Wonderful News!

Our wonderful friend Tori is a match! The transplant is set for sometime in December! This is such wonderful news...I have cried so many tears of happiness! I feel such a heaviness lifting off of me...for now! I only wish I could be with Mark when we heard the news.

My emotions and excitement are so difficult to explain right now...but it sure feels amazing to get good news!

Followers...

I really have no idea who all tunes in to this blog. I do know that my parents tell me that many people back in my hometown are thinking of us and hoping for the best.  Throughout this process, I know I need to make a difference in any possible way I can. I have decided to do a walk for the Nephcure Foundation. This foundation is for FSGS research. For those of you that have been reading I would love for any donations to the foundation in honor of Mark. You can follow the link below and make a donation at the website.

http://nephcurephoenixwalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=994044&lis=1&kntae994044=0616B4C4EF4D43D890A7B79E4A084032&supId=338412767

Thank you to all!

Anxious...

Tomorrow may be the day that we find out if our dear friend Tori is a compatible match for Mark. Everyone keep their fingers crossed and hope the phone call we hear tomorrow is a positive one.

A week....

In a little over a week we may know the decision from Mayo whether Mark will get a kidney from our dear friend Tori. I remember having these crazy anxious feelings when our neighbor was going through all the tests, and now I am starting to feel those emotions again.

Will she be a match? If it is, when will it happen? Will I be able to be a good caregiver for Mark? How will my job be without me? Will my students be ok with a sub? Will Mark be able to keep his job that he just spent all this time training for? Will Mark do ok with the surgery? Will he recover without any complications? ........and the questions keep on going through my head.

I still have no idea if it will even work out, but as soon as I tell myself not to think about it (for fear of getting the typical "bad news"), I find myself thinking about it a lot.

NephCure - Nephrotic Syndrome and FSGS

I will do all that I can to make a difference within my lifetime to support the Nephcure Foundation, which is the foundation that funds for research specifically for FSGS. Today, I woke up to getting a video on my email of a video from Nephcure.   Chekc it out....Mark makes his debut in the video.

I have also decided to donate through my job at JC Penney's to donate a portion of my check to the local Nephcure foundation.

There is also an upcoming walk for the AZ Nephcure coming up in December.

Every little bit helps!

Tuesday, September 27th

So our dear friend is finished with her testing and we hopefully will hear results on September 27th. Wow, this is kind of scary. Once I again I sit here and every bit of me wants to be excited, but I have learned that I cannot do this for my own sanity. A part of me is still thinking about what if this really does go through. There will definately be a crazy whirlwind of a month if it does work out. Just to crazy to think about.

On another side note, I have been thinking selfishly lately. I was thinking about how so often so many of my friends always ask about how Mark is doing. How is his health? What job does he have? Is his job ok with dialysis? Sometimes I wish people would ask about how I am doing? Even if I think people would ask, I still think I would be the person who would try to put up a strong front and pretend that I am super strong and nothing affects me. Sometimes I wish I could just give myself permission to totally show all my emotions about how I really feel sometimes, without feeling the guilt of being "that girl who is too emotional and has issues."

All my life I have wanted to be a teacher, but with all of this craziness I could really see myself become a caregiver advocate. Within a family so much energy is given to the person who is sick, and often the caregiver is just expected to be strong throughout it all. That will be my goal, to support those who support the sick.

Technology is Amazing

Dialysis is amazing, but this new technology seems even more amazing. Check it out!

http://www.5min.com/Video/The-Artificial-Kidney-Alternative-to-Transplantation-517004149

A Selfless Act

Our dear friend will be starting her testing this week for donating her kidney to Mark. I still find it absolutely mind-blowing that people will step up and be willing to do this for Mark. It is these selfless acts that make me analyze my own life and want to do better for the transplant community. Updates to come as we find out more.

My own sister, Renee, went around and around just to see what her blood type was to see if she could be tested as well. Unfortunately, she is not a blood type match, but this also shows me the selfless act and determination to help.

I posted a video yesterday and if the latest tests do not work, I will be looking into doing the paired kidney exchange. My own blood type does not match Mark, but I know someone out there is sitting by the phone  waiting to hear the phone call from Mayo that they have a kidney or going to dialysis 3 times a week that would do anything to have a kidney.

In a couple of weeks, I will be able to go visit Mark in California. His company was able to purchase the plane tickets for me to go visit him. I am super excited and will hopefully make the last few weeks away from Mark go by that much faster.

Largest Kidney Transplant Reunion