Hospital Interruptus! - Poem: In honor of my bloodletting

Kidney clinic on Monday morning, they called in the afternoon and said, Get your ass back here, young lady, your blood sugar is out of control.

Dutifully I trudged back and checked into the overcrowded ER waiting room. Scott and I waited two hours before being seen, captured, and hospitalized all nite long.

H-E-L-P.

Remember reading the sad story of the 28-yo pregnant woman hit by a motorcycle on Roosevelt Blvd? Yep, they all arrived in the ER. She died and the man is in critical condition.

There was also a 25-yo schizophrenic young man who lay in front of my room on a stretcher mouthing inanities. The man w/him, probly his father, said they just discovered he'd stopped his pills. Whenever the doc questioned him, he said ridiculous things like, I'm a doctor of technology!

After they moved him on, the doctor said to the nurse, A Beautiful Mind.

She had no idea what he was talking about.

BUT WE KNOW, don't we smart people?

Vat else?

Oh, I was set free today from Einstein Medical Center, where I spent four horrible days.

You know those hospital beds? Dreadfully uncomfortable. My sciatica returned with a vengeance.

They couldn't get my blood sugar under control until today when they discharged me at around 5 pm.

50 percent of kidney transplant patients develop diabetes.

I'd called my friend Phil and asked if he could come over to demonstrate principles of "shooting up" which he did beautifully. My sister Donna was also here so she could watch and prompt me later on.



Now a quick run-thru of the past four days.

I remember when my dad, at 58, was in Abington Hospital, and just diagnosed w/ lung cancer that meta'd to his brain. He said to me, This is the worst day of my life.

Well, these were not my worst days.

My dad also said, when he went home to die, It takes a lot to kill an organism.

The hospital brings out thots like these. I was back on Eighth Floor Klein Bldg where I'd spent four days after the Kidney Transplant.

I met the most interesting people! You had to be careful tho who you talked to. The majority were not interested in talking. But Dennis was and agreed to be on my blog.

Say hello to Dennis Kelly of Gibbstown New Jersey, proud owner of a new kidney in February, rehospitalized, not uncommon, due to infection.

He received the kidney of a 50-yo man who died from cystic fibrosis. They keep CF people alive so much longer today.



Dennis is a prince among men. A biker, he rides in charity-rides and with his friends has raised thousands of dollars for charity.



Sarah joined me in listening to Dennis's exploits and travails when he was on dialysis for 8 long years. Family members wanted to donate kidneys but Dennis refused, waiting for a cadaver.

Cubicle in Einstein ER. My doctor, Paul, said the ER is huge. Between patients, doctors would busy themselves making sure supplies were well-stocked.

I had a supernice ultrasound tek, Gencie from Albania. When I said he spoke great English, he thanked me. He said my kidney looked great - looks, that is - not function, which you can't tell from the ultrasound.

One doc, Julie an endocrine trainee, said my kidney is working brilliantly!

Thank you Sarah Lynn Daughter Deming.

To while away the oceans of time, I took photographs inside my cell.

Free TV for the price of suffering.


Finally got my own room, back in The Tower Bldg.

Above is Chaplain Kyle Dunhagen from upstate New York, son of a preacher, and new graduate of Seminary in N Brunswick NJ. This is his first job. He and his fiancee, who teaches English composition, moved here over the summer and love it!

When he came in, I asked him, What's your religion?

Christian, he said. Protestant denomination.

I'm an unbelieving Jew, I said.

We talked a long time. He's often called upon in the middle of the night to pray with someone, or just listen to them, so he comes back to the hospital from Old City Philadelphia.

Then I asked him to pray for me. He closed his eyes and made up a b'ful prayer while I sat with eyes closed and my sciatica throbbing like a trapped chicken was in my butt.

Dr Saurab H Pande, above, sat in a chair and we chatted quite a while.
He's a resident.

Why dyou wanna be a nephrologist, I asked.

Truthfully, he said, I chose it by the process of elimination.

Oncology there was too much suffering. He said he went home and cried a few times b/c of the suffering of his patients.

He told me about Trake City, a place where terminal cancer patients are kept. Last-ditch measures that don't work are tried on these poor souls at the insistence of their families who don't want them to die.

Why is this? he asked. What is it about America?

We're afraid to die, I said, and told him about the famous NY'r article by Atul Gawande. (Gawande has his own website at www.gawande.com).

Yes, said Pande, he's a Harvard surgeon. I'm very familiar with his work from the NY'r.

Everytime Pande would check in on me at the appt'd times, he shook my hand.

His wife is finishing up her psychiatric residency at Hahnemann and then the two of em will move to El Paso TX in the summer.

But it's so hot! I said.

India is hot, he said.

He told me about McAllen, TX (where my old BF Russell Eisenman lives) having the highest costing medical expenses in the nation.

It's their culture, he said. They don't try natural ways of healing, they operate.

El Paso, on the other hand, has one of the lowest costs of medical care.

Pande is a thinker!

As a nephrologist he would have 'normal hours' and not be called in the middle of the nite as, say, a cardiologist is.

I had a reputation at the hospital as being a writer. Wished I'd brought in a copy of the Compass. Hmm, maybe I'll bring a copy of my bipolar life story to Kidney Clinic on Monday and have Dr Kung give it to Pande.

I told Pande I'd written a poem and here it is. I entered a poetry contest at Montco Community and thought for sure I would win.

When I didn't win, I stopped submitting. But not writing.




IN HONOR OF MY BLOODLETTING

Here is my left arm, Denise,
take it,
the one where the perfect vein for
shooting heroin
pops out.

I never shot heroin,
Denise,
too afraid
but always wondered what it felt like:
Euphoria:
the hawk
soaring overhead
readying himself
for the
kill:
furry fieldmice,
the feral cat.

I rest my arm on the table
eyes fastened
on the aquarium ahead
golden fish and black mollies
float through high-up castles
parading their same seemingly
endless tune over and over again
while a tiny hermit crab with
wheels on his bottom
shoos along the prickery sand,
a man of balance and calm desires.

Is it coming out, Denise?
She’s a’comin, you say,
in your rubber gloves,
I glance over at the tube
as my wine of life
splashes merrily into a glass container
then gaze back at the aquarium
where the fish comfort me
their bliss spilling over
becoming mine.

Company calling - the miracle of pills - I can't stop eating

Sarah's cousin Nikki picked her up at the Bed n Breakfast and drove her home to Clarksboro NJ where her son Quinn, 9, was playing baseball. Nikki's 3 boys are real athletic. Her husband Steve was the high school quarterback.

They sat in the stands and cheered him on.

I have signs up in my house:

Prograf - small white capsule
Cellcept - colorful large capsule

Can't seem to memorize which is which. This despite the fact that my thinking seems very clear since the toxins which were circulating in my body are being cleared out.

Speaking of the brain, my sister Ellen told me Dr Oz introduced a new theory of why people get Alzheimer's disease on his April 8 show. He said this may be the most important show he's ever done.

Alz is really Diabetes of the Brain and stems from the foods we eat, esp. those w/ the preservative NITRATE in them. Culprits include bacon, smoked turkey, and processed foods which contain nitrates. The brain thus becomes a factory for trying to get rid of nitrasamines. See website.

My family and Scott also are extremely health-conscious and rarely eat foods with preservatives. Now that I can eat dairy products again, I can eat delicious Friendship cottage cheese which is the only local variety w/ no preservatives in it.





Add 325 mg of Percoset to my shitload of pills for my damn sciatica. I always kept some extra around and had 3 left from a Rx I got in 2002. They did help but not as much as the fresh ones I took at the hospital.

My sister Donna, who suffers from back pain brought me a few more till I get my own Rx. Donna had scoliosis and at age 14 was operated on in our childhood home in Cleveland. Metal rods were inserted in her spine, one of the first patients to undergo this procedure, thank you Dr Hernden.

Decades later she's suffered excruciating pain.

Dr Charles Herndon died in 1997. His widow just died in March!

And still lived in Cleveland!

Donna attends an excellent Pain Mgt Clinic at Holy Redeemer Hospital. The science of pain mgmt is called ALGIATRY.

I just learned to capitalize big words since reading Newsweek, a gift from Ada. The new mag, redesigned by new editor Tina Brown, is so informative I feel smart when I finish reading an article or two. They have top authors writing for them.

If you read the online NY Times, you now have to pay to read the articles. So I did! The only things I can't live without are the online Times and Cellcept, the colorful big capsule, and Prograf, the tiny capsules.

Dan sent me an email yesterday asking if they could come and visit. Sure, you can come at 2 in the morning and I'll get up for Dan, Nicole and Grace, 8 months. Nicole is learning to become a lactation consultant.

I think she attends classes at the Willow Grove Giant, second floor classroom, which can be rented out to nonprofit groups.

She told an amazing story about one of the many things she learned. After the baby is born, keep them on your chest.

(Oh, now I'm getting the Percoset itch on my butt. Not that bad.)

The baby will actually move a little and find the breast to suckle on!

When you love someone, all views of them are b'f. We are three-dimensional beings - and kidneys - so we're a veritable hologram of varied views.

Here's Dan and my friend Judy. I've been friends w/ Jude and her wonderful mom Blanche for nearly 20 yrs. When Blanche and I get on the phone together, we usually go nearly an hour. We're a lot alike: two little ole Jewish yentas.

We all sit on the floor when the baby is here.

I haven't seen Amy Russell in maybe 10 years. She was teaching computers at Penn State Abington when I bumped into her and now, since her kids are older - Harry is 18 (OMG), Rachel is 16, and little Eli is 10 - she works FT at Merck, working on the development of new vaccines.

Helen Kirschner came to visit, too!

Why do women love holding babies? The link to the next generation and the affirmation that life goes on and on and on.

Oh-oh. I just looked at the clock - 7:34 pm. Gotta take my shitload at 8 pm. I dread it. I now take the 14 pills with freezing cold milk. Makes it less gaggable.

Dyou believe I had to abstain from cheese for probly a year. Minor cheating, of course.

I was longing for my first crackers and cheese. Unbelievably fab!

Forbidden olives now allowed. I can't begin to tell you how delicious these were, bought at mine own sweet Giant Supermarket.

Home sweet home with a brand-new kidney!

A HUGE THANK-YOU FOR ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. Sarah and I are eternally grateful.

Dr Stalin Campos kindly asked one of the residents to take this photo of Sarah and me right after we came out of surgery at Einstein Medical Center in Philly.

My great boyfriend Scotty

The gift of life and love my daughter Sarah gave me is a miracle of both her incredible loving personality and a miracle of medicine.

Although we didn't know it at the time, recovery is more difficult for the Donor during this nephrectomy. She felt truly awful the first day w/ nausea and vomitting, not uncommon at all, but ralleyed remarkably on day two, and was discharged on Day Three! She is on a small dose of Percosets.

For drug aficiondos out there, scuse me I'm too tired to look up the spelling, Percoset is an opiate mixed w/ Tylenol, while Percodan is opiate mixed w/ aspirin.

She and Ethan are staying in a bed n breakfast in Philly since she has a couple of appts at Einstein in the next couple weeks.

The care we received was superb. The food so vile we brought it in from home.

In retrospect, the whole operation was a breeze. In reality, from my point of view, it was a real ordeal filled with pain, massive discomfort - I had tubes coming out of my inner jugular vein, left hand, a drain on my belly, an incision on my belly - a blood pressure cuff that puffed like a dragon every hour - absolutely sleepless nights spent writhing in pain from my sciatica!

Every precaution is taken to avoide complications. At nite, my legs were wrapped in thick pulsing 'stockings' to prevent blood clots. A shot of heparin in given in the belly. Blood sugar is monitored b/c prednisone causes an increase in glucose in the bloodstream.

And oh the pills I now take! A total of 14 which will be decreased slowly down to perhaps five.

First order of biz when I got home was to load my pillbox.

My antirejection meds are Cellcept, Prograf and Prednisone. Some transplant centers don't use Prednisone which is harmful to the body but then there are supplements I'm prescribed to take c/o that.

Oh no! It's nearly 8 pm. Scuse me while I take my evening pills. Be right back.

Gag! But they all went down.

For dinner, I'll heat up mom's peasoup (formerly forbidden) and have a chicken salad sandwich on a whole wheat roll (whole grains formerly forbidden).

I can eat everything now except grapefruit,which interferes w/pill absorption and sushi, which has too much bacteria. I'm more prone to infections on the immunosuppressants.

So I was there

Friday
Saturday
Sunday
and came home Monday, today

The docs and nurses said they never saw anyone make as good a recovery as me.

I asked Dr Stalin Campos what my blood vessels looked like when he went inside. They were beautiful, he said, as he sat on a red tub in the room. He knocked on a nearby door and said some people's vessels are hard b/c they eat too many cheeseburgers!

He and I had a beautiful talk and he'll help me and Sarah write the book we're planning about the operation.

Altho he no longer performs them, when he transplanted kidneys into infants he said their bodies absorbed them easily, the younger you are the better.

From El Salvador, he speaks English beautifully but really finds it difficult, much preferring his native tongue. He left his country during their Revolution, slipping into Mexico many times, always afraid, with his family members, and traveling to NY where he had relatives.

Received his medical degree in El Sal b/c it was cheaper. When he was eight he decided to become a physician b/c his mother was a nurse who helped people for free, performing duties similar to a surgeon, esp. after the coming of the Revolution.

His five year-old dtr Christina wants to be a surgeon. 22-year-old Johanna is in med school in Tampa studying to be an oncologist.

He is loved by the whole staff.

I hadn't looked at my incision which is several inches long above my groin. He wanted me to see it so he borrowed a mirror from nurse Davinia.

They measure my urine output. I pee into a 'hat' placed on the toilet seat. They were impressed by the quantity of it and the color. Previously my urine had good quantity but poor quality. In other words, I was not excreting all the toxins and they were building up in my bloodstream.

For lunch I made a delicious omelet (gotta thoroughly cook the eggs now) and my sister Ellen brought me some Alpine Lace cheese, so I made my beloved cheese omelet. Cheese was strictly forbidden before Odysseus became a part of me as it contains phosphorus. I also had milk at the hospital which tasted yummy. Dairy foods contain phosphorus.

Sarah and I are in touch everyday. I love hearing her musical voice. I believe they have a piano in their bed n breakfast so Ethan will be able to practice a bit.

Scott was absolutely wonderful and visited every morning after coming home from work. He drove me home. What a feeling of freedom it was driving out of that hospital. The magnolias and forsythia are in bloom.

Niece Melissa and husband Rich who drove down from - horrors! - Amityville, NY - to visit us.

My son Dan brought fortifications including great reading material. I read this month's Vanity Fair and particularly enjoyed excerpts from a new book about Goldman-Sachs including the power struggle bet Hank Paulsen and Jon Corzine. Who knew? Who cares?

I always ask Dan, What's the latest thing his 8-mo daughter Grace if doing.

Here's my b'ful nurse "Funso" orig. from Nigeria. Hopefully if we click on the photo we can read her real name. What does she do on her days off? Changes diapers of her two little kids.

The Lady in Red. What a surprise when Helen Kirschner came to visit. Husband Larry was working on lighting for the play Once Upon a Mattress at Chestnut Hill College.

Ah, here's my b'ful sister Lynn. She ran our family's Now and Then Shop after Dad died.

Memories

Stalin thot Lynn's boyfriend Neal looks like Chuck Norris.

Ah, here's Stalin now. The man of the hour. Of the decade. 41 yrs old. They vacation at a place in FL where his daughter can ride with the dolphins. The place also serves as a resort for people with muscular dystrophy, a muscle-wasting disease.

The things that sustained me. Icing on the Cake is the poetry journal our writer's group just published. The all-important cellphone. Postcards I sent to about 30 people.

Gotta run. Take nothing for granted and enjoy every moment.

Out of surgery and doing well

Both Ruth and Sarah are out of surgery and in recovery.

The doctor said everything went as planned and the transplanted kidney is already producing urine.

We should be able to go see them soon.

-Dan

The Last Supper: No eats or drinks past midnite - Surprise after-dinner company

Who's this? Oh, it's my daughter Sarah and her husband Ethan.

At 6 pm Sarah and Ethan pulled up in a darling beige Mini-Cooper which traveled from Brooklyn thru Staten Island (I think it's the Verazano Bridge)right here to Cowbell Lane in Willow Grove.

Their friend Lisa Koentjen was driving. I typed up her last name to prove to myself that I could spell it. German origin. She's from Chicago but lives in Bklyn and practices psychology in the city where she also teaches.

I imagined having her as a therapist. She's quiet and friendly and a great listener.

Lisa Koentjen

Mom stopped over today. She's not actually sleeping. She had hemmed a couple of garments for me to take to the arspital. Reminds me of one of my fave gospel songs If I could just touch the hem of His garment, sung by Sam Cooke.



Silly me forgot to take pix of all the great food we ate tonite. On my way home from Doylestown Hosp yesterday I got behind this huge Asplundh Tree Trimming truck. I caught myself staring at, thinking to myself, This is a well-made piece of equipment. Very substantial.

I love when people stop by spontaneously just like in the olden days. In fact my front door is open right now should anyone wish to keep me company while I do one last blog post.

Look who stopped by! My sister Donna from Hatboro, PA. What can I do to help you, she asked.

Well, one of the worst things is packing. So she helped me pack. I referred to my index card called NYC, which you can figure out what that means. I first starting making packing lists when my ex and I went camping w/ baby Sarah. Now I'm gonna camp out at Einstein Hospital.

Oh-oh, I'm getting hungry again. It's 10:49. Only an hour to go before I can't eat or drink.

Dinner was spaghetti w/ fresh asparagus, mushrooms, carrots, and red pepper drizzled w/ olive oil.

Steamed kale.

Salmon w/ a pesto sauce.

Sarah made the latter two dishes. I skipped the salmon cuz it makes me thirsty.

I was anxious to hear how The Bad Plus's performance of Rite of Spring went. They were commissioned last year to write it for Duke Univ.

It's one of my alltime fave pieces. I could never reconcile the way the composer Igor Stravinsky looked w/ the raw sexual power of the music. Esp. the accompanying dancing. Remind me to ask Ethan when I wake up from the Long Sleep to tell me about music and sexuality.

I found myself at Weinrich Bakery again today and asked for something not terribly sweet. I was presented with French Twists. Sticky and delicious and, not terribly sweet. Here's a photo of 'down to the very last bite.'



While getting our dinner ready, handsome neighbor Patrick stopped by to capture this Night Before Dawn.

He was a professional wedding photographer when his kids were very young but now he wants to spend more time w/ the little guys, Pat, 7, and Ian, 5. In fact, I used a couple of his photos in my Compass mag. He shot one of his wife Sue. I didn't recognize her and said, Who is this beautiful waitress?

One day Patrick asked me to drive him to a wedding since his car wouldn't start. It was a hot summer afternoon and I was wearing my short shorts and tank top.

When I got to the church I went inside w/ him and everyone but me was in their wedding finery. Nonetheless I managed to get into these great conversations w/ the guests. Then the bagpipers arrived and I stuck around so I could hear the haunting sound of pipes.

And I didn't need to spend 50 bucks to buy a gift.

Here's my b'ful full-kidneyed daughter.

Au revoir Odysseus, au revoir! I told Sarah she was the most b'ful baby. (So was her brother Dan.) In the two-three days we were at the hospital, her face changed so she looked at times like her own self, her Grandma Margie, and her Grandma Bernice. The genes were stretching out and expressing themselves.

Here's Scotty, who enjoyed his meal, esp. the salmon. I sent him outside with the scraps to feed the compost heap. The deer aren't even afraid of us.

Bill Adams stopped by from next door. We talked about a mutual friend Jeff Bigelow. To this day, I said to Bill, whenever I hear the Beach Boys on the radio, which is sadly too rare, I think of Jeff, who turned me on to the greatness of the Boys. I also read the autobio of Brian Wilson which was excellent, esp. how he tried to kick drugs.

Bill works for Waste Mgmt and has an office upstairs in his 'attic.' When I need something faxed, which is infrequent, I send Bill at email: May I come over to fax something?

One time he wrote back, 'I'm in Las Vegas.'

Okay, 40 minutes to go before no eating and drinking.

I passed out copies of Icing on the Cake, the poetry review our Coffeeshop Writers Group just had printed. No need to tell you who organized the whole thing or who got it published for free.

Got a surprise phone call today from Jena Johnson in Portland OR six months after I signed up w/ her organization Compassion and Choices, dedicated to helping terminally ill patients have a good death and also engage, if they wish, in physician-assisted dying.

In my Patch.com article, I cited C and C as being part of my helping team, so while we were talking I forwarded the article to her. Wonderful lady.

In our country, just about every mission or problem a person has is served by a group. And if they're ain't none, well, it's your responsibility to step up to the plate and start it, n'est-ce pas?

Frenzy of "Get it Done before April One" - Kidney story published

See Part I of my Kidney story published today on Patch.com.

- Ate a huge breakfast cuz I needed strength

- Drove to the bank to deposit last nite's New Directions door receipts.

- Had an hour-long appt with my new physical therapist Amy for my newly reoccurred sciatica

- Drove to Doylestown Hospital for another steroid injection for sciatica. The pain has slightly abated. Dr Dale Wilson and Nurse Pam were as wonderful as could be. I thought to myself, Failing America has great healthcare services. Sometimes. This happened to be great. They both either hugged me or held my hand and said they'd be thinking about me on April 1.

- For a patch.com story I'm working on, drove past the Willow Grove Naval Air Base, stopped by the guard house and asked if I could take a photo of the place. The security guard said, Not Allowed. Must be invited to take a picture. She was really worried I was gonna disobey. I told her I never mess with the law. She was very nice. There was a gala today cuz the Base is partially closing down.

- Got my car inspected

- While waiting an hour for the car, I left the Firestone station and sat next door in the beauty salon to wait. Firestone has one of those obnoxious TV sets that you're forced to listen to. No way I could concentrate on the double-issue of the December New Yorker, with the address label removed, I pilfered from Doylestown Hospital.

They were very nice at the hair salon. I laughed aloud while reading the Shouts and Murmurs column by Ian Frazier titled "A Cursing Mommy Serenity Prayer."

I'd love to quote it for you but it's too fucking long.

And besides I'm eating whole almonds now, popping em into my mouth, and gotta concentrate on not breaking a tooth....or having it go down the wrong pipe and dying before I die on the operating table. Just fucking kidding, guys!

- Came home from Car Inspected and devoured the last of Fontaine's delicious chicken left over from the party while returning five or six phone calls.

- Checked emails and saw my Kidney story had been published on Patch, necessitating my sending the link to everyone I'd quoted. It is GREAT publicity for organ donation. We want YOU! Your soul will be released and will be gently floating up to Heaven like Casper the Friendly Ghost.

- Went next door and napped with Scott at 6:10 pm. Told him to wake me at 6:50. When he did, I said I can't believe I slept so long. Is the surgery over? I was kidding, of course, and walked next door just in time for my 7 pm therapy group. One person was early and was waiting in her car.

- Took out the garbaggio

- Got a pitcher of cold water and plastic cups ready for the group. I always serve cold water. I drank a cup too cuz Fontaine's chicken made me thirsty. Tomro, of course, is No Thirsty Day since I can't drink after midnite tomro nite. Was told which of my shitload of pills I should take. Toprol, Norvasc, Synthroid (lithium also knocked out my thyroid function)

BTW, this is how they discover new drugs. Hey, you don't want your thyroid function anymore? Here, I'll give you lithium for slow thyroid destruction.

- I still have two important things to do. I always send an email to my group telling what we accomplished and listing goals for next time. Can't claim it as an original idea tho I don't know of anyone who does it. Read about it in a book by the father of group therapy - Irv Yalom - who summarized sessions in group notes he mailed out to the troops.

I met Yalom once. My Hahnemann teachers hired him to come to town and talk in a huge downtown hotel with many escalators. Me and Bill Corr went. Is that his name? We were pals. Yalom walked in by himself, little Freud-like beard, and sat on a bench.

Bill and I saw him bend over and tie his shoe.

Bill told me to go over and talk to him.

What for? I said to Bill. What am I gonna say?

Oh, you'll think of something, he said.

His talk was unremarkable. Doesn't matter. It's the idea of BEING IN THE PRESENCE OF GREATNESS.

It makes you aspire to do great things.

Kidney Talk: Pre-surgery appt at Einstein - the Bovie 'knife'

Ada drove Sarah and me to our last appt at Einstein before our surgery on Friday. Purpose was to Register for surgery. Lots of paperwork and blood testing involved.

Neither Sarah nor I have ever had surgery. The thot of being cut open is mildly horrific, one step below the Aztec human sacrifices.

Well-oiled machine is a good way to describe the efficiency of our 4.5 hour visit at the hospital. We'd forgotten to bring food tho and Sarah and I were absolutely starving.

I ate a huge breakfast as always...two eggs, homemade toast, beloved grapefruit that I'm eating every day since when I'm on the immunosuppressants it's No grapefruit no more.

A symptom of kidney diz which I don't have is loss of appetite. And inability to enjoy the taste of food.

Sarah and I were each taken into separate rooms. She has her own transplant team w/her own nurse. She saw a different surgeon.



I got reacquainted w/ Dr Stalin Campos, an exceedingly nice guy, orig. from El Salvador. His oldest daughter,22, is in med school in Tampa.

His youngest, Johanna, is 5 and goes to school at Ancilla Assumpta in Wyncote. B/c he's not home a lot, Campos said he and his wife want her to learn values and ethics.

He met his second wife when he worked at Thomas Jefferson. She's an ICU nurse there.

Campos trained at the Thomas E Starzl Transplantion Center at Univ of Pittsburgh. I've wrin extensively about Starzl within these pages.

Campos is a very high-energy dude. He struck the above pose as a way to relax, zen-buddhist style.

He's a reader and showed me on the computer a couple of books he's recently read, one The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the other a redemption story by a former Latino gang member.

Campos encouraged me to ask him questions.

What will you use to cut me open, I asked.

On the computer he showed me a pic of a scalpel. Very sharp.

Then he showed me the Bovie electrosurgical tool, named after its discoverer. It's a small machine which cuts and cauterizes (stops bleeding) as it moves along.

The first use of an electrosurgical generator in an operating room occurred on October 1, 1926, at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. A few days earlier (September 28, 1926) Dr. Cushing had been unsuccessful in removing a mass from a patient's head due to its highly vascular nature. In Dr. Cushing's note from October 1st, "...with Dr. Bovie's help I proceeded to take off most satisfactorily the remaining portion of tumor with practically none of the bleeding which was occasioned in the preceding operation."

- Bovie Medical

During my interview w/ Campos, young Roberto, orig. from Mexico, sat in w/us. He's a med student at Penn and also wishes to be a transplant surgeon.

Ready for the rigorous life?

Yes, smiled this tall good-lookin young man. "My father is a transplant surgeon," he said.

His dad works at the Starzl Center.

And, lo, Campos himself originally trained w/ Starzl.

Ah, the rarified world of transplant surgery. (Note to myself: great word rarified, Ruthie! I've never used it before. While I have no idea what it means, I'm sure it's correct.)

Campos wanted to be a t'plant surgeon, he said, b/c of the close ties he forms with patients. Plus he follows them thruout the years.

On Thursday I'll receive a call from the hospital telling me what time to check in for surgery the following day. I can't eat or drink after midnite. Since I drink huge quantities of water, I've gotta eat non-thirsty meals on Thursday.



When I went downstairs today I appreciated my pain-free state as the light of morning flowed through my many windows.

Pic of Sarah's kidney that Campos got up on the screen. He showed me the artery they cut and how the left kidney has a longer one than the right, and that's why they use the left one.

The countdown begins to D-Day, now called K-Day.