Apologies to those who have been checking for daily updates. When I mentioned via e-mail that I’d post something new here every day I had ZERO idea how much time and energy the first week of this would take.

Long story short, Andrew’s surgery went gangbusters on Monday, they discharged him Wednesday evening, and we’ve been adjusting to yet another new reality since.

Today was the first recheck appointment. There will be approximately four trips to the transplant center every week for the next several weeks.

We’re still waiting on the lab results from today’s visit, but they should be calling us this afternoon. The last lab report I saw, which was Wednesday morning, showed that Andrew’s BUN (blood urea nitrogen) and creatinine had been cut in half as compared to the most recent pre-surgical values. BUN and creatinine are metabolic waste products that are usually excreted by kidneys. They’re two of the main parameters we use to evaluate renal health so a drop of 50% over presurgical levels is kaleidoscopic. Still high, but WAY better! I didn’t know, since most of my patients are never on dialysis let alone for any length of time, that dialysis doesn’t necessarily normalize BUN and creatinine. No wonder renal patients feel lousy!
We’re also evaluating immune status and blood levels of the immunosuppressant drugs. Wednesday’s CBC (complete blood cell count) showed white blood cells still inside the normal range of values which is expected at that point. We will be looking for significantly sub-normal white blood cell levels however so I’ll be interested to see what today’s values show.

The transplant nephrologist that we saw this morning, an east Indian dude who reminds me a lot of my freshman endocrinology professor from WSU, was very pleased with Andrew’s progress so far. Apparently everything he saw on exam and everything we reported to him was normal.
And I’ve now had three people wax poetic about the organization job I did on Andrew’s post-transplant information binder. Apparently controlling what I can of my environment to help deal with stress and uncertainty is an admirable trait when dealing with circumstances so detail ridden as post-organ transplant can be. The house may be a mess, but god DAMN that binder is tidy!

Curt keeps saying that we shouldn’t feel indebted to him in any way for this incredible gift. That he did what he did, literally gave a part of himself so that Andrew could live, out of completely selfish motives because he needs us in his life.
So I say this, and will continue to say so for the rest of my life, that I don’t owe Curt any material thanks, but my gratitude is endless.