Day 1

Update of Day 1

We started off getting to Mayo at 6:30 am in the morning. We proceeded to wait until 8 am so Mark could get a picture. A picture! Oh well, it was a rough and early start waiting, but Mayo quickly made up for it.

Mayo gave us this great itinerary that had all of our appointment times and places. They were also great about letting you register before your scheduled time, so you did not have to wait even longer. The nurses and registration staff were all very polite and helpful through the entire process as well.  The morning sessions went well, we even got to meet one of the doctors, Dr. Hamawi, who we will most likely be working with throughout the process. Dr. Hamawi will go through all of the results of the tests we are going through and let us know if Mark will be a candidate for a transplant.

Later in the afternoon, I had a caregiver meeting. This was a very quick meeting, and afterwards I felt like it went way too quick and I did not get all the information I needed. If you know me, I need to know everything now....and realized later on that I can not have all the answers to everything on the first day. So I will just write down all the questions I have and make sure to have them answered before this process. I did however, find out there is a support group for other caregivers, which I may attend this upcoming month. The best way I can be a great caregiver to Mark, I first have to make sure I am caring for myself as well.

Here are a few other things that I found out today as well:
1. Mark has blood type A -- and if he gets a living donor anyone with type A or type O can donate to Mark, if it is a deceased donor only type A can donate (anyone know of anyone who would be willing to donate???) A living donor also has a 5% great survival rate after a year as well.
2. Mark's FSGS may come back after the transplant, but Dr. Hamawi stated that it took a number of years for Mark to progress to this level so he has higher hopes that it would not come back --- but we all know that is up to fate
3. Mark and I are not alone in this process, and we have so much support from so many people

So, Friday's schedule seems to be a bit more intensive with three 2 hour meetings during the day. As always I will keep everyone updated. Until then, we will take one day at a time.