Home sweet home!
It felt so good to be home after 10 days in the hospital. My nephrologist advised me to strictly observe isolation for at least three months. So I stayed in the master bedroom, masked even when I slept, and ate my meals in the adjacent family room. I stayed on the second floor all the time. Drinking water is strictly distilled water even for brushing my teeth. Good thing, my daily water intake goal this time is 2 liters.
Though I had to isolate at home, I had to go to NKTI for my weekly labs and consultations with my surgeon and nephrologist. How ironic! At NKTI, I'm exposed to people thus I have to take extra care. The weekly labs are part of PhilHealth's Z package. For my donor son, it was just one set of labs.
The weekly lab results guided my nephrologist in prescribing the medicines I needed to take and the schedule. So every week I had a revised prescription and medicine reminder (alarm is the key!). This is critical because of my immunosuppressants/antirejection meds. Also, it has been challenging to wake up so early to be at NKTI by 5 a.m. for the Tacro Trough test. Blood sample extraction has to be done before I take my Tacro (antirejection med) at 6 a.m.
Eating my meals had been a challenge too. I was used to having small but frequent meals even before undergoing HD. I had been following the Japanese practice of eating meals until 80 percent full. My surgeon told me my metabolism is fast to repair the surgical area and I shouldn't be surprised to lose weight. This time, my meals are loaded with protein-rich and high-caloric food.
Happy "monthsary" to me and Cyd! Thank you, Lord, for sustaining us through our first month after KT. I'm deeply grateful to Bobby for his love and patience as our chef, nurse, "drug dealer", driver, helper, housekeeper, etc. God bless you more! Thanks, too, to our remote nurse in the US, the owners of the condo unit in Makati where we stay when we have a two-day engagement at NKTI; family, relatives, churchmates, and friends for continuing to pray for our healing and recovery.
All praises to our Great Healer! 🙏
