Day of operation

The day of the operation was a bit wierd. Strangely I was not at all nervous for myself. I was more nervous for my Dad and my mum and also a bit nervous for the medical team as they wanted this to be a success for a number of reasons. I was pleased that my brother and sister in law were in Bristol to support all of us and especially mum. Often in hospital it is the people waiting around that have the most stress.

Dad was wheeled off early in the morning around 8.30 ish and I did not leave for theatre until about 12. Going to theatre is always a bit of a strange feeling. As a child I used to absolutely hate it but now I am much more calm - although of course a bit nervous. Waiting around to go and knowing that one of your relatives is already being operated on is not great especially when they have never had an operation before.

When I finally left my mum and brother walked most of the way to the theatre and the nurse came to the "sleep room" the room where they put you to sleep. I was met by two anaesthetists. They kept looking into the theatre obviously waiting for the signal that we were good to go. The nurse was great - they are often the best support at this point in time. Eventually after what felt like hours they got down to business. One of the anaesthetists said lean forward - he was going to give me a nerve block in the lower spine. I was not up for this - I asked him if I had to have it and he said no - I could have it when I was a sleep but it would be more of a risk or I could go without. I opted for the later I had never had it before and it did not appeal to me - I would take the extra little bit of pain when I came round. They then put the funny stuff into the canulla - needle. I actually quite like this feeling now it basically makes your neck go very heavy paralyzes your body and makes your mind go fuzzy. They then gave me the actual injection that puts you to sleep. I used to fight the sleep sensation I would get to about 20 counting in my head - now I don't fight anymore I get to about 8 and basically allow myself to fall asleep.

The next thing I remember was coming round in recovery. I am normally relieved at this stage to still be alive and have sense but my first response this time was to see if dad was ok. He was being sick - so I knew he was fine. I also seem to remember being told it had been a success and that I was passing urine. The consultant who had planned the whole thing was there ensuring that things were working and hoping that I did not have an acute rejectin episode. I am not sure if they can do anything if this happens.

I remember being in quite a lot of pain in the bladder area (actually a lot of pain I think I am becoming a wimp) and having pain killers pumped into me. I was a bit sick but nothing to bad. I went in and out of sleep mode I remember coming back to the ward and being greated by everyone -mum etc and the doctors again. I also remember looking at dad and he was still being sick. He was experiencing the wonders of morphine - I am sure that you need to relax when you have painkillers and not fight the sensation. I was on a new type of iv pain killer that was brilliant. You did not fly round the room or your mind and kept some of your mental faculties.

The rest of that day was sleeping and drinking. I was also recieving liquid through a drip and had an antirejection medicine at some point during the day. Baxilimab. During the first few days I was pumped full of liquid, this is to get the kidney flushed and pumping properly. I think I passed about 4 litres of urine on the first day. That is probably more urine than I have passed in the past 2 years!!! I managed to come off the oxygen within a hour of arriving back from theatre. I hate being on oxygen - I like the feeling that I can breathe on my own.... I was attached to an oxygen monitor, heart monitor and blood pressure machine. I also had a drain coming out of the area where the kidney had come out of and had a catheter into my bladder up my private parts (this will become more relevant when I tell the story of day 3-4 later). I was in arc (acute renal care) and felt pretty good if not a bit sleepy, sore and buzzed up from pain killers. My observations and blood results were looking good. My creatine had halved, my phosphate had halved and my hb had dropped which would be expected after this kind of surgery.