Today is the seven week anniversary of Anna's kidney adoption. Currently, everything is going well for both Anna and her kidney. Her tests continue to show good results and she is feeling better and better every day.
This week I added some "firsts" to my mono-kidney routine. I was able to take my first post-surgery bath - which really isn't a big deal since I'm a shower person and don't like baths too much. But I was feeling pretty icky earlier this week and when I'm getting sick, I want a long hot bath. So I checked in with my kidney coordinator to make sure everything was ok and after checking on my incision scars to ensure everything was as it should be - got to enjoy my first post-surgery soak. It was pretty nice too.
Also this week I ran for the first time. I was prepared to just take a nice stroll on the gym's treadmill as I have been doing for the past month but for some reason I just had the biggest desire to run on Wednesday. Not sure if I just had extra energy or if something inside of me was telling me it was time to turn up the speed but I wanted to run. So I did. Now by run, I mean I jogged. I'm sure some of my running friends would qualify my jog as a fast walk, but I know I had two feet off the ground at the same time so it was certainly not a walk. It felt good. I only ran two miles, but it was great to do it again and a day later I'm still feeling good so I think I'll try it again next week.
The other "first" for this week is that in about 4 hours or so, I'm going to see Anna again. I haven't seen her since I left her house the day after Thanksgiving. I'm excited to see her because you can only really check in with someone in person - talking on the phone is a limited experience. So I'm pretty excited!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas
On the morning of Christmas Eve, my husband and I were having a cup of coffee over conversation of the demise of the Spears sisters (Britney and Jaime Lynn) when I looked up to find my mother had dressed my five-year old daughter in a vaguely familiar ensemble. It was a dress my grandmother had made for me in the early 80s, I believe I wore it for my first grade class photo. At first I was surprised to see the dress since I hadn’t even thought of it for at least 20 years, but then I was shocked when I could see that it mostly fit my daughter’s skinny frame. Although I was about a year older when I wore it, my daughter is much taller than I was at age five, so the overall fit wasn’t too bad.
Issabel flew into the living room, gave a twirl and a laugh and exited nearly as quickly as she had arrived. I looked down as tears pooled in my eyes. My husband gave me a puzzled look and asked if I was upset over our conversation about Jaime Lynn Spears getting pregnant at 16. As upsetting as that thought is, that was not why I was getting emotional. The true reason was because I specifically remember wearing that exact dress while running down the halls of my grade school holding Anna’s hand. And it was then that I realized Issabel is now the age Anna and I were when we met and became lifelong friends.
Christmas is a time for being thankful and grateful for friends and family. Christmas is a time to slow down and appreciate what matters most – from honoring family to spirituality to charity. It wasn’t until that moment yesterday morning that I absorbed the spirit of Christmas this year. I’ve been moving so fast this season, feeling behind on my decorating, shopping and getting my Christmas cards finished (by the way, if you haven’t seen yours yet it is coming) that I nearly let the bigger picture slide past me.
I hope everyone had a lovely and healthy holiday this year, in addition I hope everyone has at least one dear friend, either a new friend or a lifelong friend, that they are thankful for this season. As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “No man is useless while he has a friend.”
Merry Christmas!
Issabel - 2007
Nicole - 1981
Issabel flew into the living room, gave a twirl and a laugh and exited nearly as quickly as she had arrived. I looked down as tears pooled in my eyes. My husband gave me a puzzled look and asked if I was upset over our conversation about Jaime Lynn Spears getting pregnant at 16. As upsetting as that thought is, that was not why I was getting emotional. The true reason was because I specifically remember wearing that exact dress while running down the halls of my grade school holding Anna’s hand. And it was then that I realized Issabel is now the age Anna and I were when we met and became lifelong friends.
Christmas is a time for being thankful and grateful for friends and family. Christmas is a time to slow down and appreciate what matters most – from honoring family to spirituality to charity. It wasn’t until that moment yesterday morning that I absorbed the spirit of Christmas this year. I’ve been moving so fast this season, feeling behind on my decorating, shopping and getting my Christmas cards finished (by the way, if you haven’t seen yours yet it is coming) that I nearly let the bigger picture slide past me.
I hope everyone had a lovely and healthy holiday this year, in addition I hope everyone has at least one dear friend, either a new friend or a lifelong friend, that they are thankful for this season. As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “No man is useless while he has a friend.”
Merry Christmas!
Issabel - 2007
Nicole - 1981
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tired but happy
I went back to work today- which means Friday marks six weeks since our surgery. It was a long day, but a good day. It was so encouraging to see all my friends and co-workers again and I was quickly reminded how lucky I am that I get to work with really great people. I did pretty well the first half of the day, but after lunch I could feel myself crashing so I snuck off around 3:00 to take in a quick nap in one of our conference rooms (luckily it is furnished with two comfy couches). Unfortunately my mother (of all people) called me and woke me up, so my nap was only about 15 minutes, but it did enable me to actually make it to the end of the day.
On the Anna front I have VERY good news. She had some lab work done on Wednesday and her white blood cell count jumped up 1,000 points!!!!! Yipee and Merry Christmas! I am so happy I could cry. No kidney rejection here folks!
On the Anna front I have VERY good news. She had some lab work done on Wednesday and her white blood cell count jumped up 1,000 points!!!!! Yipee and Merry Christmas! I am so happy I could cry. No kidney rejection here folks!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Update
I attended a holiday party last night and was scolded by several of my friends. Apparently I haven’t been very diligent about updating the blog in recent weeks. I figured it would be boring for folks to hear that I’ve been lazy and doing very little, but that is at least an update and people are looking for any kind of information right now.
I continue to get back to a more normal routine with every passing day. I head back to work on Thursday and am looking forward to having social interaction with people beyond those that are pumping my gas and bagging my groceries. I have reduced my downtime during the day to a single nap around Oprah, I mean 4:00, I’ll miss my nap time the most when I return to the office this week.
Anna has reduced her appointments at the hospital to bi-weekly visits. She goes every Monday and Friday to have her blood and urine tested. Her doctor continues to be very pleased with her kidney function – everything is working well as it should be right now.
Last week we did get some uncertain results from the lab work. Anna’s white blood cell count was dangerously low, so low that her doctor was very concerned she was facing an infection somewhere in her body, potentially signaling the start of kidney rejection. Her orders were to go home over the weekend and not worry – yeah right. She returned on Monday and her white blood count did go up, but by very little. Again her doctor told her not to worry and that they would test again on Friday. This Friday the doctor decided that since her kidney was functioning so well and because Anna was showing no additional signs of infection (such as a fever) that they were going to tweak her medication levels and see if that would positively impact her cell count. Of course, when you are dealing with an organ transplant – you are never truly safe from the chance of rejection, but for now, things seem to be under control. We will just have to keep monitoring her white blood cells and pray for her count to continue to climb.
On a lighter note, I was reminded last night of a conversation I had with my kidney team two months before surgery. I was told that people never ask to see your nephrectomy scars post surgery as it is just a little bit too intrusive and personal for most folks. For the record, I want to say that my friends are indeed overly intrusive as I have been asked to show my kidney scars more times this week that I can count. The first person to ask to see my scars was my friend Dianne. I was at a holiday party on Thursday and it was the second thing she asked me after the obligatory “how are you feeling” question. I showed her my little laparoscopic scars, but told her she would have to wait on the big incision as it was below the beltline and I wasn’t about to drop my pants in the middle of the annual Maxwell PR party –that is, not without at least three more glasses of wine (kidding, ha ha). Then at my company’s holiday party last night, I was asked many, many times to show my scars. Talk about busy bodies huh? Just kidding, I don’t mind!
I continue to get back to a more normal routine with every passing day. I head back to work on Thursday and am looking forward to having social interaction with people beyond those that are pumping my gas and bagging my groceries. I have reduced my downtime during the day to a single nap around Oprah, I mean 4:00, I’ll miss my nap time the most when I return to the office this week.
Anna has reduced her appointments at the hospital to bi-weekly visits. She goes every Monday and Friday to have her blood and urine tested. Her doctor continues to be very pleased with her kidney function – everything is working well as it should be right now.
Last week we did get some uncertain results from the lab work. Anna’s white blood cell count was dangerously low, so low that her doctor was very concerned she was facing an infection somewhere in her body, potentially signaling the start of kidney rejection. Her orders were to go home over the weekend and not worry – yeah right. She returned on Monday and her white blood count did go up, but by very little. Again her doctor told her not to worry and that they would test again on Friday. This Friday the doctor decided that since her kidney was functioning so well and because Anna was showing no additional signs of infection (such as a fever) that they were going to tweak her medication levels and see if that would positively impact her cell count. Of course, when you are dealing with an organ transplant – you are never truly safe from the chance of rejection, but for now, things seem to be under control. We will just have to keep monitoring her white blood cells and pray for her count to continue to climb.
On a lighter note, I was reminded last night of a conversation I had with my kidney team two months before surgery. I was told that people never ask to see your nephrectomy scars post surgery as it is just a little bit too intrusive and personal for most folks. For the record, I want to say that my friends are indeed overly intrusive as I have been asked to show my kidney scars more times this week that I can count. The first person to ask to see my scars was my friend Dianne. I was at a holiday party on Thursday and it was the second thing she asked me after the obligatory “how are you feeling” question. I showed her my little laparoscopic scars, but told her she would have to wait on the big incision as it was below the beltline and I wasn’t about to drop my pants in the middle of the annual Maxwell PR party –that is, not without at least three more glasses of wine (kidding, ha ha). Then at my company’s holiday party last night, I was asked many, many times to show my scars. Talk about busy bodies huh? Just kidding, I don’t mind!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
How much?
Ever wonder how much it costs to have an organ removed? While I was trapped on the Oregon Coast this week by the storm of the year, I received my statement of hospital services bill for my half of the kidney transplant. I always find it so interesting to pour over medical/hospital invoices; it’s shocking to see how much medical procedures cost.
My pre surgery CT scan cost a little more than $1,000, the ‘nephrology consult’ the day before surgery was pretty cheap at just over $300. And then there were costs associated with the surgery itself. My hospital stay from Friday through Monday was nearly $5,000, my pharmacy bill and medical supply fees were nearly $1,500, my x-rays and anthesia came in just over $500. They even added a charge to my stay for spending time in the recovery room for just over $1,200. My actual kidney nephrectomy cost just under $7,500. When everything is said and done, my total charge comes to a whopping $19,344.00 Gulp – and remember that doesn’t include Anna’s costs. My procedure was a fairly simple kidney removal, she had other fees associated with her stay that I did not incur. She stayed in the hospital longer, had to have three days worth of anti-rejection medication administration onsite at the hospital and she still returns to the hospital every other day for lab work to ensure everything is functioning as it should.
My pre surgery CT scan cost a little more than $1,000, the ‘nephrology consult’ the day before surgery was pretty cheap at just over $300. And then there were costs associated with the surgery itself. My hospital stay from Friday through Monday was nearly $5,000, my pharmacy bill and medical supply fees were nearly $1,500, my x-rays and anthesia came in just over $500. They even added a charge to my stay for spending time in the recovery room for just over $1,200. My actual kidney nephrectomy cost just under $7,500. When everything is said and done, my total charge comes to a whopping $19,344.00 Gulp – and remember that doesn’t include Anna’s costs. My procedure was a fairly simple kidney removal, she had other fees associated with her stay that I did not incur. She stayed in the hospital longer, had to have three days worth of anti-rejection medication administration onsite at the hospital and she still returns to the hospital every other day for lab work to ensure everything is functioning as it should.
I feel like one of those Mastercard commercials:
Gas from Portland to Seattle: $50
Pre-surgery hotel room: $200
Kidney nephrectomy: $19,344
Seeing your best friend healthy for the first time in years: priceless
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
