Two weeks ago, Bryan and I were visiting my family for the 4th of July weekend on the East Coast of Florida. We had a great time. I even got to see my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew who came up from Vero Beach. Monday morning, we planned on meeting up for breakfast before we left. But at 8:15 am, I received a call from Shands. They had a kidney for me if I wanted it.
So we got ready, quickly packed our stuff, said our goodbyes, made a number of frantic phones, and left for Gainesville within the hour. After getting there in good time, checking in, and finally getting all the usual suspects done, they found that my potassium was way too high for surgery and had to dialyze me. So after much ado of filtering, I was finally moved to outside of the OR. Realizing that they didn't check my potassium at the end of dialysis, they had to try and get a blood sample. After about 3 attempts, and 2 bad readers, the doctor said, "Ok, lay her back. We're going for the jugular." Well, that was fun...and then I was in the O.R...and...
Next thing I knew it was 4 am and they were transfering me to my hospital bed. I recovered in good time and was able to leave on the Saturday after, though I had to be back down in Gainesville for Clinic on Monday. The first week after was rough. I gained 20 lbs of fluid and by Thursday, had luckily lost it. The second week was not quite as bad, but definitely a challenge to push through the weaknesses and pain.
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