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The operation

Alistair & Trudy
18 months after the operation. Our 20th Wedding Anniversary

Alistair's story

On arriving at Guys Hospital the afternoon before the operation, we were both feeling pretty lost.  We sat around for an hour or two before a doctor eventually came and introduced herself and checked us in.  A few final check-in tests were carried out, temperature, blood pressure and the like and we were good to go.  What amazed us both was that following our check-in were told that we could go out to dinner.  We were expecting to go to bed and had been told to go out on the town.  We still chuckle about it now.  It was a good thing and tended to take the edge off the situation.  We were both put into the men’s ward in beds next to each other.  It was good to be near each other and we could chat and discuss the forthcoming operations.

The morning of the operation the hospital stewards came to collect Trudy at around 8am.  I remember watching them wheel her away and feeling as if my heart would break.  It is such a strange feeling to see her taken away.  I felt almost guilty.  She was so healthy was going to make herself ‘unhealthy’ for me.  I am still amazed at the selfless nature of a kidney donor.  How is it possible for us as kidney recipients to ever say thank you to the donor in a way that is sufficient.  I must have thanked her a hundred times.  Eventually she has told me that she knew I was grateful and to leave it be.  I keep a humble silence now but in my heart I am still grateful and will never forget.

I expected to be collected a few hours later.  It was 1pm before they eventually came to collect me.  On assurances that Trudy was doing absolutely fine, I was taken down to the theatre and had her kidney put into the right side of my abdomen.  I had previously had an inguinal hernia repair on my left side which is why I believe the right was chosen by the surgeon.

The first night was a blur of machines, monitors and constant nurse visits.  They looked after us both so well but the first night is still a bit of a blur.  I awoke the following morning a little tender but feeling so much better.  It is hard to describe the feeling, but I could feel that the cleaning process of my body had started.  One gets ill slowly with kidney failure and you just accept the tired and listless feeling as being normal.  I had felt tired for so long that I had forgotten what it was like to feel normal.  The feeling of having a working kidney in my body was amazing.

Trudy did not pass any urine for 48 hours.  The doctors told us that the one remaining kidney sometimes goes into shock following a removal and we shouldn’t worry.  In due course, it started working again and she started passing urine normally.  We were both helped out of bed by the physiotherapists on the second day.  I can honestly say that I did not experience any major discomfort.  I stopped using the hand controlled pain pump on the second day.  I found it just made me feel bilious.  My only real problem at the time was taking the drugs.  I really struggled particularly with the cyclosporin but managed to get them down somehow.

I had an incredible feeling of well being following the transplant and couldn’t believe how well I felt.   I had been on a restrictive diet for around 18 months and suddenly feeling well and being able to eat normally again was a massive change.  I felt amazing, full of energy and really ready to take on life’s challenges once again.  I was released from hospital on the 6th day.  A friend came to collect me from Guys and I can remember the car bumping all the way home.  My urine had been almost clear for nearly 18 months and I was constantly thirsty.  Following the operation, my thirst went away and the first time I went to the loo I had to call the whole family to take a look at my good stream of yellow urine.  On the second day at home my urine was blood red.  I got very panicky and thought that there was something seriously wrong.  In the end it seemed that the stent had moved slightly and caused some bleeding.  No-one had warned me that this might happen and it gave me a real scare.  It is now always something that I mention when Trudy and I speak to other patients

I was still on large doses of Cyclosporin and I think this affected my kidney function.  I was taken in on 2 separate occasions for suspected rejection, each time having a biopsy.  My GFR was falling and at no time ever went above 50.  The pathologists were not sure if it was rejection although they thought there might be a possibility of cyclosporin toxicity.  My cyclosporin dose was decreased and my GFR eventually stabilised around 42.  I was told later that this may have been the result of having a little girl’s kidney in a big guy’s body.  I learnt at this time that the word rejection does not mean one will lose the kidney.  It is treatable and can be controlled.

I took me around a year to stabilise completely and I have learned just to take things one step at a time.  I am eternally grateful to all those who have helped me through this experience, the physicians, surgeons, nurses and all the staff at Guys who have helped give me my life back and make me well again.  Most of all I am thankful to my wife Trudy who gave a kidney to me.  Without her selfless attitude and support I do not believe I would have got through the experience quite so easily.  

It puts a whole new meaning on the words “The two shall become one”.  

Trudy's story

I remember going into the Hospital the afternoon before the operation, 29th Jan 2007 and after much waiting and a few final checks, we were allowed to go out for dinner.  It was a wonderful time of reflection and bonding and we called our girls at home and reassured them that we would be okay.

Alistair and I were put in the men’s ward next to one another, which was such a comforting situation for me.  I don’t believe that I would have been very pleased if this was not the case.

I was wheeled out of the ward at around 8am the following morning and had not really considered my own fears up until I was wheeled in the pre-op room, where a lovely large black nurse came across to me and said, hello my dear (in her Jamaican voice) - you will be fine, you are doing such a wonderful thing… and that’s when I suddenly realised what I was about to do.  Of course I realised what I was undertaking, I had signed all the legal documents just a few weeks earlier with the HTA, but had not really thought about me.  I lay there suddenly questioning to myself whether I would be okay and whether the girls would see me later….  The tears just rolled down my cheeks and I remember wiping them away just before being introduced to the anaesthetist.  I was ready to do this, but as anyone would, I suddenly felt vulnerable.  He reassured me and I went to sleep.

My first concern in waking up was whether someone had called the girls to tell them that we were okay.  I was very groggy.  I must’ve pestered everyone I could see, through my blurred vision, reminding them to call the girls.  I don’t recall going back to the ward, but remember vaguely being told how to operate my wonderful painkiller, which was on a pump.  I had a catheter put in and a saline drip in my left hand.  I was not really able to move and was not in pain.

I slept a lot and vaguely recall Alistair being next to me.  He reassured me he was okay and I remember the staff being so attentive to him, each time the machine alarm went off.  The staff were really wonderful.  I recall having all of my meals and having of good appetite.  By the next afternoon, when the girls came to see us I was feeling better but was unable to open my eyes, I felt very sleepy.  They were wonderful, nursing me and tending to me.

I listened as they spoke to Alistair and commented on how wonderfully well he looked and how dopey I was.  They were so positive and took everything in their stride.  They were both so caring of one another.

By the second day, the physiotherapists came to see me and had me up in a chair to be weighed.  They encouraged me to stand up and walk a little in the ward.  Alistair and I started to walk as much as we could.  Bent over, just joking about bit and bobs.

We met the other donors and respective recipients in the ward asking after each of them.  We made many good friends and still keep in contact with some of them.

I was able to go home on the fourth day after the op. and was driven home by a good friend.  I was given loads of support and asked to call the ward if I had a problem.

I did call them, about a week later when I realised that my wound was weeping I called into the Hospital to be told that I had developed a haematoma.   The Surgeon advised me that he would watch it and that I would not need to return to surgery.  It eventually settled down and apart from a large bruise which I had for a while was fine.

I can honestly say that I am fully recovered and feel as good now, as I did before the operation.  I have probably become more conscious of what I eat and drink, although I’ve always been a health conscious person and a tea-totaller.