Yesterday, Sunday, it was exactly one month since Jaime and I were joined at the kidney. Whew! It seems like years ago and at the same time it doesn’t seem like it’s happened at all. I am quite convinced that the reality of this - that I have a kidney that was born to someone else - is now in my body. I can say it intellectually but I think emotionally and in my soul it has not hit me that much yet. I am guessing it’s just because I’ve been so cocooned in this healing process that reality just isn’t completely there.
Oh don’t get me wrong - there have definitely been some realities in this though. There’s the reality of the pain which is finally subsiding. There’s the reality of 50+ pills down the hatch every day. There’s the reality of a 10″ scar that wasn’t there 32 days ago. There’s the bruises from all the blood draws and the collapsed veins because of all the pokes and sticks it has taken to give the IV’s I needed in the hospital and the blood tests to make sure I’m remaining stable. There’s the incredible amount of tiredness that has prevailed in my body. Naps are a daily necessity these last few weeks.
But thanks be to God I am remaining stable and the kidney and my body continue to seem to like each other (I’m glad for that because Jaime and I continue to like each other too and it would be sad if my body and her kidney just decided to have a fight!). My staples came out last week and since then the incision doesn’t hurt at all except around the area that is still open and draining but even that is healing up much quicker than expected. Again I give thanks to the Lord!
I have eliminated my isolation this week. I started driving again on Saturday. It was weird at first but since I’ve been driving for nearly 40 years it came back pretty quickly. Today I even drove myself to Loyola and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. But that was it for me. Time for heading home after that!
I have also been released to work limited hours from home starting tomorrow! I am grateful to be able to give it a try. But I still need to get my head and my body to synch for longer periods of time than it has been the last few weeks.
So now I have the rest of my life to go. Where before all this I was planning my funeral and pretty much just riding it out until I would be with Jesus, now I have to think about what appears to be a future longer than I had before. What does the Lord have for me? I keep asking “why me?” and why not someone else? That clearly tells me that the Lord is not finished with me left. I am constantly humbled by this and in that state I want to make sure I am listening carefully for how He wants me to move into this new found future. For that I covet your prayers.
So that’s the update for now. I have several tributes and other things I want to write and will begin them this evening.
Thanks for reading.
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