Transplant Testing: The Final Round

I'm sitting here in a nail salon getting a much-needed pedicure. Today is Mike's birthday, so  we have dinner plans, and I'm picking up a cake for him in a bit.  This morning my mom and I went down to UTSW for my bladder biopsy.

The procedure was somewhat uncomfortable, but the good thing is that the little cyst they found a few weeks ago during my cystoscopy was gone. The doctor went ahead and took two little biopsies to be sure. After he cauterized the sites, all was done!

It'll be a 3-4 days before we have the results.  This should be the last piece in my testing, so we're hoping that I'll be presented to the committee soon.

The transplant committee only meets on Tuesdays, so the biopsy results probably won't be ready for this coming Tuesday the 13th. I'm hopeful that I'll be presented on the 20th.

It's hard to believe that I could be listed by the end of this month!

In other news, I've been enjoying my summer off so far. Since I backed out of summer school, I have a lot of free time. I've been keeping myself busy with house tasks and personal care. I reconnected with my therapist and saw her yesterday. I first met with her back in 2011 when I was diagnosed, and I decided to visit with her a bit more just to ensure I'm as healthy as possible in body, mind, and spirit going into the next steps in this journey.

Our dog Preston, an 11 year old Schnauzer, has been struggling a bit. I found out today that he has chronic kidney disease. It seems like some sort of cruel irony. I wouldn't wish that on anyone or anything. Poor fella. We're hoping that a renal diet food will help him. He's had a rough few years, but he's still happy and playful, thank goodness!

We're also working with a dog trainer with Sammy, our 3 1/2 year old Lab mix, trying to tackle his anxiety. The training protocol we got involves "chunking chicken" at him (tossing treats to him) when he's relaxed. I keep thinking how awesome that would be for humans, too!

Anyway, I don't have a ton of medical news, but I will definitely keep posting updates as information comes up. In the meantime, I'm going to start making some checklists and preparing myself for surgery.

As always, I so appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Much, much love to you all!

#teamkidney

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