On February 15 I drove my wife to Baltimore, MD to prepare for her kidney transplant.
February 16 she had a tunnel catheter placed in order to receive plasmapheresis treatments on February 19 and 20.
On February 23 she received a kidney from a dear friend of the family. An amazing 25 year old young lady who walked through fire to give the gift of life, and did so without a moment's hesitation.
My wife's kidney function the morning of surgery was just under 14%.
Today it's somewhere around (or just above) 100%.
(The formula is based on age and blood chemistry - a 50 year old person should not have the function of a 25 year old, hence the possibility of having more than 100%.)
In addition to adapting to life as a transplanted family (sanitation precautions, taking a laundry list of drugs on prescribed schedules, dealing with side effects, keeping prescriptions refilled, etc.) the last three-plus months have been filled with visits to doctors and follow-up blood tests to make sure the kidney remains happy and she is healing as expected.
At this point things could not be better!
I'll get back to rambling about random topics surrounding travel shortly (not that anyone has really noticed my absence) and will include specific concerns about dealing with transplant while traveling along the way.
In the meantime, I hope you have opportunities for some fulfilling experiences, wether they are near or far. New places are amazing, but new people in new places make them all the better.
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