I've been poked and prodded for over two decades now, I know the drill, and I can even watch as the needle enters the skin, but I wish I hadn't seen the needle they were going to be using for the actual biopsy. No exaggeration, this needle was about 6 inches long and had a thick handle about the same length. It's very intimidating. They use the Ultrasound to precisely place the needle to get just what they were looking for and to avoid complications. For those at home keeping score, this was biopsy number 4 for me, two biopsies of my native kidneys and two of my new kidney. Despite the local anesthetic, this time around was painful.

My roommate at the hospital, James, was bitten by a Copperhead in his backyard on Monday. He looked pretty good when he left, so I think the anti-venom did its job, definitely want to file that piece of info away. I had a rough recovery at the hospital, I got out of bed early and nearly passed out on my way to the bathroom. When the nurse dosed me with Lasix, I thought it looked like an excessive amount (are you going to put all that in?). The pain was much greater than I had expected, so they eventually gave me a percocet, which didn't do much, but I told them if they gave me two, I would be out for a long time and I had to drive myself home.

I have to say, that this time around, I was treated quickly and the quality of care was much higher than in 2005. Here is the post I wrote about the last one. I was out of the hospital around 4pm and again nearly passed out driving home. I had to pull over on the Toll road for about 15 minutes, then I made it to the CVS on Elden. Then home. It's been 34 hours and I still have pain around the incision and pain when urinating. The transplant coordinator says drink more fluids to flush out whatever is going on and call if more symptoms pop up.