My Kidney Journey: Back on Track

In February, I told you about my Latent TB Bacteria and what I would have to go through in order to be able to donate my kidney to my new friend.  (If you didn't read that, you can find it here. Or if you missed my initial post on how I gave my kidney away while getting my oil changed and eating lunch with a friend, you can click here.  To read all of my kidney related posts, click here.) So, I've spent the last 12 weeks taking medication just to make sure my kidney is safe for my recipient.

That picture there to the right is all of the pills I had to take once a week. The awesome warnings are enough to scare you, but it really wasn't so awful. The hardest part was the exhaustion and having to go to the doctor's office once a week to take the meds.

So here we are, some 12 weeks and 120 pills later. We have been released by the Medical Review Board and have a surgery date. I am not going public with either the date of the surgery or the name of the hospital, simply for safety and privacy reasons, so please don't ask. I will, of course post my experiences after the surgery to help others to know what to expect when considering giving a gift like this.

I spoke to a group of 5th graders the other day and was touched by their curiosity and their heart for other human beings. A young man named Austin came up to me at the end of the presentation and asked, " When we die, we don't need our organs anymore. You said that we could save up to 12 lives and help 50 more?"

"Yes, that's right," I answered.

"So, if they have to take them out anyway, why wouldn't everyone want to donate them to help other people," he continued to ask.

That, my friends, is the question. My only answer was that most people just don't know.  There are hundreds of thousands of people waiting for organs right now. Organs that can be saved so easily.  Please, take the time, visit  https://www.donatelifetexas.org/  to learn more and/or to sign up to be a donor. Maybe you can't be a living donor, like me, but there's so much you can do when your time here is done.

I promise to get back to the topic of this blog soon, I just have to share what's on my heart right now. I know many people who would love to head to the range this weekend and can't because they're sick and waiting, praying, hoping for a kidney, liver, lung or heart transplant.

Thank you for taking the time today to be a part of this amazing journey. I am blessed to have this opportunity.