Outstanding! I'm glad to hear it's all gone so
smoothly with the surgery after that false start last
time. Hopefully the villagers won't hear of your
reconstruction, we keep running out of places to hide
the pitchforks and torches.
--- "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 - 23:08:36 CST