Day 2 Post Transplant

Mart still in mischievous 'Mr Hoodie' role.To say hes one kidney down hes doing fantastic.

Me and the crucial 'little blue book 'which we all get after transplant,like the pee measuring jug it goes everywhere with you so you can keep a record of information which helps the staff monitor the workings of your new kidney. Spotting if you are becoming dehydrated is crucial to help prevent rejection.

Reflections;Day 2 post Transplant.

Not using the morphine drip as much, although you can see that 'button' is always within my reach.

Me looking very puffed up with fluid.I tell you what being so full of fluid gets rid of any wrinkles..who needs Botox?

I think by the look of concentration on my face I was dishing out instructions to the kids.

Mart feeling not so good here.Him and his bowel have gone to sleep.Apparently the bowel  is such a sensitive organ that if it gets touched during the surgery it shuts down.It is indeed more sulkier than the kidney.Often it comes round on its own but may need a little nudge.

Day 2 was for me about really coming round from the anaesthetic in terms of engaging more with my brain and assessing the tasks of recovery on a daily basis.The first being the process of starting to loose some of the tubes attached to me. I remember feeling very sorry for myself at times and wondering if the pain would ever go and would I ever be able to stand up straight again? I remember watching Laura being admitted and her and her family starting the hospital procedures of preparing for her impending transplant.

 I thought that Mart and I were separated because of gender but apparently not. Laura's mum [her donor] was in a different bay to us as its policy to separate donor and recipient. When I think on that's so appropriate and its so each party has space to recover independently and doesn't have to feel responsible for putting on a 'good show/brave face' for the other. I remember feeling quite strongly,even through the morphine haze, that despite the fact Mart and I were geographically separated I did feel more worried about him than myself. I'm sure it would have been harder to separate whats going on for me from 'the what about the Martyn process?' if he'd been in the next bed. I hadn't even thought about this prior to admission all I thought was 'we've always been together so why not now?' a purely emotional response.Good job the staff appraise it from a different viewpoint.

I found it very useful and indeed reassuring that their were women in my bay at different stages of the transplant process.I could see daily transformations in them as to what they could and could not do .Of course it was also very useful to hear peoples experiences and and their extraordinary stories as to how they had come to this place in their life.The human spirit is indeed remarkable!