We Have a Date!

Surgery has been scheduled for next Tuesday, January 25th!

I have a lot to do before then, like go for the ultrasound tomorrow and then they do some blood work on Monday and I also meet with the surgeon on Monday.  Then Tuesday, I check in at 5 AM and surgery is at 7:30 AM.

My boss at work understands that I will not be at work at all next week.  It is kind of surreal to think that these are my last few days at work, before I start my new job on February 1.  

 I will be motivated to get better faster (even without a new job, I have other things I have to get out of bed for) and if I am not feeling 100%, and have to take off a few more days, it will just have to be okay.  (I did tell them at my new job (during the interview) that I might have to surgery sometime in February. Awkward! Really awkward. Shudder!)

The Transplant Coordinator Lady was definitely a little teary when she was telling me what a great guy the recipient is!  (I am a huge cry baby and I was kind of holding back crying right then but I did cry on the way home.)

I am glad to hear that he is a great guy, even though I "knew" it already.  I did not start out as an altruistic donor, but I have not struggled (thank you, God) with any worry that the recipient will be a dirty rotten scoundrel.  I have talked to a couple of people, including people online and in person, who have huge issues with the worthiness of the possible recipient.

"What if he is a drinker?"  "What if it turns out he is a sex offender?"  (I did not make that up. I wanted to say "What is he is a veritable Mr. Brooks?" Kidding!)

 One person said, "What are you going to do if you find out he is serving a life sentence in the Pen?" I did not even answer that one!  That same person mentioned how he worries about donating blood because "it can often go to save people who are involved in shootings."  (As a crime analyst, I can tell you that there are not a Whole Lot of People Involved in Shootings in the Grand Scheme of Things.  I will admit that our hospitals are very good at saving people's lives who are, though!  Second chances abound!)

I stopped to think about all of this for a few seconds, each time this subject comes up, and I think that I have to trust the Transplant Coordinator Ladies, the recipients themselves, (as in the possible recipient from Cross Match Two that refused the kidney) and God.  It is a little silly to waste too much time worrying.  An Excellent Practice is to make a note of that time spent fretting and then pray for that same amount of time.  I am not saying I am very good at doing that, but when I have chosen the Why Worry When You Can Pray Way, the results are noticeably better.

Another well meaning remark (from someone who should know better): "If you only donate to kids, then you know they are good!"

No, not really.  I am pretty clear I do not know anything.   At the same time, I know and have total faith that my recipient is perfect.

I am hoping that my Right Ovary is Right and that there are no problems with it, and then it is one day at a time until Monday, and then Tuesday, and then I will get better, and my recipient will get better and life marches on.

My ten year old, right now, is singing this to me, which is somewhat irritating, quite honestly, because it way past the little sprite's bed time, but when I stopped to listen to at least one of the out of 213 times she sang this song while I was "writing", the words made me smile :

"I'm a new soul
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take.
But since I came here,
Felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake


la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la..."

(I had to look up the words up on the Internet.  Lovely!  Yael Naim is the artist!  Go Yael!)

Now the sprite is blowing bubbles in my study....la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la......