KNOW SOMEONE WHO NEEDS A KIDNEY?

If you know someone who is in need of a kidney transplant, I highly recommend contacting this organization, which helped me to get a lot of the information I needed. Laurie Reece is the Executive Director at the Alliance for Paired Donation Program. They work specifically with the concept of pairing you up with other people to exchange "swap" kidneys, if you don't have a direct match.

http://www.paireddonation.org/

Laurie Reece (512) 461-1977

Go to Google and check out the "Alliance for Paired Donation" program.

This is a great option if you or your friend/family member do not have a direct match for a kidney.

An average of 18 people die each day while waiting for organs. Become a donor today if you can!

You can also do research on www.unos.org

Go online and read about it. Good luck!

READY TO GO

My hubby is back from New York. I picked him up at the airport last night with the kids. They were so happy to see him. The only bad part is that now Michael has a cold and has to stay away from him as to not compromise his (Ser) health and the impending surgery. According to Sergio and what they told him up there in New York, all is a go. They are just waiting for my latest results (the 12 tubes of blood episode!) So I'm confident enough now that I'm ready to book my airline ticket to New York today! Whew!

I rcv'd this in the mail from the hospital. It's the letter that states you are scheduled for surgery, Thursday, Nov. 20th plus all the directions. How's this for reality? Turn your head slighty and catch a glimpse!

WONDERING

Now that I have decided to go ahead with this organ donation thing (the cross-match program) I am freaking out. Not to say that I do not want to help my husband but I have a million thoughts going through my head. I think when I volunteered for this I never really considered the fact that I am putting myself willingly "under the knife" while I have two small children. I think maybe if I hadn't lost my own mother maybe I wouldn't be so consumed with the thought of death. I don't want to be negative but these thoughts are there. The worst part is NO ONE thinks what I am doing is the right thing. They might be supporting me (in the moral support sense of the word) but I think everyone pretty much thinks I'm nuts. The way I see it is that I have a chance to extend my husband's life, so that G-d willing he will be around longer for our children.

I think what I worry most about are the logistics of it all. The fact that I have to be away from my two small children for almost 2-3 weeks. I don't know how my 6-year old will handle that! I know I will not handle it well at all! I know it's inconvenience versus saving someone's life. I know people do this all the time but do mothers of two small children do this to save their husband's? I wonder...

KIDNEY TRANSPLANT

So for those of you that know me or have been reading my blog for a while know that we have this whole kidney transplant thing going on with my hubby. He needs one! I really wanted to be the one to help him and be a donor but unfortunately I am not a match for him BUT there is a program that we are going to look into that might be the answer. It's a cross-match program. " There is a paired donor program, whereby, they pair 2 donors and 2 recipients that are not compatible with their own donors to another donor. The surgeries are arranged to take place at the same time so that no one can back out."

I'm going to check with www.unos.org or google kidney transplant to get more 411 on this. A bit scary but it's worth a shot!

STRESS

So there's this huge possibility that the transplant can be
THIS Wednesday!!! We got an "unofficial comment" from a staff
member. Can you imagine? All the planning I did before, what
to do with the kids, where to stay, camp, babysitter, the traveling
back & forth.

Now, there is NO plan in place!!! The meeting is Monday morning at
10a.m. so by noon we should know if the transplant is on and if it
is indeed this week - yikes!!

Keep ya posted....literally.

SYNOPSIS

Just a little summary to those of you
just joining in on reading this blog.
The transplant update I refer to is my hubby's
kidney transplant, which was originally scheduled
for this past July 4th week. Due to a problem
with the donor's situation ("Jude") it had to be
postponed. It's been very stressful to say the
least. Figuring out what the heck we are going
to do but we must wait and wait and be at the
mercy of the bureaucratic health care world.
Which reminds me I really want to see"Sicko."
Has anyone seen that yet? Comments?)

So anyway, as I mentioned on a previous post,
we have to wait to see what the biopsy reveals.
Hopefully, for everyone involved and ESPECIALLY
for "Jude's" sake, it is something insignificant
and we can move on.

Let's hope & pray for a positive outcome!!!