In Tuneness...Anna

​Still feeling great today.  Just finished training session at the gym - will get one more in on Friday before heading up to Oklahoma on Saturday.  I let off the training plan the last few weeks and have enjoyed ad hoc training, exploring and appreciating what I can do with barbell, kettlebell, and bodyweight.  I am infinitely more in tune with my body since I began strength training 6 years ago, but most of that "in tuneness" is about muscles and movement.  I suspect the internal signals from surgery recovery will be new and different.  But I trust that I am strong and resilient in that way, too.  It's amazing what the body can live through and how it recovers.  


Dustin's post today about waiting to pee made me think about the last (and only) time I had surgery -- a C-section when Tyler was born almost 24 years ago (He was breech. Yes, it was a sign for later, lol).  I went home the day after, but we had to wait for Tyler to pee and that seemed to take all day.  So we celebrated that time, too.  But this time will be quite amazing!  This is what the miracle all comes down to -- can my kidney go into someone else and filter blood and make pee?  Yes, that's how it works!  Usually it happens right away with a living donor, as soon as they connect it up and let the blood flow into it.  I can't WAIT for that to happen!  

I've been calling the relocating kidney "Arkay"... R.K... right kidney.  We started out thinking it was going to be Elkay because most of the time they take the left kidney from the donor.  The left easier to get to laparoscopically without the liver and colon in the way, and it has a longer renal vein.  But if there's a size difference they leave the donor with the larger kidney, and they decided while reviewing my case for approval that it was enough to do that.  It will be a "right open nephrectomy" (i.e. not laparoscopic, and they will go in from the front).  Fortunately Arkay is still plenty good size to transplant.  I have two super kidneys!  I knew long ago I had great kidney function from blood and urine labs, but it wasn't until I had the CT scan in April that I knew for sure I had two good ones and they both have one vein and one artery.  Many things are unknown until they actually look so that was a huge relief when we knew the basic scan results.  Some people are born with only one kidney and never know unless it's shown on an image.  Or there can be abnormal blood vessels, cysts, stones, or many other anomolies that can be enough of a concern to rule out a donor.  Mine were good and clear and that was one of the happiest moments when we found that out (the other one being the preceeding blood test when we found out, "We are a match!").  Anyway, the kidney is Dustin's now - I'm just carrying for a few more days - so a rename is pending.  I'm so excited for it's future. And I have absolutely no doubts that Elkay can do the job for me.  #sharethehealth