recovery

The water is really calm this morning. As usual, my heron is fishing off the dock. When I was walking back to my desk I saw trooper 1 flying by so a snapped a quick picture. My point and shoot is good for taking pictures of people, but doesn't take good close up distance shots. I can't get a good picture of my heron with it, or nice landscape pictures.


It's been two weeks since my donor nephrectomy, and I'm feeling much better. My incisional pain is only a rare twinge when I lift something too heavy or turn and reach for something. Driving still makes my incisions hurt, but not as bad as a week ago. Most doctors recommend no driving for two weeks after donor nephrectomy, but the resident told me one week, and that was the instruction I followed (only because I live alone and I need to get to the hospital, grocery store, etc). I would recommend waiting the two weeks if you have that luxury.

I saw the urologist earlier this week and he gave me my activity instructions: No running, swimming or lifting more than 15 pounds for four weeks, no sit ups for six weeks. Apparently the fascia is 70% healed at the six week point. I took a 35 and a 45 minute walk yesterday for a total of 2.7 miles around my new neighborhood.

My mom was readmitted 7/12 to adjust her medications after only two days at home. She's still there but doing very well. The kidney seems like a champ, with serum creatine in the 0.9-1 range.

It's been hard to get unpacked between visiting my mom and feeling VERY tired. Everyone warned me that I'd be tired, and they were right. For the first week and a half I could be tough and have marathon days of unpacking, shopping, and hospital visits, but now I can only do one thing in a day. I have been prioritizing exercise above other activities, and I'm hoping to keep that up when I go back to work. I've lost 22.5 pounds (21 lost in the three weeks pre-op, regained due to fluid, and lost again post op) mostly because I haven't had an appetite since Nathan and I split up. My appetite is slowly returning, so I joined eDiets to help with some ideas for healthful meal planning. I chose eDiets, because they had a Mediterranean option, and the NEJM just had an article this week that showed benefit in weight loss and markers of inflammation. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well Mom's nurse just called and they've run out of one of her medications that the hospital doesn't stock, so I have to run in and drop off a few doses.

Peace

whirlwind

well, the last two weeks my life have been topsy-turvy. i left my husband, moved into a new house on the water with my two rottweilers, and donated my left kidney to my mother. i feel like a ship in a bad storm, waves crashing from all directions.

i was with my husband for almost nine years, and married for nearly seven. i don't think the internet is the place for the details, it's just too personal. i will say that it is very, very hard, even if you're the one leaving for all the right reasons. my husband wasn't a monster (or even close), but the relationship was not good for me. it had become the major source of stress in my life. ultimately, his refusal to allow me to save my mother's life by donating my kidney is what tipped me over the edge. it's a little sad that i wasn't strong enough to do it unless there were such incredible stakes, but it is what it is.

right now i'm sitting at my computer, looking out at the chesapeake bay, watching a blue heron fish from the end of my pier. my beloved rottweilers are with me, napping as usual, and just being they're usual adorable selves.

i keep crying, but i'm never exactly sure why... mourning my separation from my husband, worry about my mother in the hospital, physical pain from my donor nephrectomy, stress from moving, loneliness. there are just too many reasons to pick one. i know i'll be fine, i always have been, and the outpouring of love from my friends and family buoys me up in this storm.

best day EVER

I had the amazing experience of flying in a helicopter from Baltimore, Maryland to Morgantown, West Virginia about a week ago. It was the most fun I have ever had. I had a grin plastered on my face from the moment I found out I was going, until I fell asleep that night. It's hard to pick a coolest part, but I loved the helmet with earphones and microphone for talking to the pilot, medic and nurse, I loved taking off and landing, I loved how close we were to the mountains, I loved wearing a flight suit and saying "Roger that." I loved everything about it.

It turns out, that before I ever wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be a pilot. Before that I wanted to be a fire truck, but I was only three and my dad was a firefighter. I loved planes. My dad took me to a park next to National Airport (now Reagan National) where we lay in the grass watching planes take off and land. Together, we assembled a model of an SR-71 blackbird. I even took a "physics of flight" class in the fourth grade. Sometime after fourth grade, my interests shifted toward the biological sciences, and here I am, a neonatal ICU doc and a neuroscientist who wants to fly.

The trip was to pick up a patient, who thankfully was very stable, allowing me to thoroughly enjoy myself. The scenery was beautiful on the way there, bucolic farmland, forests, mountains. We took off from the helipad on top of the Children's Center, and flew to Frederick to pick up a map because the pilot didn't have a map of WV. Then we flew through (and among) the mountains of Western Maryland.

While we were packing the patient up, Syscom called to tell us we had 30 minutes, because thunderstorms were closing in from either side of the city. Two minutes later, they called back and said to be on the helipad in five minutes, a tornado was headed our way. That certainly got us moving. Just before trooper 1 got to the helipad it was pouring rain, buckets and buckets. Luckily, the rain let up some when we loaded the patient and ourselves into the chopper. We had a full load of fuel for the long ride back to Baltimore, so the helicopter had some trouble taking off. We hovered over the helipad for minutes that felt like hours, then the nose tilted forward off the edge of the building and we caught wind that took us into the air.

It didn't take us long at almost 200 mph to outrun the bad weather, and the rest of our trip home was beautiful. Returning to Baltimore was great, seeing familiar landmarks like the Bromoseltzer tower, and the hospitals where I have spent the last ten years.

Best. Day. Ever. I mean it.


(Helicopter photo from MSP webpage)

more gratitude

listing things i love reminds me to be grateful. my life is truly wonderful.

the chesapeake bay, with its salty/tar/fish smell and dense sand, silty when it's about a foot deep
my sleeping dogs
folk music
the smell of lavender
curling up under a comforter on the couch with a mug of hot apple cider
hole punches
feeling sore the day after a long run
willie nelson
adolescent deer eating grass in my back yard

things i love

i want more joy in my life. it seems like i've taken a back seat to my career for the past fourteen (FOURTEEN!) years, and now i'm starting to pursue the things i love....

rottweilers
airplanes
stickers
reading
being outside
running

buckle up, the adventure starts today.

Sunshine day

Had a lovely day in the garden with the girls (Ally and Dora). We planted pots with flowers and herbs. Moved chrysanthemums to side porch until fall (hopefully they'll bloom then). Luckily, our lawn service came to mow today as well, so everything is neat and tidy. Still having problems with excess growth along fences. Thinking about sparing application of round-up right at base of fence. Maybe I'll google for ideas. I put miracle grow starter/transplanting fertilizer on all of the potted plants.

Sadly, my skin is crispy-fried from the sun. I'm on call tonight and had to ask the pharmacy for Tylenol for the pain. Bad judgement on my part, next time long sleeves...