Kidneys in motion

This comes from my hospital bed, room 227 in section F5 North of the AMC. It’s the first of November. All Saints day, on the western calendar. A blue sky with some white clouds outside. I’m half sitting, thanks to the adjustable bed. Not easy to be writing. An IV is connected to the back of my right hand and I’m hitting more wrong keys than right ones. My lower abdomen on the right is seriously sore. That’s the location of what was formerly Nancy’s kidney. She is now down to one while I’m graced with three, two of which have become bit players, one of which is an instant super star. It’s already doing a great job, the nurses tell me. My creatinine level has fallen dramatically. Other indicators are equally good. My only complaint is that for the time being I must do my best to avoid coughing -- then the abdominal soreness turns to serious pain. I’ve got a green button with which I can press to administer morphine, but so far have only used it once. All that Nancy and I had hoped for seems to have happened.

I remember a transparent blue mask being pressed over my nose and mouth in the operating room , after which the first thing I remember is waking in the recovery room to discover Wendy and Anne sitting next to the bed. I could just barely focus my blurry eyes. So good to see them!

Not sure when I will get to see Nancy -- but hopefully by tomorrow, our 25th anniversary and my 66th birthday. (The birthday gift has been delivered.)

PS from Nancy added 19 December: The surgeon who operated so skillfully on both of us is Dr. Mirza Idu. A little web research reveals that he's an MD PhD (a medical doctor with a PhD), or, as the medical students sometimes say, a Mudd-Fudd. These tend to be over-achieving doctors of amazing skill who are as interested in research as they are in their particular field of medicine. He has written quite a bit on donor nephrectomy.