Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Anti-Bacterial Shower - Night Before Surgery

 The last two days have been... waiting. Its been too bloody cold out to do much or go anywhere, thus we've just been hanging out and seeing the odd movie (or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as that was one that I wanted to see before surgery). The days have felt like we are waiting, and as its gotten closer and closer to D-Day (Donation Day), the air has become thick with anticipation. This has been 11 months in the making and it's finally here.

Tonight we got my bag for the hospital all together - pyjamas, slippers, toiletries, yoga pants, laptop, charger, phone, phone charger, books etc. Simple enough as most of it hadn't gotten unpacked in the first place, but still something weird to do. I've never been in the hospital overnight before, so this has been a whole new experience.

The final thing to do tonight was shower with a special anti-bacterial sponge. Two of these were given to me on Monday at the Pre-Op clinic, and I was given special instructions. One I was to use the night before surgery (tonight) and the other the morning of. I am to enter the shower as normal, wash my hair, face, whatever, then use the sponge to first wash the surgical area (left abdomen) then the rest of my body. The sponge had 3 parts to it. 1 was a soft sponge part that looked like it had been doused in some sort of liquid that had a faint red-ish colour, which I'm assuming was the anti-bacterial agent. The second part was a clear scrubber (attached to the sponge) with fine bristles that I was to use to scrub off the lather generated by the sponge part. The third was this light blue plastic thing that was sticking out of the soft sponge part. It came out and was a tool for cleaning under the nails. They weren't joking when they said they wanted all of me nice and clean.
It didn't smell like anything, and lathered mostly like regular soap, although some of the lather had a reddish-orange colour to it, It didn't colour my skin or anything like that, which was nice. And the bristles were soft and pliable, they didn't hurt at all, it felt like a very gentle exfoliation.

Not a big deal or anything like that, but was interesting to know I would need to do this as in all the research I did, I didn't find anything about a pre-op shower.

As for D-Day, my lovely husband will be blogging for me with his insights on how it went, any useful information he can find, and what the initial stages of the recovery process are like. I'll come back to the blog when I am coherent, as apparently this make take a day or so as I will be on some pretty strong drugs. I want to keep this as real-time as possible, and I hope that my posts as well as my wonderful husband's will help in whatever way. If there is anything specific that you would like either of us to take special note of and blog about, please comment and we will do our best to provide the answers you are looking for.

Many thanks for all of your support, and I am looking forward to blogging again soon.

Monday, November 22, 2010

What does Anonymous mean to you?

I've had a couple comments/questions about this blog, anonymity, and why I am doing it the way I am. I  want to take a moment and address these as they are quite valid.

When I was looking for information on Kidney Donation, what it would be like and the process, I found some clinical information and some short paragraphs on the experience but nothing real time or detailed. Some of the accounts I found were from a few years ago and I wasn't sure if technology or the procedure had changed and what it would mean for me. I didn't find anything that gave me a real understanding of what the process was like as it was happening. Some recollections were lacking in detail, or focused almost exclusively on the nature of the act and the life it gave to the recipient. Please understand, all of this information is valuable in its own way, but I was looking for something more. And I didn't find it. So I decided to chronicle my journey, in hopes that if there is someone out there looking to donate a kidney, that they would find this information valuable.

I know that the Kidney community is a small one, and please understand in no way shape or form am I trying to jeopardize any one's identity, including the recipient's. I have told very few people what I am doing and may tell more people when I am ready, but am not yet ready yet. I know that there are ways to find out who I am, so I ask for your understanding. Remaining anonymous is a choice that I've made, and I ask that you respect my decision, not only for me, but for the recipient. Their life is a part of this as well.


This blog has also become a personal experience for me. Its become a place for me to talk about the mental and emotional journey this has been, in addition to the physical one. As my husband is starting to realize, the blog itself has become a part of the process.

Pre-Op Day

I am super excited. Made it this far, have my hubby with me (although that almost didn't happen due to a slight mix up with the flights and the reservations), have a place to stay and a jeep to drive around town. Thankfully the wonderful home we are staying in is quite close to the hospital which again makes life just a bit easier.

This lovely winter morning held a 10:30am appointment at the hospital for a few final tests and some pre-op stuff (more on that in just a moment). Of course there was a touch of confusion at admitting as I am out of province and therefore things like health care numbers are treated differently. Add in the fact that I don't have a current health care card in my married name (its been ordered several times and has never arrived) yet the coverage is, and it was a solid 25minutes to get through admitting.

Once that was dealt with off to the Testing Center we went. Spot urine test and a final cross match. Lovely 12 vials of blood (and for some reason unbeknowst to me, she did not use a butterfly and thus each vial managed a touch of pain and increased my hatred of needles). I keep hoping each blood test will be my last, yet I never seem to get that lucky.

From here we went up to the Pre-Op clinic where we watched a video on breathing, coughing, and leg exercises. Was beneficial. Apparently there are risks of pneumonia and whatnot if you don't clear the fluid and secretions (which can pile up if you lay in one position for too long, especially on your back). The video also showed how to support the incisions with a pillow or cushion when coughing. Good to know there is a wrong way to cough. The leg exercises are particularly important too. They help with circulation and post-op mobility. Simple exercises like pointing toes 10 times, making circles with our toes 10 times in each direction, at least once per hour while awake. Thankfully my husband was there and I know that he will take care of me and make sure I do the exercises because knowing me, I won't remember.

From the video we sat and chatted with a Nurse. We went over some specifics regarding the surgery (what to bring to the hospital, what not to bring, ie  bring slippers, leave jewellery or valuables etc), as well as a rather intimate questionnaire. Similar to donating blood, these questions are to ensure that not only am I healthy, but that the recipient is getting a healthy kidney with no surprises. As for the actual procedure, I will arrive at the clinic the morning of the 25th, they will admit me directly and I will  get changed, we will go to a pre-op room where they put me under and insert a catheter. From there into the OR and its a 3-4 hr procedure, a touch longer than if they were doing open surgery. Post-op I go into recovery for about an hour where the nurses will check my vitals and make sure I am good to go. From there I will be moved to my ward and my dear hubby will be allowed to see me. I'll be quite out of it and likely won't remember much.

They will have me up and walking the second day and I'm not to get up without a nurse handy (even if my hubby is there) the first few times. One thing they were quite adamant about its the pain post-op. I will be on a morphine drip and need to make sure that I am regulating my pain as if it goes unchecked or I let it get too bad, then it takes longer for me to come back to a good place. Communication with the nurses is also key. They need to know if something, anything, isn't feeling right. If I'm nauseated, if I hurt, am hot, cold, itchy whatever, I need to be telling the nurses as these may be side effects and we need to deal with them ASAP. Gotcha. Again, my husband was sitting there with me through all of this and rest assured, if I don't tell the nurses, he will. He is pretty worried about me not because he is scared, but because we are each other's world and he doesn't want anything to happen to me. I will be well taken care of, which I love.

If you can't tell, it was a long day at the hospital. From meeting the nurse and going over her checklist, we then met with the transplant coordinator for this center, and went over a few things. The most interesting one was the organ interview. Its a generic interview they have for all different types of donations, including cadaver donations. So my relationship to the organ is 'self'. That one made us smile. Again, a few more intimate questions, but nothing too scary. The interview with her lasted 30minutes or so, then a quick visit with the social worker, more so she had a face for the name and we were done.
At least, we were done at the hospital. The surgeon's office was not in the hospital and our appointment with him was later in the afternoon so a quick bite of lunch and a parking battle later and we got to meet the one who will be cutting me open. Well, not open. 4 'ports' for instruments and 1 incision on the lower left side of the physical extraction. Oh! Totally awesome, as we go to sit at their desk, my MRI is up and I actually get to see my insides, the veins and arteries. Very awesome (I'm a nerd like that). It was a quick visit, but was nice at least seeing this person before surgery. Not seeing them would scare me a bit I think.

Then we were done with the appointments. When we got home it was on the phone to book a flight home for my husband. Thankfully it was pretty easy and we are all taken care of. Returning home on the 30th, together. Then it was time to relax and I must admit it was nice.

So from here I have 2 days off, no appointments no tests, just hang out time in this beautiful city, then Thursday morning is the big day.

That's where we are as of today, and I do hope that if there is anyone that is reading this wanting to know what the experience is like, that this helps. If not, please comment and let me know what you would like to know more about. For those of you who have been through this, if there is anything you would like to add from your personal journey, would love to hear from you.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Its all coming together! Many Thanks...

These last few weeks have been stressful to say the least. There have been so many details to get sorted out as I near my last day of work (tomorrow), as we prepare to fly to the city of surgery (November 21st) and have my Father-in-law come stay with us for a week to help take care of me. Add getting a Physical done to the mix and its safe to say I have been busy.

Up until late this morning we still hadn't had any confirmation that we were going to be able to fly with Hope Air. Then that fateful call came and the news could not be better. My husband and I are flying out this Sunday and have our return flights all booked (assuming recovery goes smoothly). I am grateful to the social worker for all of her time and effort in arranging this, and to Hope Air for the wonderful service they provide.

Work. Its been crazy busy. I have had a temp in the office for the last three days that I have been training as she will be covering me for the 8 weeks I am off. She's wonderful, really is. Smart, and able to think and use common sense to make sure things run smoothly. Its been a bit of a challenge as being the only full time employee means that my job has a lot of components and we only have 3 days of training. I think she might be a little overwhelmed, but I do have 2 days before surgery next week when she will be on her own and able to reach me with any questions that she has. Of course this also means that I have a lot of tasks that I can't hand off as they need my special touch and need to get done before I leave tomorrow. My desk needs to be totally cleaned off and organized (a much larger task than the simple sentence may lead you to believe it is) and the list of tasks to do seems to be growing the more I go through my stacks of paper. I think its safe to say that I will be working late tonight.

Which doesn't leave a lot of time for getting my home in the condition I want to leave it in. I am normally a fairly tidy person, but when we have guests I like to make sure the place is spotless. I typically would do this a day or so before the guest arrives to ensure that I don't undo all of my hard work. The plan was to do a good section of the deep scrubbing tonight but both my hubby and I are working late. This in itself is not too much of an issue, but it does mean that the remainder of our weekend will be spent cleaning instead of enjoying the mobility that might take me a while to regain post-op.

As I mentioned, this is something that we would normally do our best to get started on much sooner, especially with areas that we don't interact with on a daily basis (ie the guest room); however as the best laid plans often do, this went by the wayside. I was contacted by the hospital where the surgery will be and told I needed a full physical and family history. Great. I called my doctor's office. They are booking into December and there was no way they could squeeze in a full physical. Which meant I needed to find a walk-in clinic that would do one. Again, not an easy task at all. I received the call Tuesday around 3pm basically saying if I didn't have a physical I wasn't going to have surgery. So despite a slightly busy work week I pretty much dropped everything that I was doing and started making calls. I was fortunate enough to find a clinic that does physicals on walk-in, and away I went. It apparently has been longer than I thought since I had my last physical as I didn't know they made you strip. Ya... down the just undergarments, and even then, only on the bottom. I wasn't exactly anticipating this and thus when the doctor gave the instructions to strip and sit on the bed thingy I was in a touch of shock. If I'm going to have to get naked, I prefer a bit more notice. Anyways, made it through, got the paperwork and thus ended what I thought was going to be a quiet night packing and cleaning.

One of the good things that happened this week was my mom sent me a surgery care package. Since she can't be there with us, and works during the week she wanted to do something to let me know that she was thinking of me. She sent 2 pairs of slippers (1 for the hospital - as I was advised to throw them out when I leave due to the germs they will have picked up) and another for recovery at home as I am prone to cold feet. There were yoga pants (2) and sweat pants, both with very loose waistbands that can be tightened with drawstrings as opposed to elastics as I have been advised that I will be tender after surgery and will struggle with waistbands. She also sent PJs for the hospital (these will be laundered thoroughly instead of discarded post-op) with a great waistband. My mom loves me very much and this was very, very much appreciated. In fact, its going to be 90% of what I pack for the trip as its pretty much everything I need, clothing-wise that is.

I'm busy, and a touch stressed (I haven't been sleeping the last 4 nights) but not worried about surgery. My husband and my mother take care of that for me, and a lot of the stress has been alleviated today with the confirmation of Hope Air flights.

And I know that I am making a bigger deal out of cleaning my place to within an inch of its life, but it really doesn't take that long and being the lovely procrastinator that I am, I have a feeling that even if I didn't have an impromptu physical or a late night of work that it would still get done this weekend.

The good news is its all coming together. My temp has done wonderful during training and knows where to go for help if she needs it, the tasks I have left to do before I go will not take me as much time as I think they will (as soon as I get my procrastination out of the way and just focus), my mom's wonderful care package took the packing stress away as I now have everything I need, and we have our flights. We have a place to stay with a good friend of mine who, in a more generous gesture than I could have dreamed about has also offered up a vehicle to use while in town, and family to help take care of me when my husband has to go back to work. I'm very lucky that this is all coming together so beautifully and I don't need to stress about anything anymore. Maybe, if I get enough done today, I will even be able to sleep tonight. Now that would be a real treat.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Another day, Another Blood Test

I hate needles. Like, a lot. Ugh. *shudder*.

I thought last week when I went and had fresh blood pulled for the cross-match that I was done, but no such luck. That blood went to the hospital I am going to be donating at for a cross match, which went well, and today's blood stayed at my local hospital for another cross match. Apparently the double check is making sure that each lab gets the same results. My local hospital's policy is that they do a final cross match 1 week before surgery, but apparently the hospital I am going to be donating at won't need that as we just did a confirmation.

So, hopefully I am done with needles until the 22nd. The 22nd is the day of my pre-op clinic, which is essentially a full day of tests to confirm that I am healthy and that all the information they have is the latest and greatest. Chest Xrays, EKGs, etc. I can do that.

I did have a chance to talk with my coordinator just after the test today and we talked about some of the specifics relating to pre and post op. Again, the different hospitals do things a bit differently, but she did give me a general idea of what to expect.

My surgery is on a Thursday, so I will either be admitted on Wednesday or even Thursday morning. The surgery is typically first thing, and I will be pretty out of it right after due to the anesthetic. Apparently most patients report nausea after surgery due to the drugs and anesthetic, and they pump my abdomen full of CO2 to give the surgeons room to work so I will be really bloated. I will be in the hospital until my bowels start working, but apparently will also have a catheter in. Yay. The good news is they put that in just before surgery when I am already out. Apparently they need to monitor what is coming out as well as what is going it.

From the sounds of things, once I am out of the hospital I am good to return home and will have my 2week post-op appointment here.

As for what life is like immediately post-op, there is no lifting (nothing over 10lbs), no bending, lots of rest, and it will take a while to get my appetite back. I will need to make sure that I am walking and not in bed all the time but still resting when I need to. I can do that.
Apparently it is 3 holes for the surgery, 1 for the camera, 1 for the instruments,  and 1 for the kidney removal. Oh! I totally forgot. Apparently it is a urologist who will be doing the surgery, a doctor who deals with nothing but the kidneys and kidney surgery. Just another one of those slightly different things, but still worth noting. Anyways, back to the holes. The one for kidney extraction is right by my bellybutton, and the others are one on each side. Apparently these take up to 6 weeks to heal (they heal from the inside out), which is one of the reasons why bending and lifting are out of the question for the first few weeks.

It will also take a while to get my appetite back and also to be on solid foods. I'm okay with that. My father-in-law (FIL) will be coming to stay with us for about a week when we get back (which might be sooner than expected) and the good news is that he makes fantastic soup. If I'm not up for solid foods or anything like that, at least I will have tasty soup waiting for me. Plus he is great company and since its getting cold out I will be pretty much confined to the condo. Will be really nice having someone there so I don't go stark raving mad because I'm alone too much.


I think I can handle everything thats going on, and know that between my husband and my mother I don't need to worry, they are doing enough of that between themselves.
I'm excited, I really am. Just not for needles. I really hate them. Hate everything about them. I'm not a fainter, but I do need to stay distracted when they take blood or it does make me light-headed and weak.
So here's my question to you: What was life like for you immediately post-op? What did it feel like? Any tips/tricks for making it easier? If you got a kidney, could you feel the change when you woke up? I'd love to hear about any/all experiences, the more I read the better prepared I am for my own.
Thanks!

I wanna go again!

Skydiving was the best! OMG. I loved it!

We got to the dropzone just before noon, and watched an instructional video on safety procedures and how the actual jumping out of the plane was going to work. Pretty simple and straightforward.
There were 2 other tandem jumpers ahead of me, and due to the fact the season officially ended Oct 31st (they were only open this late in the year because the weather was so beautiful), there was only 1 tandem master (TM) and 1 pilot. So I had a bit of a wait, but got to hang out with the other divers and watch a few come down. Its a really small community, everyone seems to know eachother, and they are all super nice. I wasn't scared at all, my poor husband was scared enough for the both of us.

When it was finally my turn I could hardly stand still I was so excited. I put on my jumpsuit, and my TM helped me into my harness. He took me to an old fuselage that had the same setup as the plane we were jumping out of and gave me another quick tutorial on what the procedure was.
He got into the plane and I sat with my back to him, in between his legs. He strapped our hips together before the others got in as it was easier that way.
Two other solo jumpers went up on our load. It was about a 20min. climb to get to 10,000ft, and at about 7,000ft he strapped the rest of me to him nice and tight (and tightened my harness). At 10,000ft the door opened (and all that went through my head was it was a touch colder than I would have preferred) and out the solo jumpers went.
My TM moved over to the door essentially pulling me along with him, and I put my feet on the step that was over the landing gear. He tapped my hand that was holding the plane which was my signal to cross my arms over my chest and look up. Away we went. It was that fast. We did a somersault type thing and I was able to look up at the plane we had just jumped out of. Crazy. Because of the position I was in when we jumped, it was really easy to get into the proper form for the freefall. My arms were out, my body was straight, and my feet were trying to kick my TM's butt. We fell for 5000ft, about 30seconds, and he pulled the chute. It took about 700ft to fully deploy and then we played around doing turns and swings and all other kinds of antics (apparently my TM didn't get to do them with too many people as most were too nauseous). I was just having fun. It was the coolest thing ever!!!
He brought us around to the dropzone and landed us softly. Much to my husbands relief we had made it down safely with no injuries or malfunctions. I'm a bit of klutz, so that was a legitimate fear.

I had the biggest grin on my face and it didn't go away all weekend. It was such a rush and I wasn't scared. I was excited. This was something I have wanted to do for years and I finally did it. There was no way after all that talk and whatnot that I wasn't going to jump. And why be scared? There was an experienced jumper with me, and many redundancies upon redundancies to keep me safe. I was just along for the ride. And what a ride it is.

I know a few people that I have told about my adventure that say they have always wanted to go and have never been able to find anyone to go with, but to them all I say is 'just do it'. Its the crazies experience ever and as much as its fun to do things like this with friends, don't not do it because they aren't it to it. Do it for yourself, because you want to, and because you will never experience anything like it ever again (unless you go again, which I totally plan on). 

So before I sign off, here is a question for you: what have you done from your bucket list? What is the craziest thing you have ever done? Would you ever do it again?

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Novemeber 25th is a good day

A good day indeed. For not only is November 25th one month before Christmas, it is also the day of my surgery.

I found out today shortly after 12noon that a date had been set. I will be leaving this city on either the 21st or 22nd of this month, and will be under the knife (so to speak) on the 25th. Its here. Its real. Much to my mother's continued dismay (she worries) this is really happening.

My last day of work will be the 19th, and I will be off until late January. A temp will run our office while I'm gone...

I'm sorry for the disjointed post, sentence fragments and incoheretness, my mind is kinda all over the place right now. I mean, I have been waiting for the call for such a while, this process has been nearly a year in the making and its here. Its real.

That does give me pause, I can only imagine what the recepiant and their family are going through. For them this isn't some small thing, this is their mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister back. This is a second chance at life. This is a hope and a prayer that everything goes well and my kidney is well received. My thoughts and prayers (although I'm not much for praying) are with the families in these next few weeks.

My transplant coordinator is already working on getting Hope Air involved, and I have to admit, free flights would be fantastic. My hubby and I were talking numbers a bit, and with my income going down to 55% on EI Sick Benefits, the flights would go a long way (hehe, punny).

Thankfully I do have a friend in the city I will be donating in who has graciously offered up his house for my hubby and I.  

So after finding out the news I started calling, texting and emailing people. For the most part, all anyone knows (or all that we are telling) is that I am going away for surgery and will be gone for about 8 weeks. There are a handful of people that know the real story and after I had spoken to my husband and my mother I spread the word. its kinda funny, I did get a chance to talk with my best friend on the phone and she said "I don't really know what to say or ask in this situation, I mean, is 'congrats' really appropriate?" It was funny. I don't really know whats appropriate either, or what to say. This is new for me too. When I called people I started off the conversation with "November 25th." and we went from there. I didn't really know what else to say or how else to get that conversation started.

As I can tell that I'm starting to ramble and I know my thoughts aren't all together, I'll wrap up this post. But I do have a question for you: What was it like when they set your date (to either give or receive)? What went through your head?

Monday, November 1, 2010

Skydiving this Saturday!

I have a list of things to do before I die and every opportunity I try and cross an item off the list. I am always adding item to the list, places I want to go, experiences I want to have; there is an entire airborne section of which I am proud to say that I will be crossing a long-standing item off my list: Skydiving.

Skydiving is something I've wanted to do for a very long time, and for whatever reason I decided that before surgery I wanted to cross something off my list, and the airborne section seemed most attainable. The other option was going on a discovery flight, however the real item on my list is get my pilots license, not just fly a plane. So I decided that skydiving was the way to go as it was an actual item on the list.

So this Saturday at 12noon I will begin the 30minute training before ascending to 9,500 feet where I will do a tandem jump with a 30second freefall. My lovely husband will be waiting in the drop zone (he refuses to be in the plane when I jump), I'm sure praying that I will land safely. I am a bit of a klutz (actually I am so much of a klutz that it has factored into what we look for in a home), so I do understand his fears.

Not gonna lie, I don't think it has sunk in quite yet that I am going to jump out of a plane on Saturday. Right now it just seems like I made an appointment for Saturday, similar to how I would make a hair appointment or something of the like. I am a bit of a chicken, so this is going to be very interesting... its sending shivers up my spine right now.

It's the whole 'live like you were dying' thing, the 'what if' scenarios that haunt me late at night have made me think about the life that I have, the time that I have, and what I want to be doing with it. Surgery is not without its risks (I really need to stop watching Greys Anatomy) and even routine surgery can go wrong. If something happens to me I want to have lived a life I can be proud of, a life where I have seized the day, made something of who I am and the time I have been so fortunate to have.

Thus, this Saturday I skydive. I don't know how I am going to actually do it, but I am going to find a way. And I can't wait to tell you all about it.
Until then, here is a question for you: What's on your list? Completed items? If you had the opportunity to do any 1 thing from your list right now, what would it be?