1 Day Pre TX 16/10/08- Oli arrives and last dialysis!

Oli arrived bright and early today ready for his pre transplant tests. Actually seeing Oli in the hospital with his suitcase seemed to make everything more real and I felt even more excited and almost in shock at what an amazing thing Oli was about to do...I literally couldn't quite believe or take in what was happening.
I also had my last dialysis session - but not wanting to tempt fate and say a 'tearful' goodbye to my blood sucking friend I tried to keep it as low key as possible but when seven of my family and friends turned up and crammed in to the tiny room that didn't exactly happen! So whilst I munched on a supper of 'renal' chips and chicken nuggets which tasted like damp pieces of rubber (mmmm) everyone chatted and oooed and ahhhed at the machine that has been keeping me alive for the past 5 years.



Next up Oli had a cannula inserted by a rather enthusiastic Junior Doctor who decided to put it in the crease of his arm and not in to his hand. So poor Oli had to sleep with his arm outstretched whilst a little machine pumped him full of fluid ready for the op the next morning.

We also had visits from the surgeon and his assistant, who drew a bit of a comedy arrow on Oli pointing to the kidney....just in case someone tried to remove his arm instead, I guess.

The surgeon's assistant put my mind at ease a little bit when he described the operation as 'low risk' as Oli is a 'good match'. No one had ever said these words to me - I actually had no idea that he was as good match as he was. Makes it even more of a miracle really as in the 5 years I have been waiting for a kidney on the UK Transplant list only 3 'good matches' have come up, and I have been about 350th in the queue for it. (UK Transplant after my 'dress rehearsal' a few months ago were kind enough to give me these figures.)

Another restless sleep followed with a doctor waking me up at 4am to tell me my potassium was high before dialysis that day (thanks, that’s what dialysis is for, isn’t it?). We were only hours away from the big TX…