The Day of Miracles!

My dad called here yesterday just before 4 PM.  He and my mom were on their way to UC San Francisco.  He had gotten the call that a kidney was coming for him. This is a call we have been waiting for since November or so last year when he was finally put on the transplant list.

Now we knew that the kidney itself is the first hurdle.  There was also the hurdles of final matching, the surgery itself and then the recovery time and potential rejection.  But the kidney--the first hurdle is the big one, really.

I spoke with my mom last night about 10 PM and they had Dad prepped for surgery--not letting him eat anything, IV in his arm, etc.--and they were expecting the new kidney to arrive within the hour.  I guess I didn't think they would call him until the organ was there yet, but it makes sense.  They can prep him while they wait for the organ's arrival.  It was one of those things I hadn't thought of in this process.

Mom said they learned that the donor was a 55 year old man who had a short stint with high blood pressure.  The donated kidney was coming from John Muir hospital, so they weren't sure how long it would take to get there.  But, she said, the head of the department--who was his surgeon--wanted to check the kidney tissue under the microscope before taking Dad to surgery.

This morning, my mom called about 8 AM our time.  The kidney arrives last night, and the good doctor thought it was a good match, so Dad went into surgery about 11 PM (their time) and the surgery lasted until about 2 AM.  The surgeon then spoke with mom and told her that things went great and dad was responding like he should.  All good news.

As Mom was talking with me, I could hear Dad in the background.  He was sitting up and feeling pretty good.  He had coughed just before she called and that caused him to finally take some pain mediation.  He has to use a catheter for a few days and the nurses monitor his urine output--to see if all the connections are functioning--and this morning things there were looking good too.

Mom said he has a 6 inch long track line where his "fluid exchange" tubing had been installed for his dialysis.  They removed the "quick connect" line and put the kidney into that same spot.  What I found interesting was they left his two natural--and minimally functioning--kidneys in.  They sewed in a new ureter to the new kidney and connected that like the old ones to the bladder.  I figured they would have removed the diseased ones.  But they don't. I think that is interesting.

Dad was doing well enough this morning that mom thought she would go home and sleep in her bed--she tried sleeping in Dad's hospital bed while he was in surgery--but the nurses kept trying to take her vital signs and she had to tell them she wasn't the patient!  They she would go back up and keep track of him until they left him out.

But there is much to be thankful for today!  I am grateful for the fabulous Transplant Team and the care they gave me dad and the knowledge they have to save lives and improve health for others.  I am truly thankful for the donor and his family--for their generosity and thoughtful gift in their tie of mourning.  I am thankful for the prayers of so many friends and family--that this day would come, but especially that the transplant last night would go well.  I'm thankful for the medical advances and procedures that have kept Dad going for these past few years as well as the astounding abilities they have developed to take one person's organ and give it to another.  And I am most thankful for our loving Heavenly Father how hears and answers prayers.  He is ever watchful and eternally kind to us.  And He ultimately has our lives in His hands.  I am grateful for another day, week, year, decade to share with my dad.