The surgery was just a week ago and there’s nothing but good news to report. My heroic son Max is well enough to head home to Denver tomorrow. In so many ways this has been more difficult for him than for me. For one, we were warned beforehand that he would probably suffer more pain than I did. That’s because of the nature of the two different operations. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. But he’s strong, and I’m still feeling guilt-ridden for causing him so much pain and disruption.
Most people I’ve spoken with think that when you get a kidney transplant, they take out your old kidney. That’s not what happens. They remove the kidney from the donor, but generally leave the kidneys from the recipient in place, putting it into the groin where they connect up a new blood supply and attach the ureter from the new kidney to the old bladder. My surgeon Dr. Peter Yoo at Yale-New Haven said Max gave me a “perfect kidney,” in his words, “museum quality.” And it’s functioning perfectly.
I’ve been able to get out and do some walking, including a little stroll to watch the glorious fall foliage in my part of New England, punctuated by summer-like weather. I’m not in much discomfort. Actually less than I expected and things are healing quite nicely. On the medical side, I’ve had few side effects from the cocktail of anti-rejection and immunosuppressant drugs. I was a little lightheaded at first, but they took me off steroids after only a couple of days and that improved matters. Vital signs like blood pressure, blood sugar, etc are all looking good. Blood work so far is good and the docs have already taken me off some of my old meds (while obviously adding lots of new ones).
A couple of words about both the team at Yale-New Haven’s transplantation center and the folks at Cigna insurance. For starters, I couldn’t be happier with the entire team at Yale-New Haven, from the surgeons and nephrologists to the lab techs, nurses, and their assistants. They have been absolutely terrific, especially the Living Donor Team that took care of Max. I have been in other hospitals as a patient – too many of them. And these guys are at the top of the rankings for good reason.
While the health insurance companies often get a bad rap, in this case Cigna has been outstanding. They have covered me every step of the way, along with all of the travel expenses to get Max here from Denver. And while I know that a transplant is actually cheaper for them than putting me on dialysis, they’ve been great nonetheless.
My family and I are learning to live with the new normal – primarily issues of food consumption and food handling. There’s also the matter of trying to keep everything germ free, particularly challenging when both my wife Jody (soon to be canonized for sainthood) and my daughter both work in the schools, a germ laden environment if ever there was one. While I’ve never posted a selfie before, I’ve heard from enough concerned folks to want everyone to know that I’m up and about.
Next time around we’ll look at the causes of kidney disease, and why so much of it is avoidable. Better late than never. But what a price to pay.
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