8 months from surgery

On August 8th, it was 8 months. Things are still going well. My kidney is functioning well. I have made some additional observations that I thought I would share.

First, don't be surprised if you become depressed after surgery. I was depressed, but not until about 3 weeks out. After my family left and my husband went back to work. At the time, I thought I was just "enjoying" my time alone and away from work. But now I realize I was depressed and avoiding most all tasks...cleaning, fixing meals, bathing, doing laundry, returning phone calls, sending birthdday cards/presents and so on. My biggest regret is not returning the phone calls. thus far, people have been very understanding, but one person did take it personally. I wish I had known this could have happened.

Second, my hair has thinned. I see new 1.5" growth at the top of my head now so I think it's growing back. I have no clue why it thinned, but it wasn't severe. Nobody noticed except me and my hairdresser.

Finally, my ankles swell when I eat too much salty food or when I am on my feet a long time. Also, if I sit in a hard chair a long time...of course my legs are short so there is a lot more pressure on my legs since my feet often don't support my legs rather they hang from the chair. Does that make sense. Anyhow, there is a significant difference in the leg swelling when I make an effort to avoid salty food.

I think I mentioned before that I get shaky sometimes. I *think* it's from the prograf, but I'm not sure. Obviously, it's worse after some caffeine, but I'm not giving up coffee. Cola I can give up though. It's only bothersome when I am at work trying to type or when I am doing some fine work, like, say, plucking my eyebrows. :-)

The doctors have had to reduce my myfortic dosage from 720 to 360 twice per day and then to 180 twice per day. They did this because my white blood cell count was getting too low. It went as low as 2.5. The Nephrologist said this is a bad side-effect of the myfortic. I go in tomorrow morning for my labs so we'll see what the latest numbers indicate.

Today is my donor's birthday so my kidney is also celebrating! It's processing a celebratory beer right now! Happy Birthday Connie!