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.