Sidney has left the building

The past few days were both a blur and stretched on forever. One day I'll write it all out but at the moment, my brain's not that capable.

So, here's the quick recap:

THE SURGERY WORKED!!!!

There was room for the kidney, in fact it fit nicely. On top of that it's already working better than people thought it would.

Miracles do happen. My brother has a healthy kidney for the first time in his life. I think we've all been holding our collective breathes for months and now that we're on the other side we can appreciate show truly great this is. Or at least we will when we've both recovered.

Yesterday was one of the hardest days of my life. Anxiety. Panic. Pain. Incision pain. Gas pain. Nausea. Endless blood tests and temp checks and heparin shots and meds wearing off.

The day before? I remember almost nothing. I was so nervous getting ready for surgery. I remember hearing there was room to go forward, that the operation was a success. I remember seeing my brother being wheeled past me in recovery. He waved and his doctors told me he was saying thanks.

Today I'm feeling more like myself. Slowly, but it's happening. The best moment though, one that will be a highlight for the rest of my life, was hearing my brother's voice next door. I walked in and there he was. I quickly set up wires so we could get online and we just chatted. Like we always do. Nothing supendous interspersed with what a miracle this was.

It was. It is.

There aren't words of gratitude that could properly thank everyone involved. Our surgeons were some of the most caring, compassionate people I've met. The transplant team was supportive and understanding and dedicated. Just about every nurse, every technician, every person I've dealt with over the past few days has been kind and helpful. Of course there have been glitches but that's life.

That's life.

And sometimes life is so stupendous I'm left speechless. This is one of those times.