10/24/25, 3:30 am.
Jamming out to some music and then it was time to stand up and get my weight. I was a bit tentative, but got it done and felt good to stand up. I’ll record on my own weight tracker app. Between fasting and dropping the weight of one kidney I lost about 3 lbs from yesterday morning. I’m ready for the workouts soon to be happening, the pain of walking, etc. The nurses said my pee was looking amazing and all was working well. I’ve never had that compliment before, but it was quite reassuring! Also said I was doing very well and may be able to go home today. Looking forward to walking over to Chad’s room today and hanging out for a bit. I’ll need to put on some clothes under the gown lest I be mooning everyone in my wake.
Made it down to see Chad without the use of the walker. Used another gown backwards to finalize the dress code trick.
Docs and team said everything was looking good and I could go home. So at 4:00pm after meeting with everyone and trying to see Chad one more time (he was very busy with the pharmacist at that moment) so we headed out. The Omaha roads were not as pleasant as I remembered them. I may or may not have silently cursed the roads, my minivan, and the hands that made them during that return trip home.
Home – for me for the next few days of recovery will be my parents house. They have a ranch house with no stairs required to reach a bathroom. They have comfortable adjusting couches, so I was able to easily recline and sit as needed to sleep and to get up to walk around. My mom is also a nurse (retired) and has those caring empathy genes and would know what to do if I had an issue. My wife on the other hand; I could be writhing around on the floor and I’d get the “suck it up, buttercup” speech. At least this is what she says for those debilitating man-colds and I extrapolated this scenario in my mind for what the first days of recovery would be like. It made me nervous!
This evening, I was able to get up and use the restroom 3 times so far. When walking back to the couch I made a goal to walk around more each time. I’m up to 5 laps around the living room right now.
It’s not been a walk in the park. The surgeon described it like you might feel like you got hit by a truck. Fortunately I can attest it wasn’t that bad! This is what I would expect to feel like after playing no pads tackle football with NFL linebacker backers, spear tackling me with their helmets. [Perfect visual example for reference]