1. I might want to repeat this over the next days and weeks: I'm immeasurably appreciative of and grateful for the support so many people have expressed to me over the last week leading up to and after last Saturday's transplant surgery. I've loved reading all the encouraging comments, emails, and cards and have taken every Facebook response of "like", "love", and "care" to heart. I've especially enjoyed having sweet memories of my relationships with all of you return. I'd love to respond individually to all of these words of encouragement and support. I understand that I can't, so I'll have to let this and other blanket statements of gratitude suffice. Thank you again and again.
2. I've thought a lot today how our bodies just don't forget and it seems that nothing that happens inside of us is ever really finished. I suffered pulmonary damage in a Zinc Plant accident back in 1973 and all through the years on the transplant list, going for regular visits with the transplant team, I continued to be x-rayed, scanned, tested, and examined to make sure that my respiratory system was up to supporting this transplant. It's what led me to those thirty-six sessions of rehab and it's what got me going regularly to the Fitness Center.
In addition, I wasn't done with bacterial meningitis when it cleared up back in the months after I fell ill in November of 1999.
It's highly likely that the antibiotics that saved my life in 1999 were also the source of the damage to my kidneys. Much of the legacy of the meningitis inside of me in the years following this illness eventually cleared up: the fatigue, depression, headaches, and other impacts.
The kidney damage remained.
In other words, both the Zinc Plant accident and my bout with bacterial meningitis have continued to live in me all these years. Neither medical event was ever over.
3. Today was Saturday. It's been a week since the transplant. I'm confined to staying in the house except to go to Sacred Heart about twice a week. It's time for me to get creative about filling up my hours at home. I'm feeling the temporary loss of routines like shopping for food, going to the Fitness Center, running errands, and other things. I'm starting to cook more again. It's about time to get back to reading. Once I get the tv moved out of the Vizio room, this would be a good time to watch movies. I'm still getting caught up completing last week's NYTimes crossword puzzles.
And, on Monday and Wednesday, I'll be going back to Sacred Heart for labs and another check up with the transplant team on Wednesday.
I'm adjusting.
I have quite a bit of time on my hands!
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