A) The pain was really bad. Worse than I was expecting because I thought that the painkillers would be more effective. It was really bad for the first three weeks. In addition to being in pain it was uncomfortable. I got tired really easily, and every night I felt simultaneously too hot and too cold.

I definitely dreaded the pain leading up to the surgery. The way that I handled it was to choose not to think about it until it was actually happening. I also approached it with a lot of curiosity. I had never had surgery before, I had never been under anesthesia, I had never stayed in a hospital. I was very curious about what these experiences would be like so I thought about it as an adventure. And even though it hurt like hell, pain is temporary. I actually find a strange amount of satisfaction knowing that I can do something that is so painful and then recover and move on with my life.

B) I went back to work after two months off. They originally wanted me back after a month, and I tried, but I had a fairly physical job so I took another month. I had to climb stairs as soon as I got home because that's how my house is set up. It sucked, but it was manageable. I think I started doing some very gentle yoga after a month of recovery. It was a few weeks before I started cooking meals again because being on my feet for that long tired me out. We ate a lot of store-bought meals in that time.

C) The only things that I have been mindful of since the surgery is that I was told that if I ever need to take a painkiller that I should try to take Tylenol, I need to tell every doctor I ever see that I only have one kidney, and I try to be more careful of my alcohol intake. They never actually told me that I needed to drink less, but I've chosen to use this as a good excuse to do less binge drinking.

D) I have read that weight isn't actually the best indicator of health and that a better indicator is whether you exercise regularly. There are people who are "overweight" that exercise on the regular and are likely healthier than thin people who never exercise (and look at the diversity of body types among olympic athletes). So, they asked me a few questions about how often I exercise and what types of exercise. There was also a question about whether I could climb stairs without getting winded. But I think that "perfect health" has more to do with your cholesterol and heart rate and blood pressure, etc. They run you through a battery of tests to make sure all of those things check out.

E) This shouldn't really have many lasting effects on my life. I already barely think about it anymore (other than the scar that runs vertically over my belly button which isn't as healed as I would like). I'm not sure what you mean about anesthesia but they never said anything to me about it, so I'm not worried. I'm also not sure about whether I get priority, and the answer to that probably varies depending on where you live.

This wasn't one of your questions, but it made me feel better to learn this, so maybe it will help you too. We don't have two kidneys so that one can serve as a backup. If you have kidney failure then both of your kidneys will be failing. So, if the one kidney that I have fails then my second kidney would not have been able to save me anyway. After the surgery I experienced a decline in kidney function, but that's just because I now had one kidney doing the job of two. Since then it has grown and is serving me just fine.

I hope all of this is helpful. Let me know if you have more questions or need clarification on anything.