Welcome back.
Lord Chaos
--- "Take a wild, friggin guess"
<a_change_of_plans_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hey all-
>
> I returned home from Saint Louis last night, but
> was far too
> exhausted to do anything worthwhile. One thing I've
> noticed is that I
> have a real limited amount of energy, and it appears
> only a couple
> times a day, so I have to pace myself.
>
> I got the call on the 14th of November, and both
> my mom and I had to
> get our shit together and then she drove me up to
> St. Louis. I was
> prepped overnight, and had both surgeries performed
> over a 5-6 hour
> period. I think it was around 6am or so. In any
> case, the docs
> replaced my pancreas with a functioning one, and put
> in one good
> kidney.
>
> I was in ICU for awhile, then went through all the
> fun painful shit
> for the first week after surgery. All I can say is:
> catheters are not
> fun. I had more tubes and hoses in me than the
> six-million dollar man.
>
> I got released for a week, but a fever and nausea
> forced me to
> return. After getting tons of strong antibiotics,
> enough blood
> cultures and withdrawals to drain a horse, and
> almost no sleep for a
> week, it was discovered that one of the pills I was
> taking was causing
> the fever. (This is besides the little touch of
> pneumonia that I had).
>
> Currently, I'm on 18-20 pills a day, though those
> will decrease over
> time as my immune system is slowly rebuilt. The
> docs have all been
> very impressed with the results; all my various
> levels are within the
> normal range, including my blood sugars. It's
> mighty nice to not have
> diabetes anymore. Makes all the agony worth it.
>
> It may be a while before I can draw; some of the
> medications I'm on
> cause tremors in my hands, so it's a little tricky
> to do any kind of
> decent work. Luckily, those medications will be
> deleted from the
> roster in a few more weeks.
>
> I lucked out in the approval process. The docs
> voted me in
> unanimously, and my general health was far greater
> than the usual
> kidney/pancreas patient. No known allergies, no
> diseases or viruses.
> The donor turned out to be an excellent match, and
> the organs bonded
> without a hitch. My only regret is that an
> otherwise healthy young
> man of 18 years of age had to die of obviously
> unnatural causes. I am
> still awaiting a special thank-you form from the
> hospital which I can
> fill out and send to the donor's parents. It seems
> the hospital does
> not allow free-form letters, and I reckon that makes
> sense.
>
> Special thanks to the doctors and staff of SLUH,
> the donor and his
> parents for their selfless gift, the good wishes and
> thoughts of
> everybody on the group and elsewhere, to my mom for
> being a caregiver
> while I was recuperating, and to Des for taking all
> her vacation days,
> sick days and personal days to be with me and help
> out in any way she
> could. I know the road to complete recovery will be
> long and slow,
> but I'm certain it can be traveled without too much
> incident.
>
> In other news, I'm really chomping at the bit to
> get back to
> drawing, but I'll have to wait until everything
> smoothes out again.
> Also, I'm surprised I'm not itching like crazy,
> since they pretty much
> shaved me from my upper chest to my crotch, and even
> part of my upper
> thighs. I normally look like a friggin' carpet, as
> far as the hair
> department goes, but everything is growing back
> quietly. Thank
> goodness for that!
>
> I've got a lot of e-mails still, but I'll have to
> work on those when
> I can. Just sitting here typing this has tired me
> out. :( Oh yeah,
> I also lost about 24 pounds after the surgery, which
> was nearly all
> water. Since my OEM kidneys were barely
> functioning, I had a good
> build-up of extra fluid. Seems the transplant has
> taken care of that
> little issue. Sweet. Of course, now everyone
> thinks I'm scrawny
> again, since I'm only 146 pounds. Gotta bulk that
> back up once I get
> the okay to start lifting again!
>
> Okay, I gotta take a rest. Just wanted to say
> howdy and let
> everyone know I'm still kickin'. And thanks again
> everyone, for your
> prayers and good wishes. I'll be back online within
> the next couple
> days. Talk to you all soon, and have a good holiday
> season!
>
> --JMH, now with a 10-inch long scar along the
> underside. New and
> improved!
>
>
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Received on Wed Dec 19 2007 - 20:51:38 CST