4th Kidney Anniversary

Four years ago yesterday, Jon donated one of his kidneys to his older brother, Kevin. I can't believe it's been 4 years, sometimes it seems like forever ago & sometimes, when I think back about it, it amazes me how much I remember, just like it was yesterday. It was HUGE! There were so many months of preparation & tests for that one day, December 14 2006 at UCSF.

All gowned up & ready to go!


After surgery I took pictures of each of them doing a thumbs up & then took the camera & showed them each the pictures, so they could both see the other one was okay. Their rooms were on opposite sides of the transplant floor.

Here was Kevin's post-op


Here was Jon's post-op


As you can see, Jon looks a little more out of it. Unfortunately, Jon has a sensitivity to the pain med Dilaudid, which we didn't know about & a couple hours after this picture he stopped breathing. They were the worst moments of my life. Jon's wasn't aware of it since he was just sleeping, but he started making these horrible noises(trying to get air) & the nurse thought he was snoring. I pointed out that Jon doesn't snore, so the nurse immediately checked him & pushed an emergency button, calling a "code blue". All of a sudden it was chaos, nurses & doctors running into the room, lights being turned on(it was evening & Jon was "sleeping" so we had the lights dimmed) & chairs being pushed into the hallway to make room. I remember looking at Jon, he was blue, I especially remember his ears, they were soooo blue. They quickly figured out the Dilaudid sensitivity & gave him a drug called Narcan. In less then a minute, he was Jon again. He was pink & awake & not sure what was going on. He did say though, he knew he was in trouble because he saw the tears & panicked look on my face. We were all very thankful that we were still in the room with him, as he was only hooked up to an IV for fluids & pain meds, there was nothing to alert the nurses he had stopped breathing(they had never had this problem happen before, so Jon was quite the talk on the floor among the staff). After that, my mom & I took turns staying up watching him breath, it was just such a scary experience.

Shortly after all the drama.

The kidney brothers, doing much better a day later.


The next day Jon was released from the hospital, only to be readmitted a couple days later because his remaining kidney was having a hard time adjusting to all the extra work. So, back we went for another 3 days, where they monitored his kidney function & pumped him full of fluids(he gained 20lbs in 2 days & was not very happy about it!). Finally it was determined, that his kidney was just kinda in a state of shock caused by the above mentioned problem of the first evening & then doing double the work it had done before. Again, they kept telling us this had never happened with one of their patients.

Ready to go home(to our nearby hotel) & take a shower! 2 days before Christmas!


Final check up at UCSF before we could go home, to our real home. We said our goodbyes & Kevin promised to take good care of George the kidney.


The gift that Jon gave Kevin is amazing & unforgettable. The love that went with that kidney, all the support of family & friends, made all the hard times worth it. I'm so thankful for Kevin's health, for my one of a kind husband & for everyone who's a donor. So, here's hoping Jon & Kevin celebrate many more anniversaries.