Along for the Ride

Well, hello, there, friendly blogger friends! It's been a while since I've dusted off the ol' blog, and like most medical update websites, that's because no news is good news. Things in my medical mystery tour have been going swimmingly, and I've been doing very well, all things considered.  Of course, there are things going on in the world...LOTS of things, in fact.  But one of the biggest things recently has been COVID-19. As a transplant recipient, I've been following developments of the novel coronavirus diligently since January when the first rumblings of this illness began making their way into the news. At first, we all just kind of assumed that this would be one of those things that would creep up and then just sort of disappear, but man...we were wrong. This illness has shut down life as we know it. Social media feeds are filled with people bickering over whether masks are political statements, whether our government has responded appropriately and done...

I am sitting down to write this entry a full four weeks post-kidney-transplant!  That's right!  On Sunday, May 13, I got "the call" and received a kidney transplant in the wee hours of the morning on Monday, May 14, 2018.  For the last few weeks, I've been thinking that I wanted to get online and write up a series of blog posts about that experience.  Believe it or not, despite being in recovery from surgery, those four weeks have been super busy!  So I'm just now getting around to gathering my thoughts and putting digital "pen to paper." First, to clarify, I was technically listed on two transplant lists.  I was placed on the deceased donor list just last summer.  However, because they count your dialysis time as "wait time," I had accrued almost 6 1/2 years of wait time on the list, which put me pretty close to the top.  The average wait time in the DFW area with my blood type (O+) is 6-7 years, so I knew that it was possible I could get ...

I'm not sure what it is about Sundays, but I tend to get a bit reflective on Sunday afternoons.  Perhaps it's the preparation for the week ahead.  Perhaps it's the goal-setting and planning.  Perhaps it's the rare moment to sit back, relax, and unwind after a busy week and weekend.  Regardless, it seems like this time - these evening hours on Sundays - are when I find my mind wandering. I've always been a bit of a Pollyanna, but I have to admit that my outlook in the last few weeks has been more positive than it has been in a long, long time.  I try to stay positive most of the time, but this transplant business has really  lit a fire under my tail.  I gotta be honest.   I come from a long line of strong women, from "firm up, Mable," "put on your big girl panties," and "keep your chin up."  So I guess that tenacity, combined with my natural optimism, makes for a pretty strong "anything can happen" attitude.  So natu...

Today is my great aunt Agnes's 95th birthday.  I've been thinking about her all day, and I was digging around in my computer earlier when I came across this piece of writing I did during college.  So many of my childhood memories involve her and my uncle Carroll.  I left this piece in its original form, so while I was definitely a young writer, I really enjoyed rereading it.  I hope you do as well... Here's to you, Aunt Agnes: The World of Aunt Agnes’ House The humid Arkansas air crawled around my body, covering my skin in sticky moistness.  My parents had sent me to stay with my great aunt Agnes for a week.  The memory of my father in his shirt and tie walking quickly through a busy airport while carrying my little Snoopy suitcase was still fresh in my mind.  I looked down from my position, perched on a strong limb high in a magnolia tree.  The neighborhood was calm, with a few distant shouts of children.  As the wind w...

September 11, 1930 - January 2, 2012 Yesterday we received news that my maternal grandmother, Mama Jean, passed away in Arkansas. She had been hospitalized for a variety of health issues centered around congestive heart failure prior to Christmas, but things had appeared to improve, and we were relieved to know that she had been removed from ICU and taken to a regular room, not needing to be on a ventilator anymore. Unfortunately, she took a turn for the worse yesterday morning, and her poor heart just gave out on her. My aunt and step-grandfather were with her, so we were relieved to know that she was not alone. Of course, it was a difficult day for our family. After all the struggles we've faced this past year - my dad's health, my health, my grandfather's cancer, my grandmother's hospitalizations - this blow hit us pretty hard. While we knew she was ill, it was still a bit unexpected. One thing about death is that it reminds us to pause and think about...

The last few months have been a trying time for our family. We've had a myriad of events, mostly medical, that have caused alarm and concern with various members of our family. In January, my father began a series of tests to qualify for a double-lung transplant. He was diagnosed with scleroderma in 2007, and over the last few years, he has developed pulmonary arterial hypertension. As a result, he needs new lungs. We were initially surprised that the doctors wanted to go ahead and start testing and get him on the list, but I'm glad they started when they did. What we thought would be 1 week of testing became 2 1/2 months of ongoing tests. These tests culminated in a committee discussion of my dad's case today. After reviewing everything, the committee deferred the decision, asking my parents to meet with the lead transplant doctor before proceeding. The testing had revealed some additional risks associated with the transplant that my parents needed to weigh. The first conc...

I've been struggling with writing this entry for a while. I knew I wanted to write about it, but I wasn't quite sure how or when I'd be ready. I'm actually thinking that it might be sort of anti-climatic now. Kind of like that day my brother delivered the Girl Scout cookies to work. I literally thought about the box of Thin Mints under my desk all day long. By 7th period, I could practically taste them. I had waited for so long that I was anxious to taste just 1... but a serving size was 4, so I had to get all 4 (of course). The first bite, my heart was ready to sing! I was yearning for that annual treat of minty chocolate goodness coated in the thin coating of sublime bliss. But it tasted a little.... well.... bland. And dry... I thought, OK, this is just because I built it up in my head too much. The second cookie will bring me that moment of sheer joy. But it was cakey and got stuck in my teeth. Disappointing. I half-heartedly finished the other two cookies, closed t...