The day after

Again, not a particularly restful night after the operation, as they do checks on you every hour. Should mention all the staff on Richard Bright ward, they are bloody brilliant, there wasn't a moment when I wasn't totally confident in how I was being looked after the whole time. It's all a bit hazy, but by Friday morning we were both kinda coming round a little bit and had some visits from J's parents, Arif, Len, James, John, G and Oli and possibly one or two others too (again, it's all a bit hazy). Having our beds next to each other made the whole thing so much better. I can't imagine how frustrating and worrying it must be for husband/wife donors who can't be next to each other! There was a lady in the ward who had donated to her son, but he was a paediatric case so was at a completely different hospital!

Being a bit more awake, I was able to take note of what I looked and felt like [skip to the next paragraph if you're squeamish] .... my hospital ID band was cutting into my arm from where they'd done it up quite tightly before surgery and then pumped me up with 5-6litres extra of water - looked a bit like a baby elephant in the arms and legs for a couple of days there! Also became aware of the three lines coming out of my neck for blood and fluids, which J said made me look a bit like The Borg in Star Trek. Add to that the drips in each arm, the evil evil catheter and the nasty wound drain coming out of my side and I wasnt really able to move much at all. Oh and an oxygen mask as well.

Best bit was when the doctors did their rounds and told me my Creatinine was down to 195 - before the op it had been well over 400, so to have the kidney working straight away was really brilliant!