Sounds like you have a brand new lease on life , kinda like hittin one of those little white pills 300 yards for the first time. God Bless .
Ray Pruitt Rays Golf ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bernie Baymiller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 9:04 PM Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Kidney transplant > ST'ers all, > > Thanks for all for your thoughts, prayers and good wishes. This has been > hard to believe, but I'll tell you about it for the sake of others who might > have the same problems. Kidney transplant technology is simply amazing to me > now. I'm home after receiving a kidney 4 days ago. > > My kidneys have been failing for the last two years...actually since 1983. > Nobody could ever tell me why. I dragged it out pretty well by diet control, > but haven't had the strength to walk the course for about a year and a half. > When my creatinine went over 4, walking up hills was all over. Eventually, I > had to start dialysis, which cleans up your muscles overnight, but can't > clean them up when you are exercising, so you tire very quickly. For the > last five months or more I've been on peritoneal dialysis at home. It's a > computer driven machine that sits beside your bed and fills you up with > exchange fluid (a sugar solution), 4 cycles a night...like being tied to an > 8 foot plastic tube leash for 6 hours. Lost about 20 yards on my drives and > 10 on my irons, but could play and feel OK for about 15 holes riding a cart. > Best round suddenly became 77s-78s instead of 73-75s. Averaging 82 for the > last month. > > A year and a half ago, when my creatinine went over 6, I went on the Kidney > Transplant list. My wife and brother tried to be a donor, but were rejected > because of marginal risk. I figured I had to wait about two years for a > cadaver kidney...the average wait in our area of the country. About a month > ago, the transplant office at UT Hospital called me and asked me to schedule > a stress test to stay on the list...something required every year. So, I > scheduled it for last Thursday at 8:45 AM. Instructions said to stop all > food and drink before midnight the night before. Hooked up my dialysis > machine at 9 PM as usual, watched some TV and drifted off to sleep. About > 2:30 AM the phone rang and the transplant office told me to get right down > there for a blood test...they might have a kidney for me. I turned off the > cycler, went in and gave them the blood, went home and finished up my > dialysis. Got up and went in for my stress test. About half way through it, > the Transplant nurse comes in and says go right to admitting...you have a > kidney. Figure the odds of that...no food or drink before the one day I have > to have a surprise operation. So I was totally ready. > > I'm sitting in the pre-op room and the doc comes through and says it was a > blue-light special night for kidneys...they got 3 that night from > Nashville...I was number 600 for the hospital and 39th this year. He asked > if I would like to meet my kidney, told me it was a 57 year-old man and held > up the cardboard box with the iced kidney and kept going. With three > surgeries...about 3 hours apiece...the nurses were going crazy. I was number > two, but two trauma cases (mower accident next to me) held two of us up. I > was supposed to be in surgery at 5 PM, but didn't get in until at least 8 > PM. Was out of the recovery room at 3 AM Friday morning. The doc says I > really got a good kidney...80 good cells to one bad one...and unexpectedly, > even after being iced for 28 hours, it kicked right in. I had 4100 ml of > urine production the first night and my legs felt great. Instructions are to > WALK, WALK, WALK!...just what I wanted to hear. I did. Midget steps the > first day Friday, but about a mile around the corridors on the 12th floor > with a fantastic view of UT, Knoxville and the Tennessee River. Saturday I > did about two miles and today two miles at a good clip...under 30 minutes. > (That slowed me down the rest of the day). When I went into surgery, my > creatinine was 8.6. This morning, four days later, it was 1.5...a tenth from > normal! It's unbelievable how good my legs feel again...the deadness is all > gone, though they tire from lack of practice. Other good instructions are: > no digging, no yard work, no lifting...just in time for leaf and garden > prep season. :-) I'm very immuno-suppressed for awhile, so can't shop or go > to grocery stores, either. My challenge will be to adjust medications in the > coming two months, the principal period of organ rejection. > > It's like coming from a slow death to a rebirth. You can't imagine the > psychological lift I got. A senior friend even brought me a box of Titleist > Pro V-1s, compliments of my Friday group. Today, I got to eat chili and > beans for the first time in almost 20 years. If I ever had any doubts about > the value of friends and family, they are gone completely. > > God bless you all and please sign your donor cards just in case. It's a > miracle waiting to happen. > > Bernie > Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Herb Wellman, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 11:52 PM > Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Kidney transplant > > > > That's two people I know who've received Kidney's this year. I hope > > everyone is carrying a donor card. Best of luck, Bernie. Will keep you > > in my prayers and I'm looking forward to more long driver information. > > > > Herb Wellman, BackNine Custom clubs > > > > > > > > > > >
