples gone she could stand up straight.

I told the surgeon that I was expecting so much more pain than I experienced, and asked if I am a lucky exception or if what I have experienced (very little pain, or discomfort, really) is normal. He said that I was very normal. That is VERY good news!

I then asked about my liquid-laden belly.  He said that was normal and part of the healing process. I should expect it to continue for another month. He said the liquid gathers to a place of least resistance. No surprise to me that this part of my body, having carried seven babies, followed by no exercise greater than walking, would be the place of least resistance. I don't know if it is least resistant to everyone. I didn't think to ask.

Except for the initial nurse taking my temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen with the finger clip, that's it.  10 minutes, no poking or prodding, nobody else.  Easy-peasey.

I have been faithfully taking 1/2 hydrocodone and 1 Tylenol every 4 hours since trying to wean myself last week.  I forgot to bring my meds on my trip to my appointment. When I got home 7 hours later, I realized I wasn't hurting, so thought maybe I don't need them any more. At midnight as I was about to go to sleep I did feel a little burning. Not enough burning to warrant meds normally, but I didn't want to test it when I ought to be sleeping. I won't be taking any more hydrocodone, I don't think. I will see if Tylenol will do the job, but will only take it when and if I feel actual need.

The only things I need to do the rest of my life are drink at least 8 cups of water each day, exercise, stay away from ibuprofen and high sodium and medicinal herbs, eat healthy and balanced meals including protein (it doesn't specify any particular protein source), and take my blood pressure each month.

2nd Week of Recovery

Day 8: I have felt so good, I could say that I have no pain. I talked to my transplant coordinator today and told her this. She said that they have found this kind of recovery to happen mostly to women who have given birth. Since I have given birth seven times, I suppose I do fit into that category.

I thought today to take Tylenol instead of any hydrocodone. With this experiment I learned that probably I ought to keep taking hydrocodone for a bit longer. The pain wasn't too much, but took three doses to bring back to no burning.

I also had an epiphany. That's right, I have to have an ah-hah moment to put two and two together. This just may explain quite a bit why I have almost zero pain.  You see, all of my pain, or burning, rather, is within a fist sized area on the right side of my belly.  The rest of my belly is numb, similar to when a foot falls asleep. I would imagine that if I had full feeling, I would be feeling this same pain and/or burning across my whole belly.  That would likely be harder for me to bear than just the small portion I now feel. Therefore, I must remember that my body is recovering and deserves rest and treated with tenderness, regardless of how I think I am feeling.

Tonight I made another discovery. (Here, I was expecting today to be a dull day, without reason to post.). The glue with which my incisions were sealed is starting to peel off. This will be interesting.  I am a picker, but was warned not to pick at its edges. They itch. I hope angels will help keep my hands from doing so in my sleep.

Day 9: Maybe it is because of yesterday's "epiphany", or maybe not, but today I have been more aware of feeling of unease across my whole belly and emotionally.  Neither is pain, just as if a warning. I hope it is not of pain to come, but just a warning to be aware and take it easy and realize that my body is recovering from a major event, and I need to be careful not to forget that and give it proper time to heal.

Day 10: Today was a nice day. I took a 15 minute walk outside with my mom. I made a goal to drink 8 cups of water. I made my goal. I noticed that the past couple of days the water no longer tastes nasty. I think possibly the medicine was altering my taste buds. Water tasted metallic. Not any more, thankfully.

I notice more feeling across my belly. I would even say it feels tender. The skin felt prickly, like my foot does as it wakes up from being numb-like asleep. Underneath the skin it aches, as though working up to an infection. I keep expecting it to look red or feel hot to the touch, but am both surprised and relieved to find neither. Hopefully it is only normal feelings of this stage of healing.

The itching at my incisions can get quite intense, but simply putting my hand firmly and gently over the area seems to satisfy it.

I have noticed that laughing, sneezing, coughing (although I still cough very gingerly), and moving positions on stomach muscle power hurts very little. I wouldn't even call it hurt.  I might feel a quick twang when moving positions that says "I would have preferred you use your arms a little more still", and I can feel a bit of, I don't know whether to call it stress or tenderness, something in my stomach (when engaging in those other spontaneous fits) between noticing it and barely discomfort, just as it it's saying, "Hi, I'm here for you. I'm working."

Day 11: I debated whether I ought to write this next entry. I decided that it might feel a bit like TMI, but for a woman it is important information.  Today I started my period. That is important because for one, it may explain why I felt a bit emotional a couple days ago, rather than a looming infection. Also, it's good to know that our bodies, or at least my body, did not stop working from shock or something. It's not a big deal. I feel relatively normal, so it was no more a hassle than any other month. I must admit, however, that every month I have almost zero symptoms. No cramping, generally no tender emotions ... I was just looking for any possible symptom connected with the healing of the surgery. I am very lucky.

Day 12: I haven't been wearing anything but jammies. It helps to remind me (and others) that my place and business is recovering, whatever I look or feel like on the outside. Also, I have been nervous about putting any elastic or other waistline on my belly or across my scabbed incisions. Today I wore leggings ... the kind meant to be worn as pants. Not jeggings, but a stretchier material, black and has small zippers and decoration on it. It was surprisingly comfortable. The waistline went over my belly, but also pulled everything in tight-ish without making me uncomfortable.

Day 13: In the morning my belly looks normal, but within 15 minutes of getting up out of bed, body water gathers between my navel and large scar in the bikini area. It continues to gather throughout the day, so that by the time I retire to bed at night I look like I have a stomach to exercise off. As I touch my belly, it is both tender (which means I feel something, even if it is a little uncomfortable) and numb. Other than that I feel quite normal.

I feel like I ought to be able to get up and do whatever. I feel a little foolish when people do things for me that I feel like I should be doing myself. Ever since I got home, I eat my meals at the dining table. After eating, I handwash my plate, silverware, and glass.  Just my own.  Today I saw maybe 5 place settings in the sink... a very small load, and decided that I ought to do them, rather than leaving them up to my mom.  I was surprised that it takes so much muscle to wash such a small load of dishes that weren't even heavy dishes. Just the movement of my arms along with holding the items to wash was enough.

Honestly, probably almost everybody I know wouldn't care and would do a little housework anyway, proving to themselves and others that they can do it. However, I want to be sure that I heal the right way the first time, without taking risks, no matter how small I think they may be. I can see why I had been warned by the doctor and by friends that come about the second week I will feel like I ought to be doing more, but I would have to remember to stay down, because although the outside of me feels fine, the inside of me is still recovering and should not be strained. The doctor said that carrying a gallon of milk is more than he wants me to do for the first six weeks.  I don't feel like I'm making excuses. I feel like I am being smart by following their advice to a better recovery.

Day 14: I feel fine, strong, and well. I feel like I have been living a cliche' affirmation, "I am healthy and strong, and each day I feel better and better." Tomorrow marks 2 weeks since surgery. The next day is my 2 week appointment. The following day my parents leave to return to their home in another state. I can't believe it's done. Well, my recovery isn't finished, as I still have 4 more weeks to go, but the fact that I have had surgery to remove one of my kidneys to give to my friend....the surgery happened, with almost no effort on my part.  On one hand it was a big enough deal that it involved many people. On the other hand, I almost feel like it was an alien abduction. I fell asleep and woke up the next day with mysterious cuts on my stomach. Other than those cuts and the waterbag stomach, I feel no different than normal. I acknowledge that it took the effort of many people (and hydrocodone pills) for it to feel this way, but I feel like this has been so easy. Removing a body part shouldn't feel this easy, but I am grateful for it.

Those First Few Days' Recovery At Home

1st day at home:  Feeling great. Ate soup with a little more sustenance, spicy (to my tongue) chicken taco soup.  I took a risk. I figured it is possible the spiciness and beans could help wake up my bowels. If not, I could have set myself up for more nausea. Yay! My risk was good, and (TMI, but so important) I tooted! One more milestone met. I won't bore you with my results, but you might like to know that in my discharge kit, they gave me an automatic blood pressure kit and trained me how to use it. I am to keep a record as I take my blood pressure twice daily. I am to bring my list to my 2 week appointment.

In the evening, I noticed quite a bit of red around my largest incision. Also, I am bloated enough to look a good 5 months pregnant. The nurse suggested milk of magnesia or suppositories for relief from bloating and possible constipation. As far as the redness goes, if I spike a fever higher than 101 or have discharge with nasty odor, they want to see me, but for now I should just watch.

2nd day at home: Since I was up standing, walking, or sitting much more than resting in bed yesterday, I am thinking that possibly I pushed myself a little too far. I felt just fine, but maybe because I was somewhat active, my body couldn't use all its strength to fix me.

For this reason, I decided to be in bed today, except for meals, medicine and bathroom. I have been able to pass quite a bit of gas, but I think my newly awake bowels are still groggy, because by morning my tummy was pretty normal, by afternoon I looked a good 5 months, maybe pushing 6 months, pregnant. The red around the incision doesn't appear to have increased. No fever.

I had forgotten to mention this discovery yesterday, and because it is more obvious today, I will mention that my belly below my belly button level, and especially from my center to left side, feels asleep! I have heard that it will take about 2 years for all the nerves to reattach and I get all my feeling there back.

3rd day at home: I feel so good, I feel like I must be taking advantage of my parents; however, I know that in order for me to recover right, I need to take it easy, even if I am feeling well.

I still look pregnant, but not as much as I did yesterday.

Not much to report. It was a good day.

4th day at home: Today marks one week since the operation. I no longer look pregnant; instead I look like I am pushing my tummy out as hard as I can to say 'look, I look pregnant'.

I am SO glad that I religiously took my stool softener and, last couple of days, milk of magnesia. I finally passed this important milestone (bowels working properly again), and I don't want to know how it would have been without those two meds.

I feel zero pain, almost no burning, and sometimes my scabs itch. I thought I would find out if I really do have zero pain, or if the hydrocodone was doing a great job. This morning I took half of my pain medicine and one Tylenol. That seemed to be enough. I decided to wait until my body tells me it is time for more meds before taking more. According to my schedule, I missed my last pill 2 1/2 hours ago. I still have no pain. I am a little sleepy, which I believe is my body's way to tell me it wants me to slow down further so it can fix me faster, but no pain.... Update: I just felt my first indication that it would be good to take my pain meds again, tight muscles and burning incision...7 hours after my last dose, instead of 4.

Third Day Post-Op

Really, really good.  When I take walks, I do 3 laps, standing up straight, and increasing speed. I have a patch behind my ear for anti-nausea, as well as anti-nausea oral pills. They seem to be working.

Still no movement of my bowels, nor gurgle sounds coming from them. Until I toot, I will remain suspicious of another looming nausea episode. Come on, bowels, you can do it! I know you can!

I could keep down my jello, tomato basil soup, white dinner roll, and chocolate chip cookie today. Yay for tastes and textures! My last meal will be portobello ravioli with tomato sauce, tomato basil soup, two dinner rolls, and for dessert...berries and vanilla yogurt. That all sounds so yummy. I am really looking forward to it. I hope my tummy agrees. :)

I am checking out of the hospital tonight around 6:30.  I find it ironic that my friend has been looking forward to checkout and returning home today, but she needs to stay one more day. I would love to stay one more night in the hospital, but I have run out of good excuses to do so.

Second Day After Operation Day

Hard day. Period. The end.

That is all I had planned to say, but that doesn't exactly paint a clear picture of what my worst day looked like.

I had great sleep the night before, only being woken up every two hours or so this time. My first indication that this would not be my best day was when I went to the bathroom. Coming back to bed, my incisions were burning! The burning created soreness across my whole belly. The soreness wasn't really different from the day before, but the burning sensation seemed to lower my ability to cope. I cried.

My breakfast came. I had one bite. My mouth said "yum," but my throat warned me of upcoming nausea, should I try that again. I took a sip of water. Yuck! It tasted like plastic! My empty mouth tasted like copper. I ate a third of my lunch potato soup and a third of my banana. I was not on a restricted diet by the doctor, but by my body. When dinner came, every smell was nauseous to me, even the smell of the cookie.

One of my closest friends came to visit me. I loved that, but I felt bad that I couldn't be happy for her. Of course, she wasn't expecting me to be anything but in serious pain, so she wasn't disappointed by my feeling sick, but I was.

My first indication that I was going to get sick is when I have zero desire to smile. That could last a while. Then I lack desire to talk at all. Instead, should someone ask me anything, I simply look at them. Then nausea hits, fast and hard. You know how yucky it feels just before throwing up because of a stomach flu. Now times the intensity by 10. This nausea is horrible, horrible.

The outcome is no longer burps. It's full on heaves that either produces the last meal (potato soup doesn't smell too bad coming up, thank goodness), or stomach acid, or nothing. VERY IMPORTAT INFO: it is much, much easier to throw up sitting in a normal chair than in a bed, even if the bed is created into a chair!

The nurse gave me anti-nausea meds. They didn't work.

Nausea and the following stomach cramps after throwing up pretty much summed up my worst day. That, and staring into numbing nothingness.

Ooh, but I did learn something valuable. Coughing and throwing up are much more comfortable (if you can even call it that) if you are already in an upright sitting position.

First Day Post-Op

My spirit was pretty high. Not because of narcotic pain killers, but because recovery from kidney donation was MUCH easier than I had anticipated.  I wasn't loopy at all, nor felt like I was being dragged through intense misery and wo, which is what I was expecting for the first whole week.

The surgeon and his transplant staff came in to answer any questions I had. I thought it was funny that they kept complimenting me for doing such a great job in surgery. Yah, because sleeping was really hard work! Haha.

The narcotic pain medications didn't take all the pain away, but the pain I experienced was manageable.  It felt to me much like the after-birth pains women experience as their uterus clamps down the days after a birth, only the cramping didn't come and go, but stayed steady. It was also higher than the after birth pains. This ache was across my belly side-to-side on a muscle between my ribs and my belly button.

The nurse had certain milestones for me. To me, that is an assignment, if I want to get an A, so I made it my goal to meet each milestone that was set out for me.

The catheter was taken out, and I learned how to get out of bed and walk to the toilet and pee in a plastic hat held in place by the toilet seat. When I was finished, I pulled a string to let the attendant know they could measure and chart how much had come from me. Those were two milestones completed. Check and check.

I was disconnected from the oxygen tube. Check.

Another milestone was to take my medicine orally, rather than through the IV. Check that off, they took that portion of IV off. The kept my IV in to put fluids through me and clear my kidney, but no more regularly dripping meds in it.

The other was to get me walking the halls four times a day. My first attempt, I was super dizzy at first, then I felt nauseated, but I was determined to take that walk. When I got to the door of my room the nausea hit really hard! The physical therapists told me they were taking me back to my bed. The feeling of nausea went away, probably with a few burps.

The reason walking is so important is that it helps to wake up the bowels. The nurse said that if I could toot, the nausea would no longer be a problem, because everything would be heading south, like normal.  Once or twice a day the nurses listen to my bowel, but my bowels are not making a sound.

My second walk, my personal goal was to walk two doors down, because that is where the physical therapist said is the most distance people get their first time. Well, when I got two doors down, I realized that my friend was only 5 doors away, so I went to pay her a visit. On the way back to my room, my stomach muscles were getting tired.

My third walk took me all around the hallway block, and the fourth was two laps. I felt accomplished.

Two of my closest friends paid me a visit that day. I loved their visits! Toward the end of the day I made three comments:
"If this is what I feel like with Lortab in my system, I don't want to find out how it feels without the Lortab."
"If this is my worst day, then recovery as donor is a breeze!"
"I really don't want to go home tomorrow, because this was such a good day, I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow ends up being the worst."
I called it!