Janice Love is on the road to recovery after successful kidney transplant surgery Sept. 9.  She and her son Leamon, who donated one of his kidneys, are back home in Statesboro and both doing fine.

            As a founding teacher at Mill Creek Elementary, the students, faculty and staff of Mill Creek gathered on August 31st to express their love and support for Mrs. Love as she prepared to have her surgery. They crowned her "Queen for the Day."

            She said she and her son are recovering nicely.

            "We are both feeling really good and are happy with the outcome," Love said.

            But she can't wait to get back to work at Mill Creek.

            "I miss the children," Love said. "A couple of them even called when I was in the hospital and told me they loved and missed me. That was nice."

            With three visits each week, Love endured about 15 hours of kidney dialysis per week before the surgery. Now that the kidney has kicked in and started working, she's happy to have that time back.

            "I'll miss the [dialysis] nurses, who were very good to me. But I can always call them," Love said with a laugh.

            Right now, she's on immunosuppressant drugs that are regulating her body's natural tendency to view the kidney as a foreign object. As a result, she can't be around too many people for fear of infection. She's had to tell her fellow teachers not to start bringing over the casseroles just yet.

            As for when she might be in front of the class again, Love said the doctors have set a four- to six-week recovery schedule. That means she should be back in the classroom sometime in mid-to-late October, something to which she's looking forward.

            "I anticipate good things – being back at school, getting back to traveling, and regaining my life," said Love. "For the last year-and-a-half I'd been just sort of existing. It's really liberating."