Wow!

Well so much for getting some good photos. We are having some technical difficulties and at this point I would not recommend a Nikon to anyone. It works great...when it actually works.

Unfortunately both of our Nikons are NOT working at the moment so taking any 'good' photos is out of the question. Calling up Nikon and screaming at the customer service rep is not out of the question and is moving up the list quickly. If anyone is thinking of buying, buy a Canon.

Anyhow the picture is of my Birthday/Thank you gift from Kevin. It is soooo freakin cool!!! "It" is a Yamaha Apex RTX snowmobile. I'm trying to figure out how to get in the house rather than the garage so that I can stare at it all the time instead of having to go downstairs. Plus then I would be a lot more comfortable at night when I sleep next to it. It is torture not being able to ride it, it's actually a good thing that we don't have any snow because if we did I'm sure I would've torn some stiches out of my incision by now. I attached a link if anyone is interested in what it actually looks like.

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelimagelib/427/2/1/0/image.aspx

Kevin, THANK YOU!! I absolutely love it. Totally over the top and not necessary but Awesome!! Now if I could only ride it right away, hmmm the grass probably would work pretty well....

KM is working today. Yes it is her birthday, but it was her idea to go to work not mine. So the boys and I have been taking it easy and just lazing around watching football and NASCAR. It turns out that its a lot easier to heal up when there aren't 3 boys around who want to wrestle all the time. It's amazing how quickly they 'forget' that Dad is hurt and come jump on my lap. It is also amazing how hard it is for me to just laze around for several days on end. Thank goodness I will back in action soon.

Apparently my thrill seeking is wearing off on the kids because we were watching some idiot on TV jump off a 50 cliff on a snowmobile and I asked the boys if that was a smart thing to do. Alex replied 'No Dad, but it is cool'. Its a good thing we make them wear helmets when ever they are outside.

That's about it for this edition. Now that things are calming down a little bit we won't blog as often and it will mostly be about the kids with pictures so that all their far away relatives can see what is going on. Everyone is invited to visit the blog whenever they desire and comments are always welcome. Thank you to everyone for thinking of us during the last two weeks, we very much appreciate it. Talk to you all again soon. Storm

Storm's Home!!

Hello Everyone, I made it back safely, and on time which has been a rarity for airtravel this week. I want to thank Kevin and Vera for taking such good care of KM and me in LA. We really enjoy their company and can't wait for all of us to spend more time together soon. Plus it is so awesome to see Kevin looking so good and healthy, it makes me smile everytime I talk to him.
My trip home was uneventful, except for when a sneeze took me off guard in the LA airport and I almost fell over from the pain. Oh did that suck, I forgot about my 'condition' and put my hand over my mouth instead of pressing on my incision. Most things I can do fine already but sneezing and coughing are going to take a while longer. By the way if you want people to avoid you in the airport I suggest taking one of those big X-ray film envelopes that say CHEST or ANGIO on them and carry it around, and then just cough every once in a while. No one got within 10 feet of me all day, it was great. I just brought the X-rays home to show the kids and put in my files, unfortunately I don't have one after the surgery that shows just the one kidney. That would be pretty cool.
Kerry had the opportunity to go to a camera class tonight so 20 minutes after I arrived I was taking the kids to swimming lessons, and then Max developed a mild fever tonight, so on and so forth... But it is great to be home. I missed KM and the boys a lot and Hatteras too. LA was much more boring after KM left. But there is nothing boring here when the boys are around so I'm off to catch up on bills and emails and to play with my new Ipod! Thanks KM!! I'll post some pics this weekend, and they should be good ones since KM is taking a photo lesson tonight! Talk to you all again soon, and thanks for all the comments and B-day wishes!! See Ya, Storm

What the ....?

Good Lord! I leave him alone for three days and he is already posting half naked pictures of himself on the Internet!!! He is obviously feeling fine; and apparently he has received more than enough letters of encouragement and support...

Have a safe trip Babe, cannot wait to have you home. Happy Birthday!

Love, KM

Some pics

Well, here are a few pics as promised. First the scars, 4 little 'bullet' holes on the left side for instruments to go in and a 2-3 inch incision just above my shorts where the kidney was removed. The picture of me in the UCLA sweatshirt was taken 6 days after the surgery and the other picture was taken just before the surgery. Of course I haven't shaved in 3 days in the 'after' picture so I don't look so good, but I think Kevin looks great and that is awesome!

I had a nice visit with my Mom today, she had to drive back already as she is headed for Maui tomorrow. Seems to be a very rough life she is leading.

Later this afternoon I am hoping to meet up with Kerry's cousin Kirk who lives in LA. Also later today I have my follow-up appt with the surgeon to make sure that I am healing on schedule and then assuming all is well I depart tomorrow for AK. It will be very nice to be home. Its been a really wild 10 days here in LA with results that are even better than we had hoped for, so that has been very satisfying. I think that is about it for the moment. Just more walking today and feeling more comfortable all the time. Thank you to the many people that have called to check in, I really appreciate all of you taking the time to make sure that I am okay. Its very humbling to be on the receiving end of all this actually. Until next time. Take Care, Storm

Still in LA

Well, this post was supposed to have some new pics on it. Some of Kevin and me post surgery and maybe a picture of my new scars (I have been advised by someone who's initials used to be KM that no one wants to see that, is she right?) Nothing gory or close up of course, I just thought that if I was reading this I would want to know what kidney donation scars looked like. Anyhow its all a mute point right the moment since I have been foiled again by digital picture technology, maybe I'll get it sorted out tomorrow.

More walking today and less pain so things are progressing quickly, I am able to walk pretty briskly now so that is good. We all walked down to get some pizza tonight, it was nice to get out of the hotel to eat.

Kevin is able to walk about a mile or so before the incision site gets too irritated so he is making decent progress. His lab numbers look awesome so he will be able to leave the hotel and go home on Friday. He will visit the doctor twice weekly for a month or so before they cut him down to less frequent visits. It is so great to see him looking and acting so healthy. Able to walk around without getting tired, able to eat whatever he wants without getting sick, able to actually sleep at night, it is really cool and makes me feel great as well. I knew that giving Kevin a kidney was the right thing to do and that it would have all sorts of positive results; but even so, sometimes I would have second thoughts like "what if something goes wrong?" or "what if the kidney gets rejected?" and most often "am I really a sane person if I volunteer to undergo major surgery when I am perfectly healthy?". Even with the doubts I knew it was the right thing to do. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing while watching Kevin's quality of life go down the toilet. I possessed the solution to his health problems at a minimal risk to myself. Additionally, I am sure that had the roles been reversed Kevin would have done the same for me. So now to be done with the procedure and recovering quickly; it is such an awesome feeling to see Kevin rapidly returning to his old healthy self. Kevin is my cousin but he is also someone that I consider to be one of my very good friends and to see him healthy again is truly priceless.

I'll work on some pics in the morning and tomorrow afternoon my Mom is coming to visit from San Diego now that she has returned from Alaska and her babysitting duties!! THANKS MOM!!!! More Later, Storm

Bored

Hello Everyone, I hope that you liked Kevin's guest blog. He would've written more but his incision started to hurt so better to quit while you're ahead.
There is absolutely nothing going on around here. Its a very boring place with KM gone. She is now back home with the boys and my Mom is back in San Diego at her house. Yesterday, my friend from college Steve Christman came by to see me which was great. It was really fun to catch up, the only bummer was he kept making me laugh and it still hurts to laugh! Today my other college buddy showed up, Max Wettstein. It was great to see Max and catch up with him as well. Hopefully in the next year or so the three of us can get together and do a quick ski weekend somewhere. It has been way too long since I did something like that.
The healing process is continuing. Everyday there is a little less pain and I can walk a bit faster. I've walked 3-4 miles a day yesterday and today. The doctors said walking is the best thing that I can do so I'm giving it my best shot. I wish that I had more to report but I don't. With any luck I will be on my way home Thursday morning. Hopefully I won't get stuck in Seattle for several hours like my wife and Mom. That's about it, I hope everyone reading this is doing well and I'll blog again before I leave here. See Ya, Storm

Kevin's Story

Well after many promises of getting out of the hospital they finally let me go at 10 pm Sunday night. It was great to at least get back to the hotel and get some sleep. Hospitals and hourly blood pressure checks tend to cut into the sleep cycle. What can I say about this process...well first is a giant THANK YOU to Storm. Thank you does not even begin to start to say what this means to me. I knew I was sick but really had no idea how sick until the new kidney started working ( which was about 1 minute after they put it into me!). I have not felt this good since I was 20! It has been a long process for me. I was originally diagnosed with genetic disease called Polycystic Kidneys from my moms side of the family. Basically starting at about age 20 thousands of cysts started growing on my kidneys and squeezing the kidney until it stopped working. 1 year ago, they finally had less than 10% function left and I began 3 times week dialysis - not fun. Even with dialysis, you are at about 15% kidney function so basically you are carrying around toxins and extra fluid in your body. Storm and I have been friends since were little kids but talking to him about donating a kidney was very difficult and uncomfortable for both of us. Fortunately for me Storm is the wonderful, caring generous person he is and he agreed to get tested and was a match. I could write about this all day but bottom line is I am eternally grateful for the kindness and generosity and for the support of all our friends and family. The prayers and words of encouragement have been tremendous. I can't begin to tell everyone how great it was to have Kerrys support, my wife Vera's support, the visits from freinds and family. I have my life back again...never actually believed it would happen and that I would feel this good :) If anyone has any questions please fire away. Once again THANK YOU Storm. Gotta go lay down now...stitches still hurt a bit :)

Kevin Spence - luckiest guy in the world