Recovery

I remember waking up from surgery and there being a blinding light in my eyes. Once everything came into focus I realized i was in my own room and the blinds were wide open. After looking around I started seeing familiar faces: my mom, my grandfather, and my aunt and uncle. Once I collected myself I got a sharp pain in my stomach. I just experienced the pain from my surgery scar. I was then told that I was put on a morphine pump. This would allow me to pump in morphine at anytime I wanted just by pushing a button. Of course there was a limit on how much I could do per hour. I would mainly use it for sitting up and later on for walking around.
  I remember saying hi to everyone and asking how the surgery went. Obviously, it went well. After saying my hello's I started drifting back to sleep. I told everyone I was tired and I was sorry if i feel asleep. Needless to say, they all understood. That was around 3 or so when I said that. At 7, I finally woke up after being well rested. My mom was visiting my dad in his room so in the mean time I was just doing what I could to relax. I was thinking to myself how wonderful it is to have an awesome dad to donate his kidney to me. Also, how lucky I was to survived the transplant. I was lucky just to be alive, and I appreciated every moment that I was.
  After and hour or so my mom came back to see how I was. I told her I was fine and that morphine was helping me...ALOT. It was then where she started to go into the details about what happened in surgery. You see, surgery went perfectly well for my dad. No complications or anything. In and out. For me, there was a little bit more to be said. What happened was when the doctors opened me up where they were supposed to put in my kidney there was an issue. From all my other surgeries that I had before I had alot of scar tissue in that area. So, what they needed to do was cut me open a little bit more and place the kidney a little bit lower. When it was all said and done my scar is about a foot long. It took them over 40 staples to keep me shut. My dad, on the other hand, only had some liquid stitches and some strips.
  Next week, more on my recovery. I would also like to dedicate this post to my dad. Dad, without you I would not be alive for as long as I am. You're the greatest dad any one could ask for. I love you, Dad.

The Day Has Arrived.

  The night before transplant we had all kinds of paperwork and procedural stuff that we had to handle. The usual paperwork, like agreeing not to sue and what to expect the day of the procedure, was filled out in the lobby of Children's. After, what seemed like hours, we were finally placed in a room together. I had one bed and my dad ,the other. My dad was placed on an IV line as soon as we got to the room. The line was for the diuretics he needed to take. At first I had a little laugh about it, he was told he was going to be using the bathroom all night. The laugh didn't last long for me though. I was just then told I had to be on an all liquid diet for the next 12 hours.. That night was pretty much smooth sailing otherwise. 
  So today was the day. August 1st, 2001. This was the day that I was going to receive a kidney from my dad. I was all set and ready to go. My mind was running the whole night so I got hardly any sleep. My life was going to be completely different. I was going to be a little more normal and be able to do more. Me and my dad both went into the pre-op room where we were given a final run through of what was going on. After signing a few last papers and saying a little prayer together, me and my dad were all set to go. My mom, in tears of course, tells us she loves us and we go on our separate ways. We wouldn't see each other again until after the surgery was complete and we were healed up.
  Going down the hallway to the surgery room was a little intimidating. I was excited for the kidney but anxious about the results. I was told about how it was possible things could go wrong and how I would need to be very careful to take care of the kidney. I didn't care, I just wanted to be as normal as I could be. After being fully prepped and laid on the operating table I was laying there and soaking in all that I was seeing and hearing. Just in case something bad were to happen I wanted to remember thigns how they were. The last thing I remember is the doctor telling me "Ok, you're going to feel some cold in your IV. Just breath normally and count down from 10 to 0." I started counting. 10. I didn't feel anything. 9. I started feeling drowsey and yawned. 8. My eyes were closing. 7. My eyes were completely shut. 6. I was falling asleep. 5. I was out. The last thing I remember saying to myself was, "Damn, I didn't even get to 0." and "Why do I hear Bob Marley in the background?" The doctors had the radio on and Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" was on.
  Next week is when I come out of the surgery and a little bit of my recovery.