There will be a much longer discussion of surgery, etc. at a later date. But, for the moment, I want to get back to the “Why?” question. My coordinator visited me today and brought me two cards. One from the recipient and/or his wife and the other from his daughter. She let me know that […]

Today is the day.  I started this journey on December 14, 2012.  After almost six months this journey is reaching its zenith. For those of you who have been reading, following along, and providing kind words either here, in person, in email or through other avenues I sincerely appreciate your support.  And I appreciate some […]

I feel today is going to be an overall odd day.  I have my dietary restrictions for starting my bowel cleanse later this afternoon (normal breakfast, light lunch, then only clear liquids until midnight, then nothing after that).  I’m supposed to take the magnesium citrate starting at 2:00 this afternoon, so I plan on leaving […]

I’ll probably not update this blog much over the next few days.  I’ll most likely just be using Facebook to provide updates, etc. since it’s a quicker and easier medium. 3 days until my surgery!

One of the other things I asked my coordinator about yesterday was if my family and that of my recipient would be in different waiting areas during the surgeries.  And it was confirmed that they would be, as well as separate pre-op and recovery areas.  Why is this important?  It is to maintain my privacy […]

I just got off the phone with my coordinator and the recipient has been chosen and here’s what I was told (I’m paraphrasing from my notes and memory): “It is a 36 year old male.  Who, upon hearing the news was ecstatic and his wife was in tears.  He has been on dialysis for two […]

My coordinator had told me she’d be back in touch with me later this week with any updates or details regarding the outcome of the cross matching.  Lo and behold, I leave my phone sitting in the office for five minutes and I miss a call from her.  She left a voice mail saying she […]

I just got a call from my coordinator.  All of my labs from yesterday came back fine, which was not unexpected.  She did, however, ask again about delaying until the fall to do a chain.  She said this was coming from other higher-ups there and that she had to ask and there wasn’t any pressure. […]

Something I forgot to mention that my surgeon told me yesterday were the following statistics: Of the patients they see in their office that need transplants, 60% will never receive one due to the scarcity of donors.  Most will die due to kidney failure or related complications. On average, three out of every 100 living […]

This morning’s appointments really didn’t contain a lot of surprises. I did have 12 more vials of blood drawn, including some to be used for the cross matching. I had to have multiple images done for the chest x-ray, since the first one missed the bottom tip of my lungs. The techs tried to claim […]