My Kidney Transplant Journey and What I've Learned

Take my advice and learn from my experiences of going through a kidney transplant on July 15, 2024. Although I am only 6 months post-transplant, I feel like I have gained an immense amount of knowledge that can be difficult to understand until you are living it yourself.

If you are reading this article, I can imagine you are currently in the lead-up to a transplant or you know someone who is. I remember being pre-transplant and wishing I had all the knowledge and knew all the expectations before going into this life-changing surgery so I could prepare myself as much as possible.

This is a very difficult thing to prepare for because, especially post-transplant, I have learned that no two journeys are exactly the same.

The day of transplant

I was 24 and in my 10th month of peritoneal dialysis. Due to my mom donating her kidney, I had a relatively good idea when the transplant would take place. The transplant work-up still took about 6 months, but once the date was booked for the 15th, it was all I could think about.

The transplant day is a surreal day. You are about to have a surgery that can keep you alive and change your life for ideally the next 20 years or more, and it will all be over in 4 hours or less. You almost don't know if you should laugh or cry. (I definitely cried.)

I woke up from surgery with an incredible amount of grateful energy to be alive and that the hard life of dialysis was over. My new kidney was doing amazing until it wasn't. Rejection happened, and the kidney moved places. I was in for a second surgery.

I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. Most of those days were hard and quite traumatic. By the time you get pumped with steroids, your emotions are a bit all over the place.

Six months post-transplant, it is amazing to be feeling alive, but it is still hard. It's a different kind of hard, but not everyone's story is like mine.

3 things I've learned

Surgery isn't the hard part

After surgery is the beginning of your recovery. You have new medications and new rules to follow. This is a journey with its own challenges.

You are not in a rush

Let yourself recover. You have been through a major medical event, and it is crucial to give your body and mind the time it needs to heal.

Readjusting to a new life takes time

Be proud of yourself. This new life and new version of you take time to adjust to. Celebrate your progress, no matter how small.