Last Day At Work....

Today is my last day at work till the 31st of December or maybe even till January 2nd. I can't describe my feelings at this point... I have so many flowing through my body! I am so thankful that I am healthy enough to even do this. I could not even imagine what people go through in life. For some just a breath is a difficult task. Stop and take a deep breath.... Now imagine not being able to do that. WOW!!! I could go on and on about this. But I won't, I'm sure you can see what I am talking about. I am also very thankful that I am surrounded by amazing people. I have the best job in the world. They treat us like a family and I truly feel like part of the family. As a matter of fact, they had me over for Thanksgiving Dinner...I actually got a little emotional as I held hands with 14 people(all my boss's family and my friend) as Mrs. Bachman said grace and as my friend Dana and I thanked everyone for having us over. Again,  I am so thankful for these wonderful people in my life! Ok... I told you I have so many emotions flowing, I'll try to get back on track.

Weds. the 5th I got to meet the surgeon... I met Dr. Shea Samara.. The son of Dr.Scott Samara..Dr. Shea was very nice. He did mention that I had a very tiny kidney stone in my right kidney(Gabriel) and that they really want to leave the donor with the healthist of the two( they could go in with the scope and retrieve the stone in a tiny basket once removed). So now there was a chance of them taking Gabriel instead of John Matthew  in return could raise the chance of doing a open surgery instead of Laproscopic. I let him know that I was there to donate my kidney and whatever they had to do I was still going to go through with it... Open, Laproscopic, Right, or Left. They were the experts and I fell confident that in their knowledge of what  was the best for me and whatever needed to be done. He let me know they were having a commitee meeting that afternoon and discuss it with them and let me know later. Back to the doctors,they will both be in the operating room with me. From what I understand, I will go into surgery before the recipient. (My family and his family will be in different waiting areas) When they are about to remove my kidney they will get him ready to recieve my kidney. Once they remove John Matthew they will clean him up, give him a nice ice bath(spa treatment) and get him to his new home! I should be in surgery for about 4 1/2 hours from time I get to the OR and into recovery... Then into my room by 2 pm. Susan said that day two will be the toughest for me. I am going to be off work till the 31st. That is just insane... Thats a long time cooped up in my house.... She did say that I can go out to lunch as long as I didn't drive (hint hint, lol) Susan called and let me know they were going to continue with removing John Matthew. :) She let me see the catscan pictures and MAN was that cool... I was able to take pictures of those too... WAY COOL... She gave me my pre-op instructions.... liquid diet Sunday... boo... Those who know me, know I love my food. Of course this is totally worth it, so I will do everything on my pre-admission instruction paperwork with great pleasure! Btw, I think I have passed the kidney stone already:-) and also the recipient and his wife do want to meet me.. Don't know when, but at least I know they do want to:-)


I gave Susan the web address to my blog and prepared her to see a picture of her that I took without her knowing, Oopsy.. She wanted a better picture and of course I had my camera ready to go. What a great lady Susan is..well, I think that about sums up everything to this point. Oh wait!!! My sister Michelle Is in college. She had a speech due. Michelle decided to write this speech about being an organ donor. Using the Information she has learned through me and the Internet she was about to give a excellent speech and had printed off ten forms for people to sign up to be an organ donor...nine were filled out!! Thanks Sis!!!

The final countdown....8 days...

Can't believe it's so close.... Pretty important upcoming week. Monday Dec 3rd my oldest daughter will turn 21..:-) then the following Monday the 10th is the life changing day for the young man that gets my kidney.:-) A few things have happened since the last post... I met with Dr. Hola on Wednesday, be is a very nice man.. He gave me the low down on everything that happens during surgery and such... Most I already knew, due to the internet research that I have been doing... He told me that they pick the cream of the crop of the cream of the crop! Feels good to be able to be so healthy as to be able to make someone else healthy. I did tell him about the finding on Ashlynn's ANA antibody (being high-possibly Lupus) he decided to test me for lupus as well, just to make sure! Dr. Hola also mentioned that my initial ultrasound finding of the "fatty liver" could have been a misread( he mentioned this can happen for a few different reasons...typically it is just the way the wand is held or the shadows of other organs and so on) The liver ultrasound came back completely normal. :-) While checking in with Susan(blood pressure, weight(lost 4 pounds, YES!!!), temp, the usual questions... Of course I had a lot of questions to ask her...she let me know there were two possible matches for me at this time.. Either a person in their late 20's or a person in their middle 50's.. I also found out there are 330-ish people on the waiting JUST at Integris...Susan also let me know that they had their busiest month yet, performing 22 kidney transplants in the month of November and still had 3 days to go.. Wow!!! I also asked of how many living donors they see in a year, sadly she said usually around 25...:-( I looked up on Lifeshare of Oklahoma's website and found out there are 110,000 people on the waiting list in the US...with maybe 53 or so living donors a year. I can't remember specifics, but if you are interested you can look on their website for more information. Or let me know and I'll get specifics for you! Did you know, those of us that are born with healthy kidneys and properly functioning kidneys are born with 4 to 5 times more kidney then our body needs to be able to function? So after donating a kidney you still have 2 to 3 times more kidney function then our body needs... Just amazing! You can also donate a kidney and have a normal pregnancy after the donation, only have a little more visits to monitor for gestational diabetes and pregnancy high blood pressure... Pretty cool! See there I'm rambling... Important rambling, but rambling none the less!
Next up heading over the radiology, catscan time... Mike was the gentleman that ran this test.. Man, he was really cool(let me take pictures and took a picture of me too) and very knowledgeable of what he was doing! Said he has been doing catscans for 30yrs...and I was in and out of there quick... With the catscan they take films of the specific area before and after running dye through your veins.. Pretty weird sensation feeling the dye run through your veins.. Doesn't hurt.. Just feels warm... Then make 3D pictures of the said specific area... I'm hoping I get to see this once I meet with the surgeon, Dr. Samara, next week! Dr. Samara will be performing my surgery as well as his son.. They work together as a team..pretty amazing! After my catscan I went back to work and on with my busy day... I was told Susan would contact me to let me know about labwork times and when I would get to meet Dr. Samara. Susan called That afternoon(weds) asked if I could go down to the lab in the morning(Thurs-10 days till surgery) and get my pre-op labwork, lupus screening, and crossmatching (for the two I mentioned). Hoping to get the results from all the testing by Friday. Dr. Ha and susan also met with the transplant board and they were all very excited to here that a healthy living donor is ready for surgery. Dr. Hula was also very pleased with my catscan films as well! I went to the lab around 6:15 and they drew 17 vials of blood.. I didn't feel a thing! So far everything has been virtually painless. A few sticks here and there, that doesn't bother me though and nothing compared to what the people on dialysis go thru on a daily basis. Susan called me Friday afternoon letting me know they had the results from the labwork. Everything looked great. And she let me know that my kidney will go to a young man in his late 20's.. HIPPA prevents her from saying too much and of course we all understand this.. He will have the last say as to if we meet or not... Both parties involved have to agree on meeting...:-) I'm hoping he will want to meet me:-) I can't believe that time is almost here... Super excited.. Actually today was a little emotional. I decided to speak with the campus pastor, Brian, at church today. When I first started the process I had filled out a prayer request asking for the prayer team to send out prayers for the process and today as the time is approaching fast, I just wanted him to pray with me and send some extra prayers out to my recipient and also to the young lady that I started crossmatching with in the beginning... As he prayed, tears flowed from my eyes.. I can't explain the feelings that rushed through my soul as we stood in the middle of the foyer of our LifeChurch campus. It was a beautiful and comforting moment. He asked me to fill out another prayer request so the prayer team could send out more prayers. Man, I am so happy that I stumbled into LifeChurch that day... I want to say ThankYou to Amy for that! The moment I stepped foot into LifeChurch I have felt like this is home... I just love it...
I found out my sister Michelle and my mother are both going to be able to make it for the surgery... So awesome!!!! I am putting together a few things for my recipient, a care package-ish... I made him a leather keychain. I put our surgery date as well as my favorite bible verse... Psalms 91:11... And He gave thee angels to watch over thee and keep thee in all thy ways... (I'll post pictures of it), I hope he likes it... I also found a great Christmas Ornament and had an awareness ribbon and the date inscribed on it... From the beginning I wanted our surgery to be for Thanksgiving or Christmas.. Wanted the recipient to have an amazing Christmas present... The Gift of Life! I have been thinking of names for my kidneys, I have come up with names for my kidneys: my left one(the one that will be removed) name is... John Matthew" The beloved gift from God"....the meaning of the names come from the bible, John means "beloved" and Matthew means "gift from God"...and I think Gabriel for the right kidney(the one that will remain with me) meaning "God is my strength"... I will also write the recipient a short letter :-)...

Last night I received a msg from a friend asking about living donors... She is wanting to see if she can donate to one of her clients... This makes me feel like this post is helping people understand it is not a scary horrible thing... The client of hers had no idea a person could even be a lining donor, she just thought she had to wait for a cadavers kidney... I am so happy that she now knows there are options for her too:-) it warms my heart! Thank you Amber for reaching out,being brave and asking questions! ((((HUGS))))

Ok time to attach pictures and get some sleep... Tomorrow is a big big day.. ASHLYNN'S 21st BIRTHDAY!!! Whoop Whoop!!!

God bless and thanks for reading...


P.S. several people have told me they are not able to post comments on this blog I'm not sure why it won't let you... So feel free to email me if you have comments or questions! Mylittlekidney@gmail.com

Two Weeks.... 14 Days....336 Hours

It is getting close now.... Can't believe it is already the 26th of November! Only a few more steps now. I went to see Dr. Wise on Nov. 19th. She gave me the green light on the psychological evaluation.:-) On the 21st I donated blood for my surgery. This is very cool... They green tag it and save it in the blood bank. When I go into the OR my blood with actually be right there waiting for me. How cool is that???? Technology is just so amazing. I mean this whole process is just amazing to me. How amazing is it that you can take an organ from me and give it to another. Simply Amazing!!!

I have scheduled my Catscan and Appointment with Kidney Dr. (Doctor Hola) Weds. Nov. 28th.... Other than that, a little more labwork and I think this is the last step. I am getting super excited. Thinking of having a going away party for "My Little Kidney"... :)  I will keep you posted.... Enjoy and God Bless!!!!


http://integristransplant.com/#/nzti 

25 Days.....

Time is just ticking away....25 days till my surgery (still a couple of things pending)... Monday the 19th I return to Dr. Wise, to go over my evaluation. Then just a few more steps....Visits... Catscan....Lab work.... etc. So Dec.10th is the focus.

A phone call you don't want to get.....Yesterday 26 days before the scheduled surgery... Ashlynn (my oldest daughter) called to let me know she received results from labwork her doctor had requested, Ashlynn for a very long time has had tons of joint problems, stomach issues, tired, etc. always something kinda thing....She finally found a doctor that checked into it...Back to results of labwork, She has tested Positive for Lupus... We are unsure at this time what type of Lupus she has. This is a bittersweet finding....She has an appointment with a Specialist on Dec.21. So of course, this will tell us a lot more. I know that Lupus affects the joints along with several organs (kidneys being one of those). I will discuss this with the Kidney doctor when I visit with him. I don't know if this will stop the donation process or the surgery date. It is too early to know any of this. I just wanted to keep this Blog going on every aspect of the process and thinking behind it all. If anyone knows information about Lupus or questions that we should ask the specialist when she goes. Please let me know...Thank You...Please keep Ashlynn in your prayers.

Getting closer...

Time sure is moving fast these days. It's already Nov.6th! A few things to report: Liver ultrasound complete, went for the psychological evaluation today(go back for report on weds the 14th), and actually have a tentative date for surgery(Dec. 10th). Pretty productive if you ask me:-) Since so much has happened in the last four days I'll talk a little bit about each of these milestones.

Liver Ultrasound: Friday Nov. 2nd I arrived at the hospital around 3:30pm went straight to The radiology department. The wait was not very long, they are pretty fast there. Something I've been very impressed with during this whole process. I think the longest waiting time that I have waited was maybe 5 minutes. I'm trying to think if there was any longer waiting periods and I just can't think of any. For a hospital, this is exceptional.
The door opens and a gentleman calls my name....we go back to the ultrasound room. He asks me to verify my date of birth(another recent popular question) and my full name. He then introduces himself to me and proceeds with the ultrasound. Of course I was snapping pictures the whole time:-) even got a video, although I didn't mean too, it's pretty cool! Before long I was on my way.. Quick and painless!

On Monday, the 5th I called Susan(transplant coordinator) to fill her in on the progress of everything. Susan is such a genuine and nice lady. While we were on the phone we discussed the next steps. Which are getting a report from Dr.Wise and letting the Kidney doctors look over both the liver doctors findings and the psychological results. I decided to try and pin point a date for my surgery. I was thinking sometime around the week of Christmas, but the date we came up with was Dec 10th then more than likely I could return to work on Dec 28th. The other option was Dec 31st.... Either would work but the 10th works best:-) she informed me that once all of those reports are through the only thing left was to meet with kidney doctor and catscan the kidneys...wahoooo!!!

Dr. Wise... She was very nice as well. We sat and chatted for about an hour. We went over all of my past,future and everywhere in between. I also took one of those true/false personality test. Those are kinda different because one part of the question you would think true... But the second part false.. So you have to answer open minded. I understand why they check your psychological conditions for this kind of surgery. It's a very serious surgery. It is very important that you understand the risks that go along with this surgery(any surgery) before just jumping in and saying" Hey, I want to donate my kidney". Dr wise could tell that I was a person that took care of others needs.. I reassured her that I am capable of taking care of my own as well and that I am getting better at asking people for help if I need it:-) I describe myself as a pleaser, doer, and caretaker...sometimes I think people think that being a "caretaker" is not a good thing.. I don't know any other way... I just enjoy life.. Enjoy people being happy.. Enjoy doing things for others.. I've always been a "caretaker" very interested in the medical field, volunteered at the hospital growing up...I love/loved it so much...I can't pinpoint when this seed was planted in me but, it's been there for a long long time... And I wouldn't change it for anything... Actually, I wouldn't change anything in my life.... Of course there has been battles and hard times... Everyone has those... But that is what makes us who we are.. No one is perfect.. I truly enjoy life... I try my best not to stress out about things! Sure we stress on silly things.. But when life hands me something really hard to deal with I try to keep my chin up and try everything in my power to fix it! Ok ok...here I am rambling on and on again... Bottom line I think things went well with Dr. Wise and I will find out what she has to report on the 14th... Until next time...

Doctor Doctor... give me the news!!!

Oct.26th I went to see Dr. Patel... The Liver Doctor.... After asking a list of recent popular questions.... Do you do drugs?... Drink alcohol?...Smoke Cigarettes?...How many tattoos?.... Piercings?....Medications?....Blah Blah Blah, Susan(his nurse) and I got acquainted....Dr. Patel and an Intern came in, they were really nice. He asked all the questions over again. I'm getting used to this and I know it is all for a good reason. Dr. Patel and I chatted for a little while. I asked him all kinds of questions about the future and if I did continue with the Donation of my Kidney would it have any effects on my liver and tons of other questions.  Basically, he thinks everything is ok and all will work out just fine. Not alarmed at any of the lab results from earlier lab test. Exercise and Proper Diet is the key to a Healthy body. Simple as that. Dr. Patel decided to send me over to the lab and get some  liver specific lab work. He( Well, a Lady also named Susan- She makes the third Susan of this whole process) scheduled a liver ultrasound for the next week(Today-Nov.2nd) So as of this moment I am beginning to fast for my 3:30 appointment. This will be the toughest part of my day.... NOT EATING!!! :-/ I don't usually go too long without eating. So wish me luck on that. Up next, Tues I meet with Dr. Wise for the psychological evaluation. Until then God Bless!

Oct. 16th, The Phone Finally Rings....

Its Susan, the donor transplant coordinator. She says that all my results are in. There are a few concerns: They have found a cyst on each of my kidneys, apparently most everyone has these, which is pretty common and does not usually pose a problem. My triglycerides are very high- 371, normal being below 150. My Cholesterol is normal- 162, normal being 125-200. All is all nothing to worry about. Susan mentioned that I should try to exercise and maintain a healthy diet.  She said my file was going to be looked over by one of the transplant doctors the next morning and she would get back with me the following day. I had plans to go to Las Vegas the next day, but would have my phone in hand awaiting her call. She called within a couple of hours of our arrival. At this time, she told me that the transplant committee are still  thinking I am a good candidate to be a living donor.  She also said the doctor had a chance to look over my lab work. He says, I have a " Fatty Liver" and that my HDL is low- 44, normal is greater than 46. Since I am so young this may be indications of something wrong or could help us prevent something in the future. They are thinking that this may be a disorder called NASH(Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis) I have attached a link that tells you about NASH.She thinks that this is nothing to be alarmed by and that she is going to send me to a liver specialist to get everything checked out. They will more than likely order a catscan of my liver, at which time they will also catscan my kidneys. Of course, we won't know till I see the Liver Specialist. I should hear back from Susan in the next couple of days when I will be able to see the specialist. I will keep you all posted on what I find out. BTW, I have not ruled out being a living kidney donor as of yet. Of course, time will tell if I will be able to donate. I still would like to keep this blog going to keep everyone informed and let people know that donating is very important.  Thank you for reading. Please share your thoughts with me....God Bless! 

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/nash/