A year ago yesterday Mike & Jon went into surgery at Beth Israel; Jon, donating with the hope of helping Mike regain his health and Mike with the hope that he would be well again and get back to living his life without feeling awful most of the time. We had one shot at the best possible outcome for Mike - a successful, living transplant, avoiding dialysis.
Well, it WORKED!
Jon has gone back to doing his thing, with just a scar to show for it, and a TON of good karma, and Mike has gone back to work, to riding, to just doing his thing... with a new appreciation for his good health and good luck.
On Friday, we went to Beth Israel for Mike's one-year follow up with his transplant nephrologist and everyone is really happy with the way Mike is feeling, the test results they see, everything. Mike's immune-suppression has been adjusted to keep the (rare) persistent Parvo at bay, he is no longer anemic (for the first time since 2004), he's able to eat pretty much whatever he wants, he feels better than he has in YEARS, he's... normal!
It's repetitive, I know, but we could not imagine being were we are today without all the incredibly generous people in our lives. From the day I got word I could no longer be Mike's donor, to six months later when we got the word Jon had been approved, from the day a year ago that Jon's kidney began doing it's thing for Mike, through Mike being sicker than ever in November and December last year, through Parvo recurrences and more bumps than we expected... I can tell you we would not be where we are today without all of you.
With immense gratitude & love -
Samantha & Mike