Overdoing It

When I left the hospital following transplant surgery, I was told to not lift anything over 10 pounds. I have been pretty darn good about following that advice, even splitting up a load of laundry and carrying it to the washer in two smaller loads.

I figured that since mopping floors, doing dishes and laundry, and reaching above my head to put dishes away or hang clothes didn't involve lifting over 10 pounds, I was OK. Wrong.

During the past week, I have had sharp pain around my new kidney. Then over the weekend, the area around the kidney became hard and distended. Following surgery, my belly had been fairly even on both sides and after a few days of fluid release was actually flat.

Yesterday at my clinic visit, I saw that my lab values had changed significantly. Though still within the normal range, my creatnine level had risen from .9 last week to 1.2 yesterday. My GFR had gone from a remarkable 66 to 47. (GFR is roughly percent of optimum kidney function, so I went from 66 percent down to 47 percent.) OUCH!

I was sent for an ultrasound, which showed several hematoma, basically internal bruises. Had there been only one hematoma, the surgeon said he would have inserted a needle and sucked out the blood, but since there are multiple bruises, this was not possible. As it is, there isn't much to do about it except take it easy so that the blood will reabsorb into my body.

The surgeon told me to limit my activity to walking, reading, and writing and get my big, strong son to do the rest. Knowing that he is already working six days a week at two jobs and that friends seem averse to housework, I have asked Janet, my nextdoor neighbor and donor, if her cleaning gals would be interested in more work, at least for a few weeks. I'm sure that two professionals can mop my kitchen and bathroom floors, clean the bathroom, and vacuum my teeny apartment in an hour. Perhaps they'd even have time to wipe down the mini-blinds.

Things have been going so perfectly up until this juncture. I certainly can attempt to be lazy for a few weeks.