Along for the Ride

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 potenti...

Greetings, fine friends!  Look at this!  Two updates on the same day?!?!  Yup. Today my mom and I went down to UTSW to see the infectious diseases doctor for a follow-up.  He still wants me to try to track down some documentation of my vaccinations from when I was a kid.  Apparently, I have antibodies for mumps and rubella, but not measles.  With the increase in anti-vaccine parents over recent years, he's concerned about me returning to the classroom without documentation of my vaccines.  Basically, if a kid comes in my room and happens to have skipped his/her vaccines, I could be in serious trouble.  So tomorrow I'm calling my university to see if they have any student records that would show my vaccines.  Public Service Announcement: Keep your vaccine records.  You just never know when you might need them. He also shared that - right after transplant - I'll be given three doses of an IV medication that will essentially wipe out al...

Hello there! The last few weeks have been somewhat uneventful at Chez Penny, but I do have some updates to share. First, this is pretty much the best way to depict my state of mind since being placed on the transplant list. Yep, that's right.  Every call results in a frantic reach for the phone.  Typically, it's just an automated voice offering me a free cruise or life insurance.  I have no idea how they get around the nomorobo, but alas... they do. So yeah, I'm pretty much just waiting. Mike was contacted and told to start his donor testing.  He went in at the beginning of July for glucose monitoring testing.  Unfortunately, his results came back slightly elevated.  They discussed his case at the transplant committee meeting yesterday and decided to deny him as a donor.  So today I got a letter saying that they have exhausted all of my potential living donors. Mike isn't giving up.  Even though he's already lost 30 pounds, he's dete...

Well, the transplant testing is now complete!  I am officially listed!  And now...we wait. Mike and I enjoyed a celebration dinner last night. Sushi, of course. Post-transplant, I'll have to avoid sushi and buffets. Sushi is my favorite food, so I'm filling up on tuna nigiri while I can.  Now that I'm listed, they'll start testing my living donor. Mike goes in for his blood work on Monday, so they haven't wasted any time getting him started.  They estimate that his testing will take 4-6 weeks.  They also told me 4-6 weeks, and I started in mid-April. The entire process for me wrapped up yesterday, so that was more like 10 1/2 weeks. Therefore, I'm taking the time estimate that they gave him with a grain of salt.  If Mike is the donor, we'll have the luxury of scheduling the surgery. That would allow me to prepare for a long-term sub at work and consider recovery time.  Of course, it's still possible that I could be offered a cadaver kidney anytime...

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 back...

Whew! Another long day of appointments down! I originally thought that today would just involve labs and a consultation with the transplant surgeon, so I had arranged for my last two classes of the day to be covered.  I figured that I would leave around noon to head to the hospital.   But yesterday I got a call saying that I also needed to see the dermatologist. The only opening was at 10 a.m., so I ended up having to take a sub day. I'm trying really hard not to have to take any more sub days so that I have the extra time for leave after surgery, but at least I was able to make the most of the day with multiple appointments. My regular monthly dialysis visit was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, so I messaged my nurse and was able to move that to 8 a.m. this morning. This prevents me from having to drive down to Dallas two days in a row. Thankfully, it all worked out, and I was able to start the day at my dialysis clinic. As far as dialysis goes, everything ...

Since all this transplant business has started, I've had several people ask me how I'm feeling about everything.  I figured this week was a good week to tackle that topic. The short answer is... overwhelmed. Earlier this week, Mike was out bowling with his buddies, and I was home alone. I knew my mind was reeling, so I decided to distract myself with a chick flick on Netflix, but as soon as the ending credits began to roll, my mind quickly returned to its looping cycles of anxious thoughts.  So I called my mom. That's what every grown woman does during times of stress, right? Anyway, I cried. For the first time, I let it all out. My fears, my anxieties, and my emotions. So you might be wondering... But why are you crying? Aren't you happy?  You're getting close to getting a transplant! OF COURSE I am! I'm ecstatic!!! But there's also fear. I fear letting people down. I fear getting some terrible news or results from some test. I fear complications du...