It's Finally Official !

From my last post you know that Dana and I spent all day at the UAMS transplant clinic being evaluated to see if I am a good candidate for a kidney transplant in the future.  The day went very smoothly.   We listened to the same people talk about things that we heard 18 months ago when we went through this same process and were initially rejected.    It was good to hear some of those things again since we had forgotten the details about the insurance and such.   We learned the importance of taking care of the new kidney first hand as other couple that was in our evaluation class had already had a kidney transplant 7 years ago and because they didn't watch it as they should have, he lost his kidney and now is back on dialysis and being evaluated for being listed on the recipient list again.    The good part of the day is that we didn't have to go through all the tests and procedures that we had to last time since the tests were still valid for only being 18 months in the past.    All I had to do was give blood, which I get to do twice a month anyway so what's one more time. 

The big news which prompted this post is that I just received my early Christmas present for this year.  My phone rang and the caller ID said it was UAMS.    The last time I got a call from UAMS it was to tell me that they were rejecting me from the kidney list.   This time is different.   I am now officially on the UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) kidney recipient list!   

I now have a future hope beyond dialysis.  

Next steps are to start dialysis and wait for a call from the transplant team.  It has been a pretty good December for me.   My spirits are high and I have a good outlook for the future.  


Thanks for everyone's prayers in our direction.  I can tell people are praying.  To be evaluated and then listed the very next day is very rare.  

Stay Tuned ...