1. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes. It's a bit wearying to have to travel to Spokane at least twice, sometimes three, times a week for labs at 7:30 a.m. Until the stent comes out of my bladder in mid-June, I am prohibited from driving, so I depend on Debbie, Christy, or Carol to transport me. Debbie and Christy have been fully cooperative, patient, uncomplaining, and absolutely reliable. Carol will drive me this coming Monday and I expect she'll be just like Christy and Debbie, great company and a great driver.
The thing is, I enjoy these appointments.
The phlebotomists at the lab are cheerful, efficient needle pokers. They are eager to answer my questions and send me home with supplies so I can bring a urine sample with me from home and not have to produce on the spot.
The one day a week I go to the transplant clinic and meet with transplant team members is especially enjoyable and reassuring.
Today, I met with nephrologist, Dr. Anwar Khokar, who'd come to Sacred Heart from Minneapolis to help the clinic cover appointments. He liked most of what he saw in my lab results, especially the fact the my creatinine levels continue to come down, to improve. He increased my dosage of magnesium supplements and prescribed me a one time powder to mix with water to bring down my potassium levels.
Throughout our conversation, I felt very good about what Dr. Khokar said about how my new kidney is functioning and about the progress of my recovery.
2. I had a quick conversation with Gina, one of the transplant team pharmacists. I asked her if I could be drinking Licorice Spice and Bengal Spice teas out of concern that there might be ingredients in them that would interact poorly with my medication(s). Immediately she nixed the Licorice Spice tea. She took a picture of the ingredients list on the Bengal Spice tea box and messaged me later in the day that it has ingredients which interact poorly with Tacrolimus, one of the immunosuppressive drugs I take, and so my longterm relationship with this longtime favorite tea of mine has now hit the skids.
3. Nurse Jenn is on vacation this week, so I talked next with her colleague, Nurse Angela.
I asked Nurse Angela to remind me how long certain restrictions like not spending a lot of time in public places or not being able to go to the Fitness Center were going to last. I told her I was not having any problem with these restrictions, but that the timetable wasn't quite clear in my mind.
When she responded, two vitally important facts that I'd heard before, but that hadn't really sunk in, took hold inside of me.
Here is fact #1: Upon receiving a new kidney, the transplant team pumped a very high volume of a mighty antirejection/immunosuppressive drug into my bloodstream.
This mighty drug, on the one hand, keeps my system from rejecting this organ that invaded my system from outside my body and, on the other hand, it wipes out my immune system for about three months.
I don't have to quarantine myself at home during these three months, but I will avoid crowds. I asked Nurse Angela about recreating at casinos. "Not for at least three months -- and, if you do go, wear a mask and stick to the non-smoking areas." (My first thought was one of gratitude for the fact that the Wildhorse Resort in Pendleton is 100% non-smoking!)
Right now, I can make masked trips to the store -- I'm more likely to do so once I can drive -- and do other similar things in less crowded public places as long as I take precautions.
I'll lie low.
When I asked Nurse Angela about exercise, she reminded me that it takes about three months or so for the surgical site to heal and to grow tissue to protect my new kidney. She explained how my native kidneys are, by nature, protected by our anatomy, but that my body needs time to build similar protection for this new organ just to the left and slightly above my groin. As far as exercise, for at least three months, I'm limited to walking. No biking, swimming, huffing and puffing on, say, the NuStep machine; no yoga; no activity that involves twisting, lifting, or anything that would jar the kidney's new home.
The post-transplant picture keeps getting clearer to me. It's a lot to sort out. So much has to do with the new environment in my body -- the efforts to keep my immune system from rejecting the new kidney and my efforts to provide my new kidney with a peaceful home and to provide plenty of calories, protein, and other nutrition to the surgical site so that my body can not only heal, but perform the new construction it is undertaking.
So far, the new kidney seems to be doing well.
It needs an accepting and protective home.
That's really what this time of recovery is largely about -- as I understand it.
My new kidney simply needs me to be accepting, disciplined, and patient.
I can do that.
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