19/10/08 - 2 days post TX - tomato soup, sitting out of bed and the big weigh in

I totally forgot to mention in my previous post (think I was blocking it out to be honest) when I listed all my lines and tubes I was attached to, that I also had a drain tube next to the wound on my tummy - it drains out any excess blood or fluid. It was only a small tube so I didn't panic too much when the Doctor informed me that it was time for it to be taken out. It was only a thin tube and so I thought although it wasn't going to be the most pleasant experience I'd ever had it wouldn't be too bad...boy, was I wrong.

The nurse snipped a little stitch which was holding the line in, and told me to take a deep breath. I presumed she was going to slowly and carefully prise the tube out...but noooooo, with both hands she yanked the tube out as hard as she could and I think the patients in the ward downstairs will have heard my scream. The line was roughly about 8 inches inside me and as she pulled it out pain shot through my body like nothing I'd ever experienced. I promptly burst in to tears and couldn't even speak afterwards. The pain subsided a little after a few minutes but I was fairly in shock at how little warning I'd had, however perhaps if the nurse had told me beforehand 'oh by the way, this'll be the most painful thing you've ever felt' I may not have been so obliging to have it done in the first place....

After I had recovered a little, the nurse give me a wash (I swear you lose all dignity in hospital) and then slowly adjusted my bed so I was in a sitting position She then helped me swing my legs over the bed and gently stand up. This whole process took about fifteen minutes as I had been lying down for so long my chest needed time to readjust and I felt really out of breath for the first few minutes. Once I was out of bed though I felt so much better, and like I was actually on the road to recovery.

First time sitting out of bed - woo!

Lots of cannulas

The Doctors all came round, and my results were still looking great which I breathed a big sigh of relief about. I was still suffering from extreme paranoia about Kasper packing up and not only was I worried for myself I desperately didn't want to let Oli down. So when they told me my creatine was down to 90 I was ecstatic. By this time I had been pumped with quite a lot of fluid, but I was producing so much wee that I didn't really feel that heavy. That coupled with the fact that I hadn't really eaten anything in the past few days I thought I might have even lost a little weight. So when the nurse helped me sit in the weighing chair and my weight came up as 8 and a half kilos over my dry (pre dialysis) weight I almost passed out. How my body could hold an extra 8 and a half litres of fluid I had no idea. It was then I glanced down at my thighs....they looked HUGE. Ah, so that's where the fluid is then.

Introducing old school Kasper to new school Kasper

Today even marked a very special occasion - my first meal post transplant! Ok, so it wasn't much - a cup of Heinz tomato soup and a cheese sandwich - the ultimate comfort food - but it tasted so good. Especially since pre-transplant I wasn't really supposed to eat tomatoes or soup (potassiumy and salty, a big no-no for renal patients) it made it all the better.

Yummy yum yum

Oli's bed space was needed for someone to have emergancy dialysis in the evening so the nurses pushed his bed along side mine which was a bit of a novelty as in the high dependancey ward the beds are really far apart and you would literally have to shout to the person next to you. So we had nice chats in to the evening, until we fell asleep, comparing cannulas and discussing all the things we wanted to do when we 'got out'...