RETURN TO SACRAMENTO FROM 55 DAYS IN PHOENIX FOR MY KIDNEY TRANSPLANT AT MAYO CLINIC HOSPITAL ARIZONA.........

Friday night ended earlier than usual for my primary caregiver Jeremy Lipp and I, as we were up and out of bed at 6 a.m., this morning to pack up ourselves and square away the Trapanotto House for a 10 a.m. departure. We proceeded to the Mayo Clinic where we discarded my two month sharps container of used insulin needles with the Hospital Emergency Room staff. Then we took several photos in the hospital, to chronicle my transplant stay at Mayo Clinic Arizona. We brunched in the Hospital cafeteria, which even one of our Chili's restaurant waiters this week said is, "the best hospital food anywhere". Onward, to Sky Harbor Airport, where we dropped off the rental car and then took the shuttle over to Southwest Airlines in Terminal 4. We departed at 1:23 p.m., and landed at Sacramento International at 3:10 p.m. Collecting our luggage, Jeremy's brother-in law and a friend, were at the airport to meet us. They drove us back to 'La Rosa Blanca' Jeremy's family's Mexican restaurant, where his mother, sister, 5 year old niece, and other family members hosted us to a welcome home dinner. It was my 108th visit in just under 27 months to the restaurant and for the first time I was able to enjoy the beans with my rice, enchiladas and taco. Bringing me home to Presentation rectory, I was here in time to go over for the end of the 5:30 p.m. Mass and greet the parishioners, as I shall tomorrow. Tonight, I have been phoning some of my personal friends and social networking, after a brief conversation with the parish Parochial Vicar Father Paul Ricks. Tomorrow afternoon I head out to South Sacramento to visit with Msgr. Kavanagh and prepare for the funeral services for my first Pastor as a priest, Msgr. Vito Mistretta, at Holy Family Church, tomorrow night and Monday morning. My heart and mind are filled with elation at coming home, and emotion as I continue to realize the profundity of these past two months. After a very trying two and a half years and 379 dialysis treatments, the opportunity to receive a kidney transplant thanks to the unparalled efficiency and wholistic effectiveness of the Mayo Clinic, is awesome. When political leaders and profesional medical experts attest to the outstanding model of health care, Mayo Clinic is, they are on the mark, from what I have experienced and observed over the past 4 months. The Mayo Clinic's doctors, nurses, and support staff, are not only unrivaled in their professionalism and commitment, but a consumate team of caring and conscientious health care providers. They remain true to the credo of their founders, Charles and William Mayo, who said, "The only interest is the best interest of the patient"...And so to my crackerjack team of personal health care professionals, Drs. James McMonagle, James Cookson, Ardash Bhat, Gerard Ortner, and all their associates, as well as the staff of Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and formerly, the Orangevale Dialysis Center, I now join the Transpl;ant Team and staff of Mayo Clinic Arizona. To my living donor, Victor Herrera and his wife Tammy; my sisters Alice and Alene, Jeremy Lipp, Curtis Richards, Father Oliver Maher, Joe DiMarco, Paul Friedrich, who provided my primary caregiving while in Phoenix; the parishioners of Presentation, St. Philomene's, St. Rose's, South Sacramento, and all the parishes in which I have ministered; to my personal and close friends of several decades, including Joe Gibson, Ray Riehle, Elaine Massey, Ted Sheedy, Roger + Karin Geach & Family, among so many others; and to Bishop + Jaime Soto, Tom McNamara, and the Diocese of Sacramento, as well as Bishops Emeriti, + Francis Quinn and + William Weigand; to all of you who mailed, called, e-mailed, phoned, prayed, and gifted me, THANK YOU EVERYONE !!!!!!!!! ..."30-60-100 fold", for all you have done these past eight weeks to stand in solidarity with me andto support me.........GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU ! GOD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON YOU AND BE GRACIOUS TO YOU !! GOD GIVE YOU PEACE !!!.........Father Troy David Powers
aka TROY the TRANSPLANTED