Day nine

Dear Friends,
A regular day of dialysis (with much drawing of blood for tests including the A2 titer (sorry Aarnes)) followed by meetings with the surgeon (this time for sure) and the post-op nurse coordinator. Then a meeting/exam with the nurse-anesthesiology team including a electrocardiogram.

I would be remiss if I didn't write about my support team, the people who make it so easy just to focus on getting better. Interestingly, my team has had a previous trial run: I had a bad car accident about five years ago (one of those mistakes I was talking about earlier) that required an extended hospital stay and so many people came to my rescue.

Of course, Mom is at the head of the list. At 79, she didn't hesitate to jump on a plane and fly out here to be with me both five years ago and now. She cooks and cleans and sits with me through many of the procedures. She meets with the doctors and nurses with me. She'll be here for a total of five weeks. I need to thank Dad too for lending her to me and taking care of himself during this time.

But perhaps the more remarkable story is the support that I receive from some of my colleagues in the Chemistry Department at Virginia Tech. Having been in a department (CU Boulder) that was cutthroat, it has been, and continues to be, an amazing experience to have colleagues who are like family.

I don't want to name names (except for one) for fear of offending or leaving someone out, but would like to tell you about the things that these wonderful people did for me during my accident recovery five years ago and more recently during my hospitalizations.

Diego Troya is like another little brother to me. He is the one who drove me home from Charlottesville after my rutuximab infusion (the first of my treatments to knock down my immune system before the transplant) in March. He was also the person who did the peritoneal dialysis (home) training with me about a year ago (over several days). And five years ago, he cooked for me (vegan enchiladas) and is generally around to help me whenever I need almost anything. We are together so often that some people wonder if we are a couple, but we're not (in case there are any single women reading this blog).

Five years ago, my colleagues took me to doctors appointments, arranged a driving schedule for bringing my Mom to the hospital each day, to bring her home in the evening and to generally support her so that she could support me. They cooked for her and brought her chocolate. Of course, they visited me in the hospital and cooked for me once I got out. Their children drew pictures for me and one would come to my room and read to me. I recall taking many a slow lap around the hospital floor with many of them, a T-stand in tow as I tried to get some exercise. They were incredibly patient with me.

Over the last year or so, they set up a website to coordinate who could drive me to and from dialysis when I got sick and wasn't able to drive myself. Once in a raging snowstorm. It sometimes feels like they had to set up the website so that they wouldn't fight over who was going to help me. You have no idea how that makes me feel. They coordinated to bring me food. If I needed someone to stay overnight, someone was always there.

It isn't easy being sick, but it is a whole lot easier to be sick with such wonderful friends (especially when my family is thousands of miles away). I never, and I mean never, feel like I'm going through this alone and that is a tremendous comfort.