So What Now?

I'm thankful that yesterday went well.   I've had people ask me what the next steps are, so I'll try to lay those out so that they make sense.

• After 4:00 today I will be done with my to-do list of tests and procedures.  I will call Diane our transplant coordinator and she will pull all the results and package them up for the transplant decision committee to review.   That supposedly could happen as soon as next Monday.   If they don't see anything of concern in my results then they will put my profile of information into the UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) database and I will officially be on 'The List'.    What this means is that if a donated kidney comes available that exactly meets my profile (blood type, antigen/antibody combination, plus alot more that I don't understand) then they will call me and the very fast process of getting me ready to accept a new kidney will kick into action.

In the meantime ...

• We wait ... the general wait time for a new kidney in Arkansas is shorter than it would be if I lived in California or New York.  The metropolis areas average close to 10 years on the waiting list, but in Arkansas we average from 1 to 3 years.    So the next step is to wait.  
• There are alternatives to waiting for a donated kidney which generally come from someone who has had a brain related accident, is on life-support and has indicated that they are an organ donor.   The alternative to waiting for a donated kidney is to find a living donor.   A living donor is someone who designates me as the recipient of one of their kidneys.  We talked about this yesterday at length and it is not a small decision.  I will post another entry talking about living donors and how all that works, I'll have to read up on all the information they gave me again to be more accurate.
• We learned a lot about life after a transplant as well.   The drugs to keep your natural immune system from rejecting or fighting the new foreign object that is now keeping you alive, are very strong and make people susceptible to new risks.   The big risks are diabetes (which I'm lucky that I don't have them in my close family history), some forms of cancer (skin cancer being the biggest) and infection (from internal and natural things as well as the normal external things).  Skin cancer alarmed me some because we spend a lot of time outside and I will then have to be addicted to sunscreen and wear sleeves in the summer and protect my bald head all the time.   I guess I will turn into a germaphobe but it really hit home when she mentioned that I couldn't bite my fingernails any longer. How am I supposed to kick that habit, I've been doing that all my life?   So another thing to do in the meantime is to start practicing like I have a new kidney and kick my finger nail biting habit.  
• We talked at length with the financial coordinator and I'm very thankful to mention that between my company insurance policy and Medicare, which has very specific clauses for dialysis and kidney transplantation, a transplant will cost us next to nothing.   I don't understand how that is possible but apparently Medicare is awesome at helping kidney failure patients.   I'm going to chalk that up as a huge praise as that was a big burdening unknown to me. 
• I need to get with my dentist for a pre-transplant screening as apparently a majority of infections enter our bodies through our mouth and gums and when the anti-rejection drugs lower my immunity the mouth will be of bigger concern.  I guess I will have to go to the dentist more often than I do now, it's nice to have a dentist in the family.

That's all that I can think of that still needs to be done.

Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers.

... stay tuned