What a great feeling to be back at home. We have felt so protected by God’s love and surrounded by an incredibly supportive community of family and friends. Let the healing begin!

There aren’t enough words to describe the performance of the entire Integris transplant team. Their round-the-clock care was nothing short of amazing. Transplant nurses Tammy, Nancy and Joanna along with the Samara doctors have given us more than medical care. They’ve given us their hearts.

Tim couldn’t have asked for better care than what Joanna and Tammy gave. Nancy had already left or else we would have grabbed her for the photo too.

So many of you have asked what you can do to help and what his follow-up care will be. Here’s what we know:

Tim will be on house rest for around six weeks. He will be seen in the transplant clinic a couple of times a week and then weekly during this period. His transplant team will be closely monitoring how his medications are working, any reactions to them, foods he might need to eat more of or cut back on, and everything else related to ensuring no infection or rejection of his new kidney. We know he is in the best possible hands.

Activity will be extremely limited for him. He can walk around our house or yard and go for short rides in the car. Other than that, he will be kicking back at home. You can help with this by recommending movies or shows to watch and books to read.

For the first couple of weeks, friends are discouraged from visiting because every visitor brings a risk of infection into our home and that has to be the one place where Tim is safe.  When he is clear to receive visits from friends, you can come by but only if you are healthy and not feeling ill, and you haven’t had any exposure to people who are sick. When you do visit, you will be expected to sanitize your hands and wear a mask. We have all these items ready and waiting, especially for Saturday game days where you’ll find us in front of the television. Go Cougs!

There are a few dietary changes and a heightened focus on food preparation safety. It really is all about eating a healthy diet. If you want to make and drop off a delicious homemade low-sodium soup, I’m sure Tim would enjoy it. I might too! There is a list of five fruits he can never eat, which works out well because he never ate them before. FYI – grapefruit, pomegranate, star fruit, papaya and blood orange because of the negative way they interact with his medications.

Speaking of medications, he will take three prescriptions for the life of his new kidney. One is an autoimmune drug, one is an anti-rejection drug and one is a low-dose steroid. He will go home with some additional medications to make sure he doesn’t get any infections and doesn’t reject his new kidney but will only take these for limited durations. Devon Energy’s medical insurance is really good and Tim will also be on Medicare for three years to help offset the costs of post-transplant medications.

The transplant team has used descriptions of “fantastic” and “exceptionally well” to describe how Tim is doing. Dana had a much rougher time after surgery but is feeling better and our prayer is that each day becomes easier for her recovery. We joked about feeling like we’re family now and related to each other. A friend described our families as second cousins, kidney removed.

The after photo included smiles, at least until the pain medicine wore off

The before photo of Tim and Dana two weeks before surgeries

We’ve prayed, cried, laughed and felt thankful. We’ve also loved each and every person who has joined us on this journey. This story begins and ends at First Presbyterian Church in Norman. We first met the Andersons 20 years ago and continue to meet them there each week. This is all the proof we need to know that God calls us to live in community.