New Kidney Post
My mind is still a bit blown over all that has happened this week...which means I am not quite sure what to write...I feel like my thoughts are all over the place...so my blog tonight may nto make a lot of sense...you'll just have to forgive me for that...
First - people keep asking me about getting the call...so I guess maybe I should share that whole experience with you all since you seem interested...to say I wasn't expecting it at all would be an understatement...I was in my room looking up something on facebook from my iPod and noticed that my phone was ringing...I didn't know the number but have gotten used to answering unknown numbers since I know that it could be the doctor's office...I also saw that it was a 309 number when I briefly looked at my phone before answering it so I figured it was either my dialysis nurses calling about something or them calling about some order for my machine...then she said it was Jen from transplant offices...so I thought maybe they were calling to schedule an appointment before the 15th since I hadn't been in for a while...anyway she starts talking about the match and such...I can't lie I wasn't totally paying attention because I thought I already know I have a match it's mom...so I had no idea what she was talking about until she said we have a perfect perfect match for you...and then I thought wait a second that's not mom...mom is just a good match...and then I was having a hard time paying attention because I was trying not to freak out...I don't remember much after that except that I had a lot of nervous energy and we started calling and texting people...like I called my Bumpa to tell him and while I was on the phone with him I started doing lunges in the upstairs hallway...which made mom laugh...and Bumpa I think was freaking out a little because he didn't say much just "I'm turning around right now!" since he was on his way to work...and then I did lunges again on the front porch for Robert Bates when he stopped by after he heard the news...
That night we went up to Peoria to spend the night because we didn't know if we were going to have to be at the hospital at like 4 in the morning...mom, dad, Danny, Nicole, and I shared a room that night and headed to the hospital the next morning to see if I needed to do dialysis again...which I didn't...so we sat around the hospital all day waiting...which was so hard to do...I kept getting so anxious and freaking out every now and then...as per usual in the hospital times for things kept changing...we mainly kept waiting around for the kidney to get in from California...this meant that transplant time was at 2 in the morning...so Nicole and Danny had to leave before then since Nicole had to work in the morning and Danny had already planned some things with his family...
But around midnight my grandparents showed up...after driving here from Arizona so that was nuts but perfect timing...
You probably also want to know how I am doing...I'm tired and in pain...though not as much as I thought I would be...and I have to pee all the time which is weird because with dialysis I was peeing only like twice a day...now I pee at least once an hour...even with all that though I am feeling better than I have in a while...I have a lot of recovery a head of me...doctors appointments once a week in Peoria...one more dose of a chemo med to kill my immune system to help out my new kidney...blood tests twice a week...handfuls of medications four times a day...limiting my activity for a while...and limiting my contact with people as well to help prevent with infections and germs...as they said in church today hug my parents instead of me because I'm a bit tender and don't need the extra germs...
Second - people keep asking me about writing to the family of the 27 year old I got the kidney from...I don't really know anything about them...or the donor...what I do is I write a letter that doesn't have a lot of specific information about myself and then I send it to Gift of Hope (which is the place that tests and matches organs)...they send it off to the family and then I wait to see if they want to contact me more or not...it's all in their hands...I want to respect them and take their suffering into consideration...but I really do want to write to them and probably will...I am nervous about it but I really do want them to know how thankful I am to them...this perfect match kidney should last me much longer than dad's good match kidney...keeping me healthy and off dialysis longer and I want them to know how much that means to me...I want them to understand that I don't take this lightly and I am endlessly grateful that they were willing to give of their loved one to save my life...I know I can never fully repay them...and I want them to know that...and there is so much more I want them to know that I am not sure how to put it into words...so be praying for me that I know what to say...
Third - I am so thankful to all of you...for praying for us...for supporting us...for celebrating with us...it means a lot to me and to my family...thank you thank you thank you...
First - people keep asking me about getting the call...so I guess maybe I should share that whole experience with you all since you seem interested...to say I wasn't expecting it at all would be an understatement...I was in my room looking up something on facebook from my iPod and noticed that my phone was ringing...I didn't know the number but have gotten used to answering unknown numbers since I know that it could be the doctor's office...I also saw that it was a 309 number when I briefly looked at my phone before answering it so I figured it was either my dialysis nurses calling about something or them calling about some order for my machine...then she said it was Jen from transplant offices...so I thought maybe they were calling to schedule an appointment before the 15th since I hadn't been in for a while...anyway she starts talking about the match and such...I can't lie I wasn't totally paying attention because I thought I already know I have a match it's mom...so I had no idea what she was talking about until she said we have a perfect perfect match for you...and then I thought wait a second that's not mom...mom is just a good match...and then I was having a hard time paying attention because I was trying not to freak out...I don't remember much after that except that I had a lot of nervous energy and we started calling and texting people...like I called my Bumpa to tell him and while I was on the phone with him I started doing lunges in the upstairs hallway...which made mom laugh...and Bumpa I think was freaking out a little because he didn't say much just "I'm turning around right now!" since he was on his way to work...and then I did lunges again on the front porch for Robert Bates when he stopped by after he heard the news...
That night we went up to Peoria to spend the night because we didn't know if we were going to have to be at the hospital at like 4 in the morning...mom, dad, Danny, Nicole, and I shared a room that night and headed to the hospital the next morning to see if I needed to do dialysis again...which I didn't...so we sat around the hospital all day waiting...which was so hard to do...I kept getting so anxious and freaking out every now and then...as per usual in the hospital times for things kept changing...we mainly kept waiting around for the kidney to get in from California...this meant that transplant time was at 2 in the morning...so Nicole and Danny had to leave before then since Nicole had to work in the morning and Danny had already planned some things with his family...
But around midnight my grandparents showed up...after driving here from Arizona so that was nuts but perfect timing...
You probably also want to know how I am doing...I'm tired and in pain...though not as much as I thought I would be...and I have to pee all the time which is weird because with dialysis I was peeing only like twice a day...now I pee at least once an hour...even with all that though I am feeling better than I have in a while...I have a lot of recovery a head of me...doctors appointments once a week in Peoria...one more dose of a chemo med to kill my immune system to help out my new kidney...blood tests twice a week...handfuls of medications four times a day...limiting my activity for a while...and limiting my contact with people as well to help prevent with infections and germs...as they said in church today hug my parents instead of me because I'm a bit tender and don't need the extra germs...
Second - people keep asking me about writing to the family of the 27 year old I got the kidney from...I don't really know anything about them...or the donor...what I do is I write a letter that doesn't have a lot of specific information about myself and then I send it to Gift of Hope (which is the place that tests and matches organs)...they send it off to the family and then I wait to see if they want to contact me more or not...it's all in their hands...I want to respect them and take their suffering into consideration...but I really do want to write to them and probably will...I am nervous about it but I really do want them to know how thankful I am to them...this perfect match kidney should last me much longer than dad's good match kidney...keeping me healthy and off dialysis longer and I want them to know how much that means to me...I want them to understand that I don't take this lightly and I am endlessly grateful that they were willing to give of their loved one to save my life...I know I can never fully repay them...and I want them to know that...and there is so much more I want them to know that I am not sure how to put it into words...so be praying for me that I know what to say...
Third - I am so thankful to all of you...for praying for us...for supporting us...for celebrating with us...it means a lot to me and to my family...thank you thank you thank you...
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