Sasquatch Transplant Update

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Brothers,

Here is the latest on me, hope I don't bore you to tears.
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On July 5th, after many attempts to reach me, my transplant co-ordinator finally got word to me that they had a potential donor and I needed to get my ass to Pittsburgh ASAP. My best friend rode down with me so he could drive my vehicle home if the organs were a match. They were, and they were viable. So at 11pm that night I went into surgery for a kidney and pancreas transplant. The surgery ended at 6am July 6th. When I woke up later that day I had tubes coming out of all but one orifice, both arms and my neck, yay. This was Sunday.
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On Monday I felt pretty good, all things considered, but I discovered they weren't giving me my prescribed heart medicine. No big deal right? They know what they are doing, they have the alphabet soup after their names, and anyway I felt good. Not so fast Guido. On Tuesday, still sans my heart/blood pressure meds, I developed angina, which is a prelude to a heart attack unless proper meds are administered. Well, they dragged their feet in giving me the proper meds, and the angina worsened to the point that I had chest pain. Mind you, I hadn't had any chest pain in 18 months. I was pissed! Especially when I told them what meds I was supposed to be on, and they didn't believe me. Even though they had a list of my meds in their grubby little hands and they had all of my meds in their original containers spelling out the proper dosage! So they treated the symptom but not the cause, and less than one hour later the pain came back. Finally my cardiologist showed up and set them straight. Thank God! Now they think I have new heart problems. Not! Just the old ones, but they don't care. After about 4 days, they get their collective heads out of their asses and I was back on track to getting the fuck out of ICU.
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Fast forward to the following Tuesday, July 15th, I think. They put me on a double strength antibiotic to treat a possible infection that I might have gotten from my donor. This was the day I was going to be discharged to an outpatient setting. 6 pm I leave to go to my friends house for about 2 weeks, then it will be home! Oops, the antibiotic they gave me reacts with another medicine I was on to thin my blood. Consequently, all night I was shitting blood, and when I went in the next morning my blood pressure was life threateningly low. ( 80/45) Guess what? They readmitted me to ICU.
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They still didn't know about the adverse reaction of the drugs! Thank God my cardiologist came in on Wednesday and freaked when he found out what they had me on. He wrote an order to stop the antibiotic until my clotting level returned to normal. They ignored the order. I didn't. When the surgeon and fellows came in to find out why I was refusing the med, I informed them what my cardiologist told me, and that I trusted him, implying that I didn't trust them. Finally, on Saturday, things normalized and I restarted the antibiotic. On Tuesday, the 22nd, they discharged me and gave me a day off so I could go home for a night.
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I came back to the 'burgh Wednesday night for 4 more days of daily outpatient treatment. They gave me a day off, and then on Tuesday, the 29th, I started Clinic, which is outpatient checkups every other week, and I was free!
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I go for bloodwork, in Erie, twice a week, and about a week after I was home they thought I might be rejecting my pancreas. The only way they can be sure is by doing a biopsy. It was done last Tuesday, the 12th of August, and I am happy to say that I am not rejecting!
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I am doing pretty good, all things considered. I normally have back pain, due to the fact that I have no stomach muscles for another 4 and a half months ( It will take that long for them to heal from the surgery.) and my back is compensating for that. I have lost a ton of weight. I now weigh about 185lbs, about the same as I was as a freshman in high school. Don't know when or if I will be able to drink again. Oh well, maybe I'll shoot for the POTY award this year! LOL.
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I'm still slowly building my endurance back up, but that will take some time. I have one more major hurdle to get over this Friday when they remove a stent from ureter, between my new kidney and my bladder. And there is only one way to do this, through my pecker with a scope and dragging it back out the same way. OUCH! Supposedly it doesn't hurt. Yah right! The next 24 hours, every time I take a piss, it will feel like I'm pissing acid. Not looking forward to that.
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That is all for now. Hopefully I will see all of the actives at the 1st SKN party of the year and the meeting on Friday, August 22.
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Thank you all for your concern, phone calls and letters, it really made a difference and reinforced why we have the best brotherhood of all!
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Fraternally yours,
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Rob Nowak
Bro Sasquatch
Fall 1990
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PS My only regret about the surgery is that I missed the reunion in State College, but I was there in spirit!