The Day of and After Surgery

Well, I’ve built up enough energy to try and write up a little something on my experience becoming a kidney donor and what I can remember before and after the surgery. Bare with me though, this may be long:

The day before, my wife and I had a good ‘light’ lunch together and prepared for what the next day was to entail. I say ‘light’ vaguely because I knew I had to cleanse my body soon after. At around 1pm, I drank the ‘cleanser’ (Magnesium Citrate) and sure enough in about an hour or so, it was ‘time to go.’ Although not as vulgar as some other remedies (so my Dr.’s said) this stuff does what it’s supposed to. I can’t even count how many times I had to do this and I’m sure my sister’s ears were ringing each and every time….LOL My apologies for being disgusting but this stuff IS disgusting. It really cleans you out!

I didn’t get much sleep that night either. Tossed around a bit and watched some TV. I was nervous AND excited all at the same time. Even anxious at some points; It was a very strange feeling. Next thing I knew, I heard my alarm and it was time to get ready. My wife and kids got ready as well. We all left the house and were scheduled to be at the UCSF hospital at 6:00am. We were the first ones that am/day. We got there a little early which was a good thing. Thank goodness there wasn’t any traffic. Soon after, my sister arrived with my Mom and Dad. We all sat in the waiting room and waited to be called upon. Shortly after, the pre op nurse lined everyone up and we had to check in. When my sister and I checked in, she immediately congratulated my sister and I on this journey. But she also informed us that my doctor had an emergency in my sister’s soon to be operating room. So basically, we had to wait until they were complete. Both rooms had to be available and both doctors as well. We sat in the waiting room for about an hour or so and then they called my name. I took a deep breath and said “I’ll see you guys later” (never bye; I had to remind my Mom about this as I left) and followed the nurse to the pre op room after I hugged and kissed everyone. I must admit, I got a little knot in my stomach at this point and started to become nervous as we hopped in the elevator. I even thought I would end up going to the bathroom again because of all of it. LOL I asked for strength though and sure enough I received it and it was all gone.

I got in to my gown and talked to my wife while we waited for the nurses, anesthesiologists and doctors to come in and prep me for what was about to take place. They were all really nice. They all said pretty much the same thing too. When the anesthesiologist came back in, she got my IV ready and I was basically ‘plumbed’ for surgery. The nurses came in and out and informed us that we were still waiting on my doctor to finish up. Maybe and hour or so later, my sister and Mom came up and they were across the hall. As patients were getting rolled to their OR’s the nurses had me and my sister getting closer to each other. We were eventually side by side prior to departing. This was nice. We exchanged a few words here and there. I could see the look on everyone’s face though about the unexpected. Especially, my Mom... I’m sure I had the same look too. It must have been around 10 something at this point and we were originally scheduled to be in the OR at 7:30am. We must have waited about 3 hours or so in the pre op area before the nurse and anesthesiologist came back in and told me they were ready for me. The doctor came back in to ‘mark’ me on my right side. I jokingly told him to ‘make sure you all remember that I am the Donor…not the Recipient.” Everyone laughed. They began to induce me with whatever it is they use to get me a little relaxed. They told me it would feel like I had a few cocktails or something. They did this once or twice and asked if I felt anything yet. I said no. Then they asked my wife if I drank a lot. We both laughed and said “a little bit.” I never knew a few brews and Henny could make you so tolerant. LOL They began to induce me some more and I told them that I can feel it now. It was at that point they began to wheel me off to my OR and I once again told my wife, Mom and sister that I would see them later. I actually had to correct my wife this time as she said “Bye Vave” to never say ‘bye’….cause I’d be back.

I must have been in the OR for about 2-3 minutes, getting ‘cocktails’ and the next thing I know I heard someone say “Robert, you’re in recovery and the surgery went well….you’re sister is doing GREAT!” I couldn’t even move but I remember being in so much pain. It felt like I had just got hit by a truck or something. I immediately grabbed (or tried to) my stomach area and curl up like a baby but I don’t think I actually even moved. Kind of like I wanted to do this but couldn’t cause I was so out of it. One thing I do remember though was shortly after they told me the above that I must have fell back asleep and was suddenly awaken by chaos. I heard a lot of people talking to each other and stuff moving around. And I was moving. Or my bed was moving at least because I could feel it. I kept hearing a guy apologizing to me and others asking him what he did or what happened. Long story short, it turns out he accidentally disconnected by PCA machine so I wasn’t getting any pain medication. No wonder I was in so much friggin pain! IDIOT!!! LOL I must have arrived wherever they were taking me to (which I think was my room) and I kept feeling someone holding and messing around with my wrist. They were giving me my pain meds directly through the IV at this point since the machine was disconnected. And then to make matters even worse, the machine wasn’t working in my room either. I guess from him disconnecting it abruptly, he tweaked it. They had to get me another one and in between all of this, give me more shots via the IV. The pain was the worse I had and I can remember some of it. I don’t recall how many shots I got but according to my wife and the first nurse I remember that evening, I had A LOT. I must have cause I remember barely even being able to open my eyes or talk cause it would make me so nauseated. I knew I had people coming in to visit, family, friends, nurses and all but I could barely see them nor talk to them. It would take so much out of me to do so. I remember seeing or hearing my family tell me how well Monica is doing now and how she wants to see me but could barely move as well to do so. My way of communicating at this point to them was to moan or grunt. I still couldn’t really talk. It would make me feel nauseated. I saw my wife and kids staring and talking to me. I wanted to hold them and tell them that I was fine and all but couldn’t. I could see (barely) the look in their eyes that they were concerned. Those pain meds really kicked my ass in that sense but they helped A LOT with the pain. Shortly after, I was able to say something briefly to each one of them.

Throughout the night the nurses would come in and check my vitals. This was really annoying! But I guess its protocol. They would always tell me how great and courageous I was and that I was healing fine. They told me how well my sister was doing as well. How she’s always asking for me….sending messages to me via the nurses. She was good at that. Every time they checked my vitals and all I would have to blow in to this chamber to keep my lungs circulating. This sucked! Only because the first couple of times I did it in the evening, I got the hiccups. Who wants the hiccups with a surgery like this? Thank goodness for pain meds. It must have been around 2am and I was getting my vitals checked again and I told the nurse at that time that I wanted to see my sister. She helped me get up and I sat at the edge of my bed and watched everything ‘spin’ in front of me. Man, it sucked! The friggin pain meds were still too much. I felt like tossing my guts up at this point so I let her know I couldn’t do it. She didn’t force me and let me know to tell her when I wanted another shot at it. I laid back down and I think I went back to sleep for another couple of hours. I finally got up and had enough energy (and a stomach) to go for it again at the next vital check. Not too sure what the time was but I finally made it. I asked my nurse how far her room was and she said like 5 rooms away. I walked past 3 of them and asked her again. She said its right over there. Right over there felt like a friggin mile away. But I made it. Her door was somewhat opened and she was sleeping. I told the nurse I don’t want to wake her but I guess I did. I just wanted to see her. She was so happy to see me and I felt the same way too. She asked how I was and I told her I was fine. I could see how ‘healthy’ my sister was at this point as she glowed from her room. I walked in for a few minutes but never sat. I was kind of scared to thinking how hard it would be to get back up. LOL We talked briefly, she thanked me and I headed back to my room…telling her I’d see her in the am. The next day was probably the worst. Lots of pain….sitting up and walking seemed to help this though so I got up and visited my sister again. I stayed a little bit longer this time and she seemed surprised that I was up again. I told her she needs to do the same and that the first time would be the hardest. After that, it gets easier and it did with me. We had visitors come and go the next day and throughout our stay. This was really nice. Family and friends are very important during something like this. Although, they tell me I was still kind of out of it compared to my sister who had so much energy. LOL It finally wore off and I think I started coming around to being myself after a couple of days.

You could really tell how well my sister was doing. She had so much energy and even kind of glowed from her room. Everyone could see it. It was weird. It’s truly a miracle! What a difference a ‘kidney’ makes you know? Truly a blessing…even her lab work was showing positive results each and every day. She eventually had enough strength to get up and walk around and soon enough she came and visited me as well. We would take turns visiting each other. It was our way of exercising. Each time got easier and I could tell for her as well. I stayed in the hospital for 3 days and my sister did 4. I think at this point we were both ready to be in our own houses and start our recovery. We’re both doing great. My sister had some lab work done a few days after she was released and informed me that her results were ‘as normal as can be.’ Everything is normal. She hasn’t had lab work results like this in about 15 years…INCREDIBLE!

Well, I told you this would be long. My bad! I’d like to leave you all with first thanking everyone that’s been there for me and my sister during this journey. Thank God for everything and this is truly His blessing. Thanks to our families and friends too! We couldn’t have done it without you. You guys are everything! Secondly, hopefully this will help anyone getting ready to be a donor for someone and give them the information they need as other peoples blogs helped me with preparation. And lastly, if you haven’t signed your donor card already, sign it today! Your decision could be life saving….your decision not do could let someone die.