Happy New Year! 2018 = #teamkidney?!?!?
Greeting and salutations, dear friends!
Happy 2018! I hope you've had a wonderfully relaxing holiday break. I know we have! Tomorrow, it's back to school for me, but Mike has the rest of the week off as his post-holiday PTO (personal time off). I'm sure he'll enjoy a quiet house for a few days!
I thought I'd pop online and a post a quick entry just to fill everyone in on the progress for #teamkidney.
Basically, I'm still waiting. All of my potential direct donors have been eliminated, but I do have one more very generous donor who is open to doing a paired donation (where h/she will donate to another person who will then have someone donate to me). They are getting started on the workup and testing for this potential donor, so we shall see how that goes.
The donor process is completely confidential, so - understandably - my docs and transplant team don't give me any updates on the donors. The only way I know anything is that this potential donor is a close friend and keeps me updated.
It's such an incredibly humbling thing to know that someone came into your life and is then willing to - quite literally - sacrifice a piece of themselves for you. It's overwhelming, in fact.
I'm trying hard not to count my chickens, though.
I've had a few people ask me how I'm doing with everything, and I have to say that I'm cautiously optimistic. I've learned not to get my hopes up too far too fast. Mike's experience as a potential donor taught me that. It seems that - just when I feel like I have a footing in this whole thing - the soil shifts, and I'm thrown off-balance again, so I've learned to take it one day at a time and maintain some caution to temper my optimism.
The waiting is hard. I'm not going to lie. But I've found some ways to distract myself from the tick-tocking of the clock. I started a small business selling some cosmetics and skincare, and I'm having a ton of fun with it. It pushes me out of my comfort zone, and it's something I can do from home, so I'm hopeful I can continue it after transplant.
Otherwise, I'm staying on top of my work at school (grading and such) just in case I get "the call" soon. Mike and I have been working on downsizing our lives a bit...simplifying and streamlining things to save money and time.
I'm still working with the endocrinologist to lose some more weight. The docs want me as little as possible before transplant because it will help with recovery. My protein levels have dropped, so my dialysis team has put me on supplements, and I have to make a concerted effort to get more protein in each day.
Other than that, though, things are going along swimmingly. I'm still doing my nightly dialysis treatments, and I'm working to manage my stress levels to keep myself as healthy as possible.
Anyway, I haven't been posting much because there hasn't been much new. It's funny how this whole thing has gone down. The transplant team seemed so urgent about the testing and evaluation last spring. I keep thinking of that phrase, "hurry up and wait."
As always, thank you for your support and love, and I hope to have some news for you soon!
Here's hoping 2018 is THE YEAR for #teamkidney!!!
Happy 2018! I hope you've had a wonderfully relaxing holiday break. I know we have! Tomorrow, it's back to school for me, but Mike has the rest of the week off as his post-holiday PTO (personal time off). I'm sure he'll enjoy a quiet house for a few days!
I thought I'd pop online and a post a quick entry just to fill everyone in on the progress for #teamkidney.
Basically, I'm still waiting. All of my potential direct donors have been eliminated, but I do have one more very generous donor who is open to doing a paired donation (where h/she will donate to another person who will then have someone donate to me). They are getting started on the workup and testing for this potential donor, so we shall see how that goes.
The donor process is completely confidential, so - understandably - my docs and transplant team don't give me any updates on the donors. The only way I know anything is that this potential donor is a close friend and keeps me updated.
It's such an incredibly humbling thing to know that someone came into your life and is then willing to - quite literally - sacrifice a piece of themselves for you. It's overwhelming, in fact.
I'm trying hard not to count my chickens, though.
I've had a few people ask me how I'm doing with everything, and I have to say that I'm cautiously optimistic. I've learned not to get my hopes up too far too fast. Mike's experience as a potential donor taught me that. It seems that - just when I feel like I have a footing in this whole thing - the soil shifts, and I'm thrown off-balance again, so I've learned to take it one day at a time and maintain some caution to temper my optimism.
The waiting is hard. I'm not going to lie. But I've found some ways to distract myself from the tick-tocking of the clock. I started a small business selling some cosmetics and skincare, and I'm having a ton of fun with it. It pushes me out of my comfort zone, and it's something I can do from home, so I'm hopeful I can continue it after transplant.
Otherwise, I'm staying on top of my work at school (grading and such) just in case I get "the call" soon. Mike and I have been working on downsizing our lives a bit...simplifying and streamlining things to save money and time.
I'm still working with the endocrinologist to lose some more weight. The docs want me as little as possible before transplant because it will help with recovery. My protein levels have dropped, so my dialysis team has put me on supplements, and I have to make a concerted effort to get more protein in each day.
Other than that, though, things are going along swimmingly. I'm still doing my nightly dialysis treatments, and I'm working to manage my stress levels to keep myself as healthy as possible.
Anyway, I haven't been posting much because there hasn't been much new. It's funny how this whole thing has gone down. The transplant team seemed so urgent about the testing and evaluation last spring. I keep thinking of that phrase, "hurry up and wait."
As always, thank you for your support and love, and I hope to have some news for you soon!
Here's hoping 2018 is THE YEAR for #teamkidney!!!
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