Friday, August 6, 2010

Transplant Update

I slept really good last night/all morning. It makes me happy when I can sleep uninterrupted for hours and hours at a time. Not that it makes me feel better or more energized but it helps keep me from being cranky and it just feels good.

My mom is like my own personal nurse, however, and she comes in to check on me periodically just like a nurse would in the hospital. Sometimes my mom even takes my vitals too (Blood pressure, temperature, etc.) but mostly she just looks in on me until she thinks I've been sleeping too much and then she'll wake me up to eat or drink something.

This afternoon, she woke me up and told me I needed to drink some water... but my water bottle was empty so she went to go refill it and while she was gone I dozed off. I woke up to her practically shoving the straw down my throat. Ok, not really but she was sticking the straw into my mouth and it startled me awake. She just laughed...

That's not the update though, I just wanted to tell y'all how I woke up. After my mom tried to kill me with my water bottle she sat down and told me that the hospital had called with half of the results back from our appointment with the donor testing.

There were two parts to the test: The first part was to take my parents blood and mix it with mine to see if there is any negative reaction. If there is, then they wouldn't be considered as a donor because my body would reject the kidney. If there is no reaction though, then it's fine to move ahead as a donor.

The second part is the genetic testing to look for matching markers in my parents blood and mine. The closer the match, generally, the better as far as my body not rejecting the new kidney and it's lasting longer.

We were called because they had the results from the first part of the test which is a little bit more important than the second part and we got good news. My parents blood had absolutely no negative reaction to mine, which means they can both be considered donors. Now we are just waiting on the genetic testing to see which one is a closer match and then that parent will begin the rest of the donor testing.

I'm lucky to have both of my parents willing to donate to me. Some people wait on the kidney transplant list for years before they can get a kidney, usually from someone who has died. But I am truly blessed because my parents are willing, my siblings are willing, my aunts and uncles are willing, my friends are willing, even strangers are willing when they know I need a transplant!

I haven't written much about dialysis yet but I can tell you this, the dialysis center is a grim place and I'm not going to spend years and years there. I sit in a chair for four hours while a machine qcleans my blood, doing only 1o-15 % of what a healthy kidney does. I go three times a week and the days when I have dialysis wipe me out so bad that the days when I don't (like today) I usually spend resting and gearing up for tomorrow. It's an endless cycle of ups and downs that I'm told I'll get used to... but I don't want to ever get used to this.

I am praying one of my parents will be a perfect match and that I'll be able to get the transplant before the new year and I would appreciate your prayers as well.

2 comments:

  1. Kristi-that is wonderful news!!!! Prayers continue that you get that translant before the new year!!! Love you baby girl!

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  2. What great news, Kristi! Our family and our church is praying for you...if you're like me, it's always encouraging to know when [another] person/group of people is "standing in the gap," so I hope you'll be encouraged!
    I love the new blog background, too...seems very "you." :) Thanks for the updates!!

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