The blog goes silent... the readers disappear... all that remains is a digital archive "in the cloud".
But wait.... I hear something!!
Sure you do. What you hear is a 6-month update on life with the new kidney.
Wow, on one hand its hard to believe that 6 month have elapsed and on the other hand it is getting hard (for me anyway) to recall a time when Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were off limits as far as making plans that included Yvonne.
Neither I nor Yvonne ever forget that all of this is because of cousin Kathy's kindness. The death of her brother, my cousin, Matt 2 days before the 6-month anniversary of the transplant made it impossible to really celebrate. Matt's death at the ridiculously young age of 53 serves as just one more reminder that a long life is not guaranteed.
Medically speaking the 6-month mark is significant because everyone who has been holding their breath finally exhales. Most failed transplants are recorded in these initial months. Saying it another way... this is working!
Yvonne is planning her first trip out of town in quite some time. It's only for 4 days but this would not have been possible on dialysis. We're also talking about two week-long trips later this year.
I can see that Yvonne's energy level is much higher than it used to be. She has started exercising again for the first time in a while as a result of having both time and energy that just wasn't there for the past 5 years. We're even wondering if skiing could return too. It was something we both enjoyed in our early married years.
While the trips, etc are fun noteworthy events it really is "every day" that is significantly improved and it is why we think about Kathy every single day.
God bless her.
