Kidney Transplant Surgery Update

Hello! I’ve been quiet on the blog the past week for obvious reasons. If you missed my last post, you can read it HERE. Thank you for all of your love and support as we prepared for surgery on Friday.

On Thursday, Chris and Justin got their pre-op done and had their final doctors appointments to make sure they were both healthy enough for surgery. We got the official ok and I think we were all feeling a little anxious at that point. The surgery was really going to happen! It wasn’t all serious though, Chris and I decided to have a little fun with Justin along the way. We found out there is a company called Anonymous Potato. Yes, it’s a real company and they send potatoes with a message of your choice to whoever you want. Chris and I thought it was too ridiculous to pass up so we ordered a potato with the message “Replacement Kidney” for Justin. The timing couldn’t have been better because we got a notification the day before surgery that the potato had been delivered. Justin thought it was hilarious and had no idea it was us that sent it! We eventually confessed but we all got a good laugh out of it.

The surgery took place on Friday morning as planned. One of Justin’s kidneys was removed and transplanted into Chris. What an amazing thing Justin did for his brother. He literally saved Chris’ life. I still can’t believe that it actually happened, it feels very surreal.

The surgery went well. Justin’s surgery started around 8:30 and lasted about 3 hours. Chris’ surgery started around 10:15 and lasted 4 hours. By 2:30pm we had seen both surgeons and received updates that Chris and Justin were out of surgery and everything had gone well, so we were able to breathe a sigh of relief. That was a nerve-wracking 6 hours, to say the least.

Chris went straight to ICU so he could be monitored closely but Justin was able to go a normal room. On Saturday Chris was stable enough to be moved to a normal room too. Him and Justin were on the same floor, not far from each other so that was nice.

Within 24 hours of surgery, Chris’ lab work had improved significantly and by 48 hours, all of his kidney levels were in the normal range! We are so thankful. He has been up and walking and each day he’s feeling better and better.

Justin is doing well too. He is having some discomfort but he was able to go home on Monday. Chris should be going home today.

So what’s next? Justin will lay low for a few weeks while he heals, but after that he will be able to live life normally. Chris will be monitored very closely over the next few months because the first 3 months after transplant are critical. He will have multiple doctors’ appointments every week and it’s very important we limit his exposure to the public right now. Chris is on immunosuppressants as part of the anti-rejection protocol so he is more susceptible to getting sick. We plan to stay home for the next 4-6 weeks and if everything looks good, Chris should be cleared at that point to start being around more people and going out in public. We are looking forward to getting into our new routine post-transplant and we can’t wait to live life again.

We have so much to be thankful for. Although this is a situation we never wanted to be in, the outcome was best case scenario. There aren’t enough words to express what an amazing thing Justin did for Chris. He saved his life and I will be forever grateful.

I will keep you posted on Chris and Justin’s recovery. Thank you for all of the love and support!