1. Two years ago this evening, a nineteen year old man's kidney was transplanted into my urinary system.
Not long after midnight, the surgeon and his team released me to the ICU and right from the get go, all signs looked good that my body had accepted the new organ and that the kidney was waking up nicely and beginning to function.
I drove to Spokane this morning for a two-year anniversary appointment with Dr. Monita Poudyal, the same transplant nephrologist who spent a generous amount of time with me in the hours before the surgery talking me through what I would experience in surgery and what I could expect in the following days, weeks, and months.
Today, Dr. Poudyal beamed.
She told me my new kidney was "functioning beautifully".
We went over everything -- my recent labs, how I was taking care of myself, whether I was having any problems (I'm not), my exercise habits, my weight gain, my medications, everything.
Her final verdict: no changes.
Medications and dosages remain unchanged.
She expects this kidney to function well for many years.
On June 4th, Dr. Bieber, who is my primary nephrologist at Kootenai Health, and I will decide how often I'll have labs drawn and how often I'll see him. My guess, if memory serves me correctly, is that I'll have labs drawn every three months and see Dr. Bieber every six months.
My next appointment at the transplant clinic is in a year. If my kidney's function and my health continue to be good, the transplant team will cut me loose and I'll be under the sole care of Dr. Bieber.
When the results of the labs I had drawn last Monday began to parachute into my patient portal, I thought they looked awesome. Prostate normal. Cholesterol in great shape. No diabetes. My GFR looked strong. My creatinine levels looked acceptable. I saw no problems and my visit with Dr. Poudyal confirmed that I read those results correctly.
Ah.
What a relief that this surgery was a success and that I'm doing so well as I move forward from it.
2. Today started really great before I went to Spokane.
I called Silver Valley Tire Center around 7:20 to report the Camry's dead battery.
Within five minutes, one of their guys came to the house and removed the dead battery.
Ten or fifteen minutes later he returned with a new battery. He installed it. It worked(!), and I knew well ahead of my appointment in Spokane that the Camry was ready to roll.
Great service. Great guys to work with. Much gratitude.
3. I knew coming into today's appointment that after Dr. Poudyal and I were finished that I would be going over to the Sacred Heart lab for specialty labs to be drawn. These labs assess whether I'm at risk for organ rejection.
Wouldn't you know it. I left Dr. Poudyal's office on cloud 9 and I was hungry and I forgot all about having those labs drawn.
I glided up North Monroe to Zozo's Sandwich House and ordered a Hungry Hungry Hip-Pea sandwich, a combination of a mashed chickpea mixture, avocado, tomato, pickled red onion, spinach, and vegan mayonnaise along with a cup of chicken enchilada soup.
I was about three bites into my sandwich when I suddenly remembered that I didn't have the specialty labs drawn.
I finished my lunch and eased back up to Sacred Heart and the blood draw went quickly, smoothly, economically (!). I was back to the parking garage within and half an hour so didn't have to pay to park!
I ended my trip to the metropolitan Spokane area at Belle and Pete's ice cream parlor and celebrated having a new battery and the great news at the clinic on my two year transplant anniversary with a scoop of Extreme Oreo ice cream in a bowl.
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