You’ll be fine with one kidney!

After waiting an anxious month or so for the next date, it was received whilst undergoing another CT scan and the following week a familiar, drop off at the hospital, care park goodbyes and in I went.

This time I was placed into a private side room with quite a nice view across Selly Oak, Drs would pop in and ask questions, some draw marks upon me and some would carry out various tests.

The following morning, I was wheeled down and then 5hrs later I woke up back in the ICU again, this time in a different bed and with a different babysitter. The interesting thing about being in such a place is the complete lack of privacy, you become a watcher of life at its worse.

I was often struck by how unwell people were and how lucky I was, sure I had cancer, needed brain surgery and lost a kidney, but some of the people that surrounded me were discussing end of life care, full rebuild surgery in their backs and removal of tumors larger than a baby.

I was back on the ward the following day, with a spinal block in situ I could feel very little below my waist, I now sported a 12inch scar which sat just below my rib cadge, breathing was extremely difficult and I was given a small device which was designed to help my breathing and intake full lungs of air, this was to prevent me from developing Pneumonia post surgery, the very thought of sneezing scared me to death and I was given a pillow to hold over my stomach to try and reduce the force of a simple sneeze or cough.

4 days passed quickly, my catheter had been removed much to my thanks and after the spinal block was removed and I spent probably one of the most uncomfortable nights in pain, the slow build up some 4hours later saw me squirming around on the bed in agony, I was sweating and could neither walk it off or sleep it off, despite having been given a cocktail of pain relief nothing worked and it seemed I was ignored until well into the night shift, where a Dr was called and a further suppository of pain relief was given, much to my joy, this worked very quickly and I slept well that night. The next day I was allowed home., the discharge wasn’t the best and I was sent on my way with only Paracetamol.

Kerry came to collect me and on the way home we stopped to pick up a burger, where the car promptly broke down, our friend thankfully picked me up and after a short time with my children I retired to bed for the next week. Barely able to get in and out of bed on my own, Kerry rigged up a pully system so I could pull myself up and out of bed, I would spend the next month slowly wandering around the home, but found sitting down or moving immensely difficult, I groaned, strained and generally felt sorry for myself, but I was grateful to be here.

The weeks passed by and gradually I was able to do a little more, the scar site continued to give me issues, my core muscle structure was pretty much destroyed in the operation and its surprising how many day to day actions actually required this back of the mind group.

I busied myself with odd little jobs around the house, closely monitored by Kerry to make sure that I did not overdo anything and bit by bit I was able to start doing things on my own. Life has not been easy, there have been times when I have felt sad or upset, times when I have felt happy and sometimes I have even felt guilty.

Even today, just over a year on, I continue to struggle with certain things, I struggle with anything that involves using my core muscles to any degree, lifting, stretching up, no push ups or sit ups. Running is pretty much out of the question for the time being.

Every 3 months I rock up to the hospital and begin my hourly test via the MRI machine, it buzzes and whirls around me, noises similar to being tuck in a fax machine/ early dial up internet and then I am off again to await the outcome.