The really good news is that the kidney transplant surgery on the 10th went very well. Apparently, my left kidney paid attention to all the pep talks and heartfelt conversations I had with it, and it went to work right away as Mark's new kidney. He and I are both recovering well and getting better every day. I came home the 12th and he went home the 13th. My other blog has more details. Yesterday, which was a day that lasted a year, we went back to the university medical center for our individual checkups, and the doctors agreed that everything looks fine.
However, while we were at the medical center, I also received a phone call from my sister with the very sad news that my father had passed away. He died early yesterday morning. The circumstances of his death and of his life, combined with what he did and more significantly did not believe, all suggest that there will probably not be a service. But I still wish I could travel now (it's too soon after surgery according to the doctors) so I could go to Colorado to be with my 96-year-old grandmother and my brothers (my eldest brother just flew out to be with my older brother).
I had the good fortune of speaking to my dad the day before he died. We'd only seen each other 3 or 4 times in the last 25 years, and only spoke on the phone once or twice a year. But he'd heard about the transplant and called ostensibly to talk about that. And we'd said all the important things you hope to say to, and hear from, a loved one before they die. So while I'm mourning the loss, I'm also grateful that he'd called me. It's more complicated than that, of course. It always is. And I'm writing about it elsewhere. But this is how I'm recording this fact, for now. I hope that wherever Dad's spirit is now, it's at peace.
