It’s currently 1am and I can’t sleep. It’s the morning of my surgery. In exactly 7 hours, my dad will be going into theatre and two hours later, so will I. In approximately 13 hours, I will (hopefully) have a new functioning kidney. 

I know a lot of you have been waiting for me to update my blog, especially since the story went live in the newspaper about my dad and I (read it here). To be honest, the past few weeks I have been spending quality time with everyone I love. Not because I don’t think there’s going to be a positive outcome to my surgery, but purely because I know recovery is going to be long and tough.  

I got to the hospital today at 12pm. At first it was quite uneventful. Then I met with the nephrologist that would be handling my case while I’m in hospital, Dr Barday. He is an incredibly helpful doctor that answered all the questions I had. From pre to post transplant queries to medication help. He explained everything in a way that I could understand.

 After a quick examination, I had bloods taken. Once that was done, a nurse came in and checked my sugar levels, my blood pressure (which is incredibly high currently), my temperature and she did a ECG. After an hour, another nurse came in for swabs of my nose and groin. They do this to check for infection.

I was then given my first dose of anti rejection meds. They will be increased post transplant but these are the meds I took today.

Up next were the showers. I had no idea I would need to do this as I have had surgeries before and Iv never been asked to do this. The hospital gives you a sterilizing body wash and you need to shower with it three times before surgery. Every time I showered, I was required to put on a new hospital gown. 

So this is where I am currently in my journey. The next time you hear from me, I will have three kidneys!