After spending nearly a week in a Las Vegas hospital, Lamar Odom was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles by medical helicopter Monday evening. While he has taken both literal and symbolic steps toward recovery as of late, Wednesday’s report that he may require a kidney transplant is a grounding reminder that Odom’s journey to good health is a long and tenuous one.
Odom is expected to receive as many as six hours of daily kidney dialysis treatment, according to USA Today. Ultimately, however, the dialysis may be just a stopgap before what a USA Today source deemed the “viable possibility” of a kidney transplant.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that except for Odom’s kidney, the other organs damaged in last week’s reported drug overdose, potential stroke and subsequent four-day coma are already on the mend.
"[Odom] continues to make miraculous progress, taking a few steps in Los Angeles,” reads a statement released Tuesday by the Odom family. “We couldn't be more overjoyed!"
At this early stage in his recovery, "[n]o one has mentioned drug rehab yet," a source told Entertainment Tonight.
"Everyone is just focusing on getting his health on track and getting his organs stronger," the source continued.
According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Odom and estranged wife Khloe Kardashian were helicoptered from Nevada to Southern California at 8 p.m. ET on Monday. Less than 48 hours later, the couple is now no longer estranged, as a judge reportedly threw out their divorce petition per their Wednesday request.
"You can never be prepared for an experience like this, but without the outpouring of love and endless prayers that Lamar has received and the strength I was given from my loved ones, it would have been difficult to endure," Kardashian wrote on her website Tuesday.
Odom's return to Los Angeles is fitting, given his NBA career. Bookended by stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he was team captain at just 21 years old, he's perhaps best known for being a key cog in a pair of Los Angeles Lakers championship runs. Winning consecutive titles in 2009 and 2010, Odom also nabbed the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award in 2011.
Los Angeles is surely glad to have Odom back home.
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