Six Months Post-Kidney Transplant

A half-year of labs, laughter, and (still) learning to receive.

Somewhere on my lower abdomen (tucked just below a six-inch scar), Sidney, the kidney, is doing its job. Filtering, processing, and faithfully doing the work of two kidneys, the very thing mine stopped doing.

More than six months ago, a stranger I have yet to meet said ‘yes’ to a chain that led a kidney to me. And my friend Jeff said ‘yes’ before that, so someone else could also receive a needed kidney. Four people. Two sets of strangers. Two shared yeses. Two sets of kidney transplants. One cross-match exchange.

I have spent a good portion of the last six months trying to figure out how adequately to thank these people for something that enormous.

Words kept getting in the way.

I haven’t figured it out yet. In those early weeks, gratitude felt abstract, something I understood in my mind long before I could feel its full weight.

To the Donor I Haven’t Met
There is something deeply profound about carrying a gift you cannot return to its original owner. Every morning I take my medications (and I take quite a few of them), the sense of debt settles in before the pills even reach my hand, not a burden but a physical reminder of the life your decision set in motion. The scale of it feels less like something to balance and more like something that keeps unfolding.

Your name lives somewhere beyond my reach. I picture you at a breakfast table, maybe telling a story that makes someone laugh, or standing in line at a coffee shop ordering whatever you always order on the mornings when big decisions get made. Whether you had any idea that your ‘yes’ would ripple all the way to this blog post, six months later, written by someone you provided a second chance and a better quality of life. Until then, I can only imagine meeting you.

Someday, when the time is right, I hope to know you. Until then, THANK YOU.
From me. From my family and my friends.

The Lab Results (The Good and the Watchful)
The good news is this: the labs have been coming back positive. The numbers that matter have been holding within expected ranges. That is not something I take for granted.

There is, however, one thing we are watching. My bloodwork has shown low levels of the BK virus. If you haven’t heard of it, you are not alone. I wrote a whole blog post about it and still had to read the definition twice. The BK virus is something most people already carry in their bodies, though usually dormant. When your immune system is lowered by anti-rejection medications (as mine necessarily is), that sleeping virus can wake up. It was noticed, and my doctor has been adjusting my medications accordingly, and we are all monitoring changes.

It is one of those post-transplant realities that nobody mentions at the beginning: the work of protecting Sidney from rejection while also doing the work of protecting my body from what low immunity opens the door to; these are often pulling in opposite directions. Quite a balancing act.

I’m not alarmed, but I’m paying attention.

Energy, and the Return of Regular Days
Here is something that nobody warned me about with kidney dialysis: you don’t realize how tired you are until you’re not anymore, and I didn’t understand how completely fatigue had taken over my life until it eased. There were afternoons when I would sink into the couch with the day’s exhaustion kicking in, and even lifting my arm to reach for the remote was a negotiation with gravity.

I used to have to nap every single day. Not because I was lazy, but because the weight of a body working overtime to compensate for failing kidneys is exhausting. There were days when I’d sit down “just for a minute,” and the next thing I knew, the outside had shifted into late afternoon light without my remembering I had even closed my eyes.

Six months post-transplant, I caught myself walking past the couch one afternoon, not toward it, and only later realized I hadn’t thought about needing to rest once.

Medications, Daily, Without Exception
For those keeping track at home: yes, I am keeping up with my daily meds. Twice a day, every day, on schedule. My trusty ‘buffet’ of medications.

There is a certain discipline to post-transplant life that I don’t mind. Maybe that’s the Type 1 diabetes talking. When you’ve already spent decades counting carbs or managing an insulin pump, adding an alarm for medications at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. doesn’t feel like a burden. It feels like a routine. And routines can be a form of gratitude.

Also, humor remains medicine around here. Sidney’s ‘Yelp review‘ of her new home still cracks me up (#bias). Five stars for the new neighborhood, one star for the construction noise during surgery. I stand by all of it.

To Everyone Who Has Asked
Something I did not expect about this journey is how many people would remain curious about it. Not just right after the transplant, when the news was fresh and people naturally reached out, but now, six months in. The texts. The calls. The emails. People asking about Sidney. People asking about me. People asking, specifically, about both Sidney and me. Which means they have been paying attention to the blog, or the latest a family member may know about, or other reasons, and I appreciate that more than I know how to say.

If you have reached out over these six months to check in on me, to ask about the recovery, to send a word of encouragement, or a kidney-related meme: I see you. It matters.

This kidney transplant changed my physical circumstances, but the surrounding community has changed something harder to quantify. You make it easier to keep writing about the good days and the hard ones.

Paying It Forward Through Research
One more thing I am carrying six months in: I am enrolled in a study through UNMC (the University of Nebraska Medical Center) to help researchers better understand how matches work in kidney transplants. Why do some bodies accept a new kidney with minimal friction? What markers predict long-term success? What don’t we know… that we need to know?

These questions matter to future donors and recipients. The reason I have a kidney today is that someone else had also enrolled in a study. Because a researcher asked the right questions. Because a team somewhere ran the numbers and built the science that made paired donation chains possible. The Board of Hope exists because someone did the work of understanding first.

Taking part in this study is one of the most personal ways I know to say thank you. Not just to the people in my chain, but to every researcher and participant who made my second chance medically possible. If my data helps even one future recipient find a better match, the answer is easy. Yes.

Six Months
182 Days.

Sidney is doing their job. My labs, on the whole, are holding. The BK virus is under watch. The naps are fewer. The energy is returning. The medications are taken. The humor is intact.

The gratitude is difficult to contain.

What will the next six months bring? Stay tuned.

Previous Milestone Posts:
Transplant Recovery Update (11/9/2025)
One Month Post-Kidney Transplant… Post (11/22/2025)
Marking Six Weeks of Transplant Recovery (12/3/2025)
Two Months Post-Kidney Transplant (12/22/2025)
Three Months Post-Kidney Transplant (1/22/2026)
Life After My Kidney Transplant