Sunday Morning Transplant Update

Welcome to the blog today. It is Sunday, January 14, 2007 at about 1:00 pm. For those of you just joining us, I received a kidney transplant (from a cadaver) on Thursday night around 11:00 pm. I was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease in 1998, and have been on hemodialysis since August of 2005. I am currently staying at Baylor All Saints Hospital in Fort Worth, TX, while I recover from my transplant.

My creatinine (which is a measure of kidney function) has gone down from 10.3 (right after the transplant) to 2.0 this morning. Normal kidney function runs less than 1.0, which means that my new kidney is functioning very well. My other lab numbers seem pretty decent. My urine output has gone from 235 ml to 2600 ml. The kidney doctor said that this was great, in fact a little more than I was taking in. The kidney is getting rid of all of the waste that my body has been building up over the last year of so. The only negative things are that my hemoglobin is only around 9, which means I am a little bit anemic, but the doctor was not worried yet. And, my weight has gone from 70.5 kg up to 79.7 kg (155 lb to 175 lb). This is due in part to some fluid retention and also due to the anti-rejection medications. They can cause weight gain, and I have not done a lot of exercise yet.

Speaking of exercise, I have been doing about 5 laps around the nurse's station after each meal. The doctors and nurses have been impressed that I am up and moving around as much I have been. That helps me to feel better and to keep up my circulation. The doctors and nurses are all glad to see me walking around.

It seems like I am rambling a little bit. That is probably due to having a bit of pain medication in my system. I haven't been taking too much, as the pain is not too bad. They removed the bandage over the staples, and there are 23 of them holding my kidney hole closed. I will blog again later when I am a little less drowsy.

Please feel free to comment, send e-mail, or to call the cell phone. Jenny or I will talk to whomever we can.