Sorry for the absense...

As most everyone knows now, I finally had my kidney transplant on June 26, 2012. The surgery started at 4:30pm and I was in ICU by a few minutes after 6pm

The surgery went awesome!! I forgot about the amount of pain one is in from a kidney transplant, but it didn't take long for me to remember the pain. All the staples and every time you move you feel those staples.

This transplant was much more awesome than the first transplant I had. With the first transplant, I was placed on a very high dose of steroids post transplant and with the steroids I became very irritable and I gained a little over 100 pounds.

With this transplant, I'm not taking any steroid's and have been losing weight.

The first transplant, I took 100's of pills 4 times a day, every day, With this transplant, I take the bare minimum amount of medications and only twice a day.

The first transplant, I ended up with about 80 staples and with the weight gain, they started ripping out and every movement the pain was almost unbearable. With this transplant they only used 20 staples and the pain was bearable this time around.

The first transplant, they keep me in bed the first couple of days while I was in ICU. With this transplant I finally talked the nurses to let me sit up in the chair at 430 am. I sat up until after the doctor made rounds, he was so impressed he even let me eat real food for breakfast.  The first transplant I only got liquids for the first few meals.

Now the only thing really different is the way I feel. The first transplant I woke up and told my mom I felt so much better right after the surgery, then I went right back to sleep because I was still in recovery from the surgery. This transplant, I woke up and didn't feel the same way I did with the first transplant. But with each passing day I have been feeling better and better.

Regardless of how I feel I still thank God for yet another chance at life.

Recovery has been going great. The staples were removed at the start of the 3rd week post transplant.
and with the first transplant it took a long time for the wound to heal from the weight gain.

Anyway, that's just a brief update and if you would  like to know more, please contact me.

I will soon be getting back to blogging

Thanks for all of the prayers and support.

Blake
AKA The Jakester.