8:34pm

I’m currently at the hospital with Mom and Dad and the rest of the family. Dad is doing a lot better than before. When I first went in to see him he looked so weak. It was exactly what I thought it would be. He warned us not to bump the bed, because he is in a lot of pain. His eyes were watering, and he was quite groggy. At first, he didn’t want to use the morphine, but he’s been using it a little bit more now.

Now, a few hours later, you can really tell the difference. His eyes look great, and his face looks different. I mean, he didn’t look bad before the transplant, he just looks better now. I asked him if he wanted me to pass on any messages in this BLOG, and his response was, “Tell them I’m happy to be alive”. They just asked him his pain level, and he said it was about a 4.5. That’s a lot better than what it was before.

Lori is also doing well. Her surgery went fine, and she is quite excited about seeing the DVD that they took of the surgery. The only complications she had was when they took her oxyen away during recovery, she kept going to sleep, so she had the doctor’s a little scared. She was actually in the recovery room with Dad, and said that she was watching him the whole time she was in there. When we went up to see her earlier, it was quite an emotional moment. Seeing her lying there just really got me I guess. I mean, she’s my Mom’s friend from high school. She lives across the country. She didn’t have to do this, but she did, and we are so lucky that she did. She just dropped everything to help us out. It’s so incredible, people like that.

She said something to me that I will never forget. It went something like this: “ Your Dad needed this. You guys need your Dad. He needs to be a Dad, a Husband, a Brother, a Son, and maybe later on a Grandpa. I’m not going to stop that. What’s a few days of discomfort, when he gets that chance again?” Wow.

She was lying in that bed, with only one kidney, and she did it all for my Dad. Apparently people were surprised when she told them she was only a friend, and not a relative or a spouse. Not a lot of people really got that she could do that for a friend. Donor’s amaze me. I mean, they give the ultimate gift, the gift of life. I only wish that I could do that for someone that really means it. To then see them afterwards, in a new way. Healthier than before, all because of something that I had to spare.

Mom wanted to add something in here, and she wrote this at the hospital to type up. I think I’ll sign off on that note. There may be some repeats of what was said earlier, but she wanted to make sure it was all known:

Greetings from the Clarian Transplant Center at University Hospital in Indianapolis. We are in full attendance at the bedsides of Kevin and Lori. The transplant recipient and the donors are on different floors, so we are all floating and making rounds. Kev’s mom Donna Jean, younger brother Robin, Gran/Joyce and the rest of the family are here along with Dan Brewer, Lori’s wonderfully supportive and fun husband. Since recovery they have been resting between all of the monitoring and logging, etc. Lori donated a healthy right kidney and placed hers much lower near the hip cavity. They connected the two ureters and the function of the new arrangement is very efficient and responding with strength. Kevin’s PKD laden kidney was even larger than they originally thought ( the size of an NFL regulation football), so we are curious to find out the actual size and weight. Kev is already looking more svelt! Lori’s surgical team video taped it and she is thrilled about watching it with whomever can take it. We are pleased with the attention and care here and will keep you posed as we enter the immuno- suppressant, rejection and acceptance stage. Please keep us in your prayers and we thank all of you for your support!