Surgery

The day before my surgery, I was scheduled to work.  We had our annual, MANDATORY training day.  I got up at 6 to shower and get ready, give the house one more look over to make sure I’d packed all I would need, feed the cats, rearrange things, etc.  Philip drove me to work and went straight to the airport because we were having some issues with our tickets.  Needless to say, we did ultimately get our tickets, but I was so worried that I hardly slept the night before.  I also woke up feeling like I might get sick in the middle of the night.  So, very little sleep was had the night before.  Philip picked me up after work and we went to the airport.  We got in at our hotel around 12:30 that night and had to be at the hospital at 5:30 the next morning.

We checked in and after a short wait, we headed up to my surgery prep room and Philip waited in the family waiting room.  I got my gown on, had my vitals taken, and had the most PAINFUL IV placed.  Before I knew it, I was meeting all kinds of nurses and doctors and thankfully Philip was allowed in the room with me.  Finally, they took me down to surgery.  All I remember is lying on the OR table and telling the nurse that it didn’t look like Grey’s Anatomy.  Next thing I remember is someone waking me up.  My eyes were swollen from all the fluids and I was really nauseous.  Thankfully I eventually got to the point where I could be in my room with Philip.  I slept A LOT.

The first night was frustrating.  We had nurses telling us conflicting things and we both just wanted to go to bed.  One minute we had to stay awake because they wanted me to try moving, the next minute,  I had to drink a glass of Sprite, then take something…It was just a problem with lack of communication between staff members and also from the staff to Philip and me.  But, ultimately, we did get off to sleep.

In the middle of the night, my IV beeped because it was empty, so I’m paging the nurse and I look over and my sweet fiance is staring at his phone saying “I’m so sorry, baby, I’m so sorry!”  I finally say “What are you doing?”  To which he replies “I can’t figure out how to turn my alarm off!”  Yes, he was in desperate need of sleep as well.

The day after my surgery was rough.  The doctors told me it would be the worst, but they had me wake up and walk around and finally made it possible for me to use the restroom.  Yesterday was when I learned that my sister had outed me on Twitter as the donor for one of her friends.

The basic gist of the story is:  My sister follows the blog of another 3 day walker.  This blogger wrote a post about a friend who needed a kidney.  Both my sister and I had the right blood type, so we got tested.  I was found to be a match before my sister, and the rest is history.  On the morning of my surgery, Philip was holding my bag which happens to be a 3day bag.  The aforementioned blogger noticed it and put two and two together.  Before I knew it, people in the 3 day community were reading my blog.  I even had a Twitter hashtag.  I’m not really a twitter user, but basically, people were thanking me for donating.

Tears filled my eyes as I read the words of all of these people who knew my recipient and were thanking me.  Somehow in the insanity of travel and tests and everything leading up to this surgery, I forgot a little bit about my recipient (told ya I was selfish!).  And because I don’t know much about her, it all hit me at once.  I still don’t feel like I’ve done anything above and beyond what God’s asked for me to do, but I am thankful that I took this opportunity that God presented me with and made all these people who know my recipient so happy.

While there’s some pain and frustration, I am feeling infinitely better today and more as the time goes on.  No regrets.

PS:  All this kidney talk makes me think of… “Mr. Tribianni, it looks like you have kidney stones.”  ”What else could it be?”  ”Kidney stones.”  ”Or…?”  ”Kidney stooooones!”