2 Months Post Transplant

I can't believe that it has been two months since Max got his kidney. It seems like yesterday we heard the news that the surgery was getting moved up and here we are- 2 months into our new life.

Max is doing fantastic. The kiddo is getting into everything and talking up a storm. He now walks while onto onto someone's fingers and he just started furniture cruising. It's just a matter of time before we are chasing this boy around the house. Max is also starting to mimic everything you say and do. He has added about 10 words to his vocabulary which is a huge deal considering all he said before surgery was "ah". His speech therapist comes back from maternity leave on Tuesday and I can't wait to see her reaction!

I don't know how tall Max is at this point. That seems to be the popular question of the month and I don't know the answer. We will find out in two weeks when we go back to the doctor for his follow up. When he and I are standing up, the top of his head hits my hip. Now that's not saying much because I am short, but he looks huge to us.

Max did graduate to once every other week visits to the hospital to see his ginormous fan club. He still has to get once a week labs, but this is a step in the right direction. Let me hear a big woohoo to that!

Tim and I were informed that we need to start thinking about what medications we want Max on long term. There are risks to all of our options, but we need to sit down and dicuss them. No one really likes the one he is on now because it will end up damaging the kidney in the long run, so ideally we will get him off of it within the next few months. The other medication, Rapamune cannot be taken if Max is to go into another surgery. So if we decide to put him on that, we would have to discuss the plan for what we would do for any future surgeries. The other option would be to keep him on only the Cellcept that he is also taking currently. No one really knows if this is the best option or not, but it's an option. I keep hearing that Max doesn't really follow the typical protocol for kidney recipients- imagine that. But this time we are on the good side of that little piece of information because Max and I were a 6 out of 6 match (maybe an 8 out of 8 match according to Dr. Ben). Supposedly the way that mine and Max's numbers matched up was extremely rare, which makes us an even better match. I don't quite get all of the logistics of it, but I do know that we were one heck of a match up. Anyways, all of these decisions will be discussed between both Tim and I and Max's doctors. We will do what's best for Max and for the kidney.

So that is really all that is going on in the life of Max and his little family. Life is good :o)

One quick thing: I am going to offer you guys another Q&A opportunity. If you have a question about the transplant, life after tranplant or anything random, post it in the comment section of the blog and I will post the responses in a seperate entry next week. I know that one person asked why a non functioning kidney affected Max developmentally and physically and I will answer that one in the response post. So here is your chance- ask away :o)

Here are a few pictures and a video of what happens when you try to lay your two year old down for a nap while he is hooked up to his feeding pump:









ARGH!