Kevin's Kidney & me

I was diagnosed with Kidney Disease in 2009 and at that time it was suggested that I stop eating bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, cantaloupe and similar melons. I was absolutely willing to give up all of those except tomatoes.  I eat tomatoes pretty much every day in one form or another. Many sandwiches aren't complete without a little iceberg and tomato. Pizza's not pizza with tomato. Pasta and tomato sauce are so good together. A burrito with a little pico de gallo or colorado sauce is perfection. Salads with tomato, cheese burgers with tomato, grilled cheese and tomato, Tuna fish and tomato... I could just keep going. I have to admit that I've missed the melon and have cheated on that front a few times during the eight years between diagnosis and my transplant. But every summer I just had to have one (possibly two) banana split(s). How can you let a summer go by without a banana split? But bananas are back on the diet over here thanks to Kevin's Kidney...

As another week is almost over, another regularly scheduled doctor's appointment brings small nuggets of good news. Most of my numbers continue to be good. My magnesium and phosphorus levels are still low but we're working on those. My kidney disease made me anemic as well and that' still the case but I guess it takes a bit for the new kidney to produce the hormone that tells your bones to make the red blood cells that increases your oxygen and makes you strong enough to climb stairs without feeling winded. But the best news is that my staples came out yesterday. There were 32 of them and it was a little unsettling as my doctor was trying to ask me questions and talk to me while they were being taken out by her assistant. There was a little pinch with each one and on top of that they were located in the most ticklish spot on my body so I was edgy just anticipating him accidentally tickling me and me jumping and and his tool that he snipped them with some how cutting ...

So this is a little mini update because I had a small incident yesterday and I just wanted to keep you all updated and my recovery process updated as well. Yesterday morning was a labs draw day, which means going to MGH in Danvers for 10 minutes and having my blood drawn. No big deal. But around 3:30 PM my nurse called and asked how I was feeling. I told her I felt fine. She then said well your labs came in and your Phosphorus is really low, like dangerously low. Unfortunately we need you to go to your nearest Emergency Room and get an I.V. treatment of phosphorus. So Meg took me to the ER where they drew their own labs first. Their results came up a little better than the MGH results. They decided to consult their Nephrologist, who then said he wouldn't do the treatment or even a pill but suggested instead a diet of beans, whole rice, cheeses, dairy and yogurt. So I'm off to the grocery store this morning to stock up on plenty of those. My link for phosphorus was...

So three weeks ago today I got my new Kidney... a.k.a. Kevin's Kidney. While there's not much to report on the accomplishments front, I do think a weekly update is in order for at least the next few weeks. Maybe the first two months, then after that change it up to monthly or when something interesting happens for better or worse. Speaking of better or worse... this week was much better than last week. Last week I ended up back in the hospital mid week for a single overnight. This week went swimmingly. Did labs on Monday, saw my doctor on Thursday. Numbers still look good. They swapped up a couple of my meds and asked me to make sure that I'm drinking plenty throughout the day. I also found out I have a mild case of AFib . When I came out of the hospital last week I had some new meds. I started taking them on Thursday night and on Friday I started seeing a new image show up on my Blood Pressure monitor. It was of a little heart and a jagged line like a heart beat lin...

Hair Socks So for starters I got a much needed hair cut today. I had actually considered shaving my head bald because in the last 6 months my hair has severely thinned and just looks weird now unless I don't wash it for two or three days and then it seems to acquire volume from either all of the product I must put in it or perhaps the general dirtiness of it all. Maybe a little of both. Here's the before and after. What does that have to do with recovery of my kidney transplant, you ask. Well, I suppose not much but it improved my self image value to just get that mop cleaned up... I was looking raggedy enough with the hair, then you add all of the weight loss and it really made that hair look bad. So... there's that. But also I've talked to Meg about getting a few pictures for posterity of me in just my underwear. Showing off my skin and bones body and my staples. I imagine I'll gain at least some, if not all of the weight back eventually and I want a reco...

Sunday Oct. 22 It's a story as old as time. Boy meets girl, girl takes boy's vital statistics, boy get's new kidney and the rest is history. Well, at least in the shortest version of this story. But that's not why you clicked on the link, is it? I didn't think so. So here's the full story, at least to the best of my memory and it actually only includes about two weeks. The rest of the story will be told over the course of the next several years, because... that's how blogs work. This is a picture of our hero, the boy from the short version of the story, and that boy is me, and this is the morning of the transplant while I'm in my hospital bed. Notice my face, its a little round and my neck is thick. In about 24 to 48 hours that will not be the case. Three hours earlier at approx 6:45 am I received a call to let me know there was a kidney they believed would be perfect for me. So I pulled my shit together, rallied my family and headed to the ho...

Welcome to the journey. I'm Bil and I just recently received a life saving kidney from a person unknown to me. For lack of a name we've decided to give our donor a nom de plume and I suppose you could say that I reached for some low hanging fruit by choosing a name that allowed for alliteration. And while it's really about me I felt obligated to give Kevin top billing in this blog as none of this would be possible without their gift. In the end it might turn out that Kevin is really a Karen, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I wouldn't expect too much at first as I'm still in recovery mode it's only been two weeks today. But perhaps I'll write a second entry in the next few days to capture what recovery has been like so far. In the meantime I'm still working on the layout and such so as to make this as attractive to look at and as simple to interact with as it is fun to read. I do also recommend that you read the disclaimer of sorts ...