Update from Tom - THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2009 11:55 AM, CST

[Guest guest]

I had my first scheduled post-transplant visit at town yesterday.The day started with blood tests. It felt like a 10-mile walk from the lab to the transplant center. It's probably good exercise for me, albeit exhausting.

They pulled the stitches which closed up the hole from the first drain that was removed. Since nothing is simple in my case, there was a stubborn suture that took some effort and painful digging to cut and remove. The area around both drains is inflamed and painful...tough to determine if there is any infection happening, but they prescribed a week's worth of antibiotics just in case.

The other drain has been leaking. It was particularly productive on Tuesday, with dressings lasting less than an hour before being completely soaked. Thankfully, that has stopped. I think I was trying to be too diligent about hydration and pushed too many fluids in me. I overflowed.

The only other result from the visit is that they are increasing the dose of both the blood thinner and prograf (anti-rejection). Just routine tweaks that aren't at all alarming.With that, they sent me on my way and I'm free for another week.

Kind of a boring report, but I'm happy to take a bit of boring right now!Tom

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