I experienced depression post-kidney transplant, and I had a live donor.

I think our minds and bodies are so focused on survival, prior to surgery, and we are energized by all the fight or flight hormones for an extended period of time. For me, when the surgery, which I had been so focused on surviving, was over; I felt lost. The recovery took longer than I thought it would. My body had gone through a pretty major trauma, and the mind is part of the body. It has to go through a healing process as well.

Then the COVID pandemic hit, I had my surgery 2/2020. And where I had once been getting weaker everyday, suddenly I was getting stronger every day. My mindset went from to survival to "Now what?" Who am I, if I am not struggling to survive? Which sounds kind of pitiful, as I read it, but it was a very real stage of recovery for me.

The good news is that it gets better. I accepted the emotions, as part of my overall recovery. And decided I had a unique opportunity. My life had been over at age 54. And then I was given a new one. What did I want to fill it with? Who did I want to fill it with? What good did I want to put in the world, with this second chance? And I started to rebuild.

Everybody's journey is different. However, the emotional rollercoaster is definitely for real. Hang in there, it get's better.