Onward!

The days at the hospital moved by, with everything being measured.

I started walking dragging the IV pole with me. And, one day, I was walking in the hall, and there, as I paraded in my fashionable hospital gown, I was “observed” by my wife’s boss!

As you probably know, dignity doesn’t exist in a hospital! Fortunately, I’ve been a hospital patient and wasn’t too embarrassed!

Finally, the day was determined when I was to leave. My donor wife went home after five days.

Well, there was a slight problem in being able to leave.

My body was so swollen that I couldn’t fit in my own clothes!

So, my Mom had to get a set of XXL sweat clothes to be able to go home!

(I was NOT warned about this!)

In any case, I finally got home after nine days, with the great ability to urinate!

So, between my wife and myself, we were two people recovering from surgery!

Fortunately, my Mom and sister (who, nine years later received a kidney from her husband!) helped out.

The next phase was to go to the clinic at Rogosin three times a week for monitoring. Organ rejection risk is highest in the first weeks after the transplant.

So, even though I was overjoyed and grateful for the transplant, I still was experiencing the apprehension that something might go wrong.

In other words, what I’m saying, even having transplant surgery, a kidney disease patient is not out of the woods.

And technically speaking, a transplant recipient is never out of the woods!

The kidney is always being rejected! But the immunosuppressant drugs stop the rejection process from succeeding!

But, after a month of going to the clinic, I was discharged back to the care of my own nephrologist, and normal life increased, until, three months after surgery, My wife and went back to work.

So, that’s the main part of one PKD patient’s struggle.

Clearly, the outcome has been more than fantastic!

Gratitude for all those directly and indirectly involved will always be expressed!

I also want to be clear that my Odyssey didn’t end there! Quite a bit more occurred over the years since the transplant!

But that will be for another time!

In any case, I hope that the sharing of my Odyssey has “humanized” some of the phases of PKD that you have heard and read about.

And once again, I would love to hear from you, comments, questions.

Please leave your comments below or e-mail me at:

info@innergameofpkd.com and let’s have a lively conversation!

Thank you for your indulgence in allowing me to tell my story!

Peace and Blessings!

Coach Richie Perl

Certified Professional Coach

Certified Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming