Cool Transplant Information

Just have been reading a ton of fantastic transplant information lately and wanted to stop by and post it.  Also, wanted to let the world know Dave and I are both still doing great with excellent Kidney health.

First The University Of Maryland Medical Center successfully transplanted the first organ delivered by Drone! I feel like that is very amazing.  They are always using new technology to make transplants better and faster.  I am so happy to have been able to donate through them.

Second Maryland's Living Donor Protection Act Passed.

Thats all for now.  I'll try and remember to update again in a week on our 5 year Transplantaversery!!!!

2 Year Follow up with UMMC

So I know that our 2 year Kidneyaversery was a while ago, but about a month ago is when I finally had time to go do the lab work.  I took a day off and went down to the University of MD for my last follow up there.  After 2 years you no longer have any follow ups with them and are supposed to monitor your own kidney function with the help of you primary care doctor.  Everyone was super helpful and I was in and out quickly, which gave me plenty of time to go get copies of our marriage certificate (but that isn't important here).

After a few days the coordinator e-mailed me to say that my protein/creatinine levels were elevated and that she would like me to re-do the test because she things the results are wrong.  This immediately made me anxious because what if the test wasn't wrong and I was actually having issues with my solo kidney.  I didn't post here right away about this because I didn't want anyone else worrying about it till I knew what was up.  So I silently worried to myself while googling everything I could.  This is always a bad idea.

As soon as I could I went to labcorp and re-did the test.  Within a few days the coordinator e-mailed me again to say everything was normal!  This was great news and good to know.  So my one kidney is still doing its job!

Dave, also had an apt. recently where the Dr. said he was doing well.  He also mentioned how great it was Dave was on so few medications!   This is because transplant patients are normally on medications to control the disorders that caused their kidneys to fail in the first place, and Dave doesn't have to worry about that because he is healthy!

Well, I think that is all for now.  As always if you want to know anything else about my experience feel free to ask! 

Fun Kidney Fact!

From the Donate Life Maryland Facebook today.  If you can't be a living donor this is why it is important to register as a Organ Donor!  

Update Update Update

It has been so long since the transplant it seems.  At the one year mark University of Maryland checked my levels and everything seemed to be going well, so as far as we know my solo kidney is still going strong!

The most challenging thing about donating is the need to drink more water!  Sometimes I forget and I do feel the effects of not drinking water more then I used to.  Luckily that is a relatively easy thing to fix by just drinking more water.

Dave's kidney is also working very well (better then the one I have).

Updated tattoo pic.

And Bonus: Dave and I celebrating our kidneyaversery on a cruise ship (I probably should have shared this earlier since this was taken last May!)

That is all for now.  As always feel free to ask me anything!

Everything Part 3!

Okay, to pick up where I left off.  The Dr. Said I could go home but having not eaten anything since 5:30pm on wed. and it now being Friday I wanted to make sure I could handle food first.  I was unsure when the breakfast tray would be coming so I grabbed a starbucks drink from the mini fridge they had in my room and some grapes that were also in my room.
It was great to have that coffee drink there.  Yum.  I was able to handle those things well.  I became tired of waiting so I once again got up and walked down to Dave's room.  

This time we remembered to get pictures together!  I even made him walk to the wall that honors all the donors that will allow their name posted, living and deceased, to take a picture.   It wasn't a long visit but it was nice to see him. 

 I then walked back to my room where I found a delicious breakfast sandwich waiting for me.  It was nice to eat a full meal.  I then also played a game of Tokaido on the computer they supplied me.  

My room had all the perks.  But I quickly was bored so as soon as the asked if I wanted to go home I said yes!  I was feeling good with the exception of some pain, I could eat, I could move, so I felt like it would be more relaxing at home.  They said they were sending some prescriptions to the pharmacy and they would be ready in an hour or so and then shortly after the nurse came by with my discharge paperwork.  So with the help of my mom (bending over was not an option) I put on normal clothes and waited around an hour till I could head to the pharmacy.  Before I officially had the okay to go home the Social Worker I worked with stopped by and gave me a shirt, a calendar, asked if I wanted to have my name on the board (I said sure), and just made sure I was doing well.

While I was getting my stuff together to leave my surgeon stopped by and seemed glad I was going home and feeling good.  He just told me not to lift anything over 10lbs and that he would see me in 2 weeks.  It was good to see him again before I left.  I really enjoyed him as my surgeon.  

So finally I gathered all my things (by I gathered I mean my Mom and Dad Gathered and I held the stuffed dog and balloon) and told the nurse I was leaving.  She kept asking if I wanted a wheel chair, but we decided against it so I could walk over to Dave one more time.  I saw Dave, and we said a quick goodbye, us both being tired and in some pain meant we would just have to talk more later when we were both more up to it.  As I was leaving Dave's roommates wife kept telling me how awesome I was.  I just said thank you and went on my way.  It weird having people thing I did something awesome/heroic mostly because I don't see it that way, but I think that idea could be a whole post on its own, so another day!

We went down to the pharmacy where they had not even received the prescriptions yet.  I was tired and sore and the benches by the pharmacy had no backs which made it painful to sit in.  Backs of chairs were very useful in the beginning.  My mom went back up to the floor I had been on quickly to see what happened and they said they would send them down again.  It was 4 things, Percocet, Ranitadine, Senna, and Dosculate Sodium.  Mostly just percocet and then drugs to help with side effects of percocet.  We waited about 10-15min. then stood in the drop off line to see if they had made their way down yet, and they gentleman said they had them and was working on them right away, I think he could see the discomfort I was feeling.  Instead of waiting for them there we went and had lunch at the food court.  When we came back they were ready, and I was treated super nicely by the tech, and was again called a hero, ick.  haha.  But then we went home!  Where I spent the rest of the day figuring out if the percocet really helped (1 tablet every 4 hours), which it did in the middle 2 hours of taking it, and relaxing. 

 It was great to be home and my mom spent that first night with me.  It was useful having her make dinner and things even if it felt very odd being waited on.  I am a very independent person.

Okay that is actually all for today.  I do have some more to say, and I want to read through these past 3 posts and add in anything I forgot.

But current time update, Dave and I are both doing well, I am trying to walk a lot, even if I am still a but slow.  The kidney is still working inside of Dave and he keeps having to go back for blood work (which is normal).  I can not wait to be 100% healed (still some incision pain and some side pain where I think I may have slept on my left side weird, as well as not having the same stamina I had before) and have Dave healed and not having to go to UMMC multiple times a week.

Once again thanks for your support!

Everything part 2

Thursday Continued:

I woke up to someone saying my name.  I sort of remember being wheeled to the recovery room.  Once I arrived there I was very cold and could not see.  They put something on my eyes that made everything blurry.  I mentioned both things to my nurse and he wiped off my eyes so I could see and wrapped me in blankets.  After this I was fairly coherent.  My mouth was super dry and I felt just a little nauseous so he brought me some ice chips.  Not long after was one of the hours people could come visit in the recovery area, so my Mom, and Dave's mom came by.  They were surprised and happy to see me so awake and alert.  They were also happy to know I wasn't in too much pain.  Only if I tried to move did it hurt.  

This was me when they first came to visit.  I look super puffy from all the fluid and am wrapped in about 100 blankets because I was so cold.  I didn't feel that bad though which was great.  They left after their allotted visit time and within less then 2 hours I was being moved to my room.  One of the perks of donating is a special room that I think is more easily ready the the normal rooms used for the recipients. 

The room was nice and had a good view.  I was pretty alert there and they did give me some pain meds that didn't seem to do much.  The morphine that puts Dave to sleep in a few min. did nothing for me.  And due to the fact I was on my back it was hard for me to sleep, because that is not how I normally sleep.  But luckily if I didn't move it didn't hurt.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if I was nauseous or hungry.  This may seem like something simple to figure out but with everything that had gone on and not eating I was unsure.  

View from my room.

View from my room 2

Eventually Stephanie showed up.  I am not sure what time but it was later in the day.  She brought me a puppy stuffed animal, a balloon, and a card. It was nice to see her, and I was happy I was alert enough to talk to her a bit.  While she was there they brought me a dinner tray.  It had some chicken and rice dish on it.  Thinking I was hungry I slowly raised the bed all the way up into a sitting position ready to eat.  I put maybe 2 pieces of rice in my mouth and knew I wasn't hungry I was nauseous.  I quickly spit it out, started sipping a ginger ale and asked for some anti nausea medication.  The nurse came in and gave me some zofran using my IV.  It didn't help.  I eventually started to lower the bed back down and I guess sitting up that straight had the path way to my stomach disrupted because it felt like all the liquid I had drank rushed into my stomach, causing me to throw up.  :(  I didn't have a basin in my room and Stephanie ran out to find one so I used the cover to my dinner.  ick.  It was painful and I ended up getting it all over me.  But I am lucky to have had Stephanie there because she went into Nurse Stephanie mode, and the tech came in to check my vitals at the same time.  So they gave me rags to clean us and gave me a fresh gown.  I was grateful it only got on me and not the bed because I don't know if I could have gotten up for them to change the sheets.  After that episode I was pretty miserable.  The nausea didn't go away and I faded in and out of sleep, with someone coming into my room almost every hour for one thing or another waking me up.  

I swear I am trying to smile here.

In the morning I felt better.  My nurse came and took out the catheter I had to wear overnight.  Which although it sucked having it in, I am kind of glad it was there because I don't think I could have gotten up to use the restroom.  After that came out he pretty much said I had to get out of bed.  So with his help I stood up!  I then put on pants (which is exciting) and walked around my room a bit.  Getting up was a real turning point.  Once I was up I was up.  I instantly wanted to walk to Dave's room so the nurse who seemed unsure about the long walk led me anyway.  It was good to see him.  I was sore and didn't stay long though.  After I walked back to my room the nurse made sure I sat in the chair instead of laying down.  

I felt better then I looked, yay chair!

Eventually, a doctor walked in looked at my incision and asked if I wanted to go home.  I told him that it would depend on if I could eat anything first.  I did not want to leave before I could eat a meal.  I am assuming that because they said I could leave my blood work was good.  I should have asked about it but I forgot.  

Okay once again I am tired of writing and this is getting long so I will come back to it later with a part 3 which should be the end of it!  Thanks for reading.

EVERYTHING Part 1

Okay so I think I am ready to start updating everything one step at a time!

Wed. Night:
We didn't really do anything too special wed. night except I did buy us cupcakes to celebrate after we ate out light dinner.  I also got together some pajama pants, a robe, and a t-shirt to take with me.  Before going to sleep we both had to take a shower then use some wipes all over ourselves.

There were 6 wipes, one for each arm, one for each leg, one for the back, and one for the stomach.  They made me feel sticky and a little itchy afterwards.  After that we both went to sleep.

Thursday:

We woke up at 4am to once again take showers and use the wipes.  by 5am my parents were at our house, my mom was carpooling with us to the hospital and my Dad just dropped her off and wished me good luck.  My dad is not good with hospitals and things.  Shortly after Dave's parents showed up and Dave, his parents, my mom and I were on our way.  At this point it still didn't feel real, and I didn't feel nervous.  Not sure why I am almost always nervous about medical stuff.

We arrived a walked over to the same day surgery department, where both Dave and I signed in.  

Here is us with the we woke up too early look while we were waiting.  It didn't take to long before we were called up to the desk.  At the desk we signed some forms and verified some information before being sent back to a pre-op room.  We were in the same room which was nice.  Here we put on robes and socks, and I had to give a urine sample.  (something I should always be prepared for but I never am, I always seem to use the bathroom before they mention it too me.  fail)

They then set each of us up with an IV as well as took some blood from Dave because he took off his blood typing bracelet.  Then the wait began.  It was just a little past 6am at this point and my surgery wasn't supposed to start till 8:30.  So Dave and I just sat around for awhile waiting for our separate nurses to appear.

 
Then all sorts of people came in all asking us our name, date of birth, and what we were having done.  I signed more papers, spoke with the anesthesiologist, a person assisting my surgeon, my surgeon, and probably some other people.  My surgeon was sure to ask if I donated a kidney since I saw him 11 days prior which made me laugh.  He also marked my left side while his partner explained this surgery would have no benefits to me. Also, made me laugh.  I really enjoyed my surgeon he was very laid back and that made both my mom and me feel more relaxed about the whole thing.  Right when things were getting ready to go Dave's surgeon found out about the fluid he had earlier in the week that made him short of breath and wanted to do a last minute chest X-ray.  That had me a little worried but it turned out okay I guess?  I was on my way to the OR soon after it was over so I don't know how it turned out.

Right after the chest x-ray the anesthesiologist came back in, let me know the good news that I wasn't pregnant (that's what the urine sample was for), the gave me a dose of something to relax me but I didn't really feel anything.  Then I waved bye to Dave and everyone and was wheeled down to the OR.  When I arrived they asked what kind of music I listened to and unsure what to say I just said Ska.  They had never been requested to play ska before, but they put on some ska music using Pandora or something and I fell asleep.

Right before I went into surgery!

Okay, so I am going to post this now and update later with more of the story.  Writing it out takes a lot of time and I am still a bit tired these days.  So, look for more later this week!

I'm Home

I am home.  I came home the afternoon after surgery which was nice!  It was boring sitting in the hospital room.  Dave is still there and may be home tonight or tomorrow.  I can currently walk to the end of our street which feels like an accomplishment even though it is really not that far.  I am going to try and increase my distance and steps every day (yay for having a fitbit to track my daily steps).  Feeling good at the moment, but definitely have my ruff moments.  Pain medications do not seem to affect me too much meaning it hurts a lot of the time but I am getting used to it.

I would update more but once again my computer chair is not very comfortable meaning I am going to move to the couch or outside and play Zelda on my 3DS (my treat to myself after surgery).  More updating and pictures coming soon....

Update from Hospital

Just a quick update to let everyone know we are both doing well.  The donor room has a computer with internet allowing me to update, but it won't be long because sitting in this chair is painful.  Both surgery went well yesterday and I was way more coherent then I thought I would be after it.  I had a lot of nausea yesterday thought so that was really the worst thing.  Felling better today and may go home this evening.

As far as I know my kidney is working in Dave!  He is producing urine!  Not sure on much else though, only have seen him once since and its a long walk to his room so it wore me out and I didn't stay long.  After he gets breakfast he is supposed to be walking to visit me.  :)

More updates late when I am feeling better!

Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers!

Update

Dave is feeling a lot better, dialysis made the shortness of breath his was experiencing go away.  Unfortunately, he also had a really bad migraine yesterday due to some nitroglycerin patches they gave him to try and help him before they could give him dialysis.  This meant he didn't want to answer his phone or talk to anyone.  Because of this the coordinator at UMMC was calling me to see if I could get a hold of him.  When I called Dave he seemed very much like he didn't care about getting the blood work for the transplant, he was short with me and hung up before I finished talking.  It upset me a bit, I knew he had a migraine but I felt like I had been rearranging my schedule, and doing all these things to make the transplant happen and he couldn't even make a phone call/answer the phone.  It was frustrating.   He pretty much said it was just the headache speaking and he was feeling better when we discussed it later that day.  Luckily the coordinator called Dave's mom and allowed Dave to give the blood sample this morning.  Which he did!

With all the blood being given things seem to be going as planned.  The only real issue is that I think this bracelet I  am supposed to wear till Thursday is giving me a rash.  My arm from wrist to middle of my forearm itches and has little bumps.  Its weird though because it goes about an inch or 2 farther up my arm then the bracelet can reach.  If it doesn't get better I might just cut off the bracelet and let them know it was giving me a rash.

Okay, that is if for now, if there is any excitement between now and Thursday I will probably post again but I am hoping that everything continues to go as planned!

No Rest

Without the surgery this weekend Dave and I did all the things!  No Rest is the motto of our life and this weekend was a good example of that.  Friday night we spent time at the thrift store, getting burgers for dinner, and playing Civ 5 with out house mate Fi.  This was followed by an early morning Sat. where we Drove up to Piscataway, NJ for The Steampunk World's Fair.  We spent all day wandering around and taking in all the people watching!

At about 10:30 we left there and drove to my grandfathers vacation trailer in Seaville, NJ where we quickly fell asleep.  On Sunday we woke up and went to the Cape May Zoo.  They had a baby giraffe that was adorable, we are wondering if it was steam powered? 

On Sat. morning Dave was feeling like it was slightly hard to breath but we thought it was just dust in the trailer because it isn't used often, this feeling lasted him the entire day.  When we finally arrived home he took a shower and went to try and take a nap.  He couldn't fall asleep because laying down made it harder to breath.  He spoke with his mom who thought it might be a build up of fluid and she came and took him to the Good Samaritan ER.  After a lot of tests they decided it was probably fluid and he needed Dialysis, which they wouldn't be able to do until this morning.  So that is where he was the last I talked to him.  This meant he would not make it to the appointment we had at UMMC to get blood drawn this morning.  I went to UMMC alone and let them know what was up so hopefully they will find time to draw his blood before Thursday.  I on the other hand got one of those nifty bracelets to wear again until Thursday.  

Still hoping everything goes as planned and there are no more delays.

"Not enjoying my new kidney."

Amber: "I'm going to bed I don't know what you are doing."

Dave: "Not enjoying my new Kidney."

This is the attitude floating around right not, sad, but joking about it.  It sucks it was moved so close to the surgery time.  But we are making due and moving on.  Steampunk World's Fair is now happening this weekend so that should be fun!  It looks like they have lots of music going on throughout the day so we will be entertained.

It also means more blood work.  We are both going to the transplant clinic on Monday at 8am for blood work.  This means at least 2 more hours I need to take off work, but I am trying to work late 2 days to make up for it.  It makes me frustrated they can't do the blood work any other time, all this changing of times and rearranging is really messing with my scheduling, it is great I have such a good boss and work environment so I can rearrange things last minute.

Blah, just playing the waiting game.

Preop appointment and more.

Its almost here and things seem to still be on track!  Friday I went in for my preop appointment.  Met with my surgeon Dr. Lamattina.  Didn't really go over anything new.  My mom and I both like him and feel good about him performing the surgery.  Should still be the single port surgery (click for video of surgery)  and he said he has never had to convert it to an open nefrectomy. He has had to add a second port before, but I think that is on very rare occasions.  After meeting with him quickly I went over to the prepcenter where I had to wait 15 min.  (mind you they called me 3 times to make sure I would be there on time and then made me wait when I was there on time).  They took blood samples, urine samples, checked my airways, and asked a ton of questions most of which the answer was no.  It was quick enough and easy.  They also gave me this bracelet to wear until Thursday...

I did the Warrior Dash Saturday and cut it off beforehand so I didn't destroy it.  There has to be a better way to keep track of people then making them wear a bracelet for a week.  Dave cut his off before his kidneys were removed so I think it will be fine.  Plus I think the mud would have destroyed it.  I'll just take it with me on Thursday morning.

(Me all the way on the right and my Warrior Dash Group!)

Dave has to have some blood work drawn today and go to an information session about post surgery.  I think he is learning how to take his drugs and stuff.  I'll learn more about it all tonight.  The blood work they do today will make sure our blood still mixes well which hopefully it will since he has had 2 blood transfusions since the initial cross match.  

Now we are currently just trying to get the house cleaned up.  I want the bedroom clean encase people come upstairs to see us, all the laundry to be done, and other little things.  I'm working every day until the surgery so I feel like it will be here super quick. I think working right up to it will help keep my anxiety away and I think Wed. night I should go do some yoga.  I feel ready and calm about it all still and am glad I am able to donate.  It is weird though to think that by the end of this week Dave will have a part of my body inside of him.  

I also think that we should name the Kidney, probably something gender neutral.  If you have any suggestions post them in the comments for me!

Thanks for the support everyone!

soon.

After looking at my calendar I am feeling a little anxious.  The surgery is only 2 weeks from now!  It feels so soon, but yet so far.  I know I feel like I have time to get stuff done before then like laundry, some work stuff, grocery shopping, buying another pair of my awesome yoga pants, etc. but I know that these next 2 weeks will probably fly by so I should make a list and start checking things off.

Dave had his pre-op appointment yesterday and they told him not to get sick. Mine isn't until next Friday but Dave said they looked over my lab work while he was there and told him things look good!  That is exciting.

As for me feeling anxious I hope it goes away, and I know its just me being stupid (I get anxious over the littlest things for no good reason).  Maybe I'll pay for some Drop in yoga classes these next to weeks so I can relax a little.  Plus there was a possible scheduling conflict with a work thing while I was going to be out, so that stressed me out a lot yesterday, but my boss was awesome and resolved it for me, so one less thing to be stressed about.

So that is really it for now.

P.S. I am looking for a cool Kidney Tattoo idea, so if you have any suggestions send them my way.  :D

New Date

We have a new date!  May 15th.  This means I can still do the Warrior dash on May 10th!  Also due to it being pushed back I may have enough time save to take 3 full weeks off with pay!  At the rate i am going I only need to make up 22hours of comp time (and work good Friday) between now and the 15th and that is doable, might be difficult but doable.  Time to actually start coming in a half hour early and stay a  half hour late.

So what this means is I have to do the pre-op blood work again but I cannot do that till after April 17th!  I also have to meet with the anesthesiologist and do the pre-op apt with them and finally schedule a time to meet with my surgeon to sign surgical consents.  But things are moving along!

The only hiccup in this so far is Dave was given a blood transfusion yesterday and will receive more blood on Wednesday.  This can mess up the cross match.  But hopefully that doesn't happen!  A final cross match won't be done till the week before the surgery so no use in worrying for that long, just have to hope and pray everything works out the way it is supposed to.

Lets Play the Waiting Game Again

So for anyone that doesn't know, I am a planner I like having my schedule planned out, knowing what time I need to be place, whats going to happen when I get there, etc.  This kidney donation is messing up my planning.  Dave is having an MRI on Monday to look more in depth at the tumor on his kidney, my coordinator will not set up a pre-op date until the results from that are in.  With the surgery on the 7th and me being in Reno from the 26th till the 3rd I would like to know if getting a preop apt right when I get back is doable.  This way I can plan my days off and hours I am using accordingly.  But without knowing these things it is really hard for me to get a sense of time management.  Plus I want to clean everything, buy food, and do all of the laundry before surgery that way I don't have to worry about things immediately afterwards, but not knowing what days before surgery I will be free I don't know how to plan!

Oh well, I know that planning isn't that important, I just like to be informed and ready well in advance and things are not happening as far in advance as I would like. 

Dave Update

So update, still no clear idea on if it will be the 6th or 7th of March.  Dave had his CT-Scan yesterday and they found a cyst on his right kidney and can not tell if it is benign or not.  Because of this he is going to have a MRI.  This will be February 23rd (right before we leave for Reno so I hope everything is okay and there is nothing else we need to do).  Hopefully after this we will have a clear idea of the exact date!

I'm getting excited and feel ready for this, I'll be sad if it gets delayed.

The Update You have all been waiting for!

Assuming the report on my EKG comes back normal, and one additional blood test (that will be done with my pre-op blood work) due to the fact my Mom has Lupus is okay, there should be a surgery in March!

I'm super excited, but also super anxious at the same time.  Looking over my work time saved up I'll only have 3 full paid days off (I accrue time at a slow rate), this combined with the fact I have never had surgery before makes me pretty nervous.  I know it will all work out, but I am still worried.  I am thinking of starting up one of those sites like kick started that help people for other situations to possibly try and raise money for when I am out so I can be confident in paying everything on time those few weeks.  But I also hate asking for money so I am not committed to that idea yet.

Well I just have to relax some more (going to see Jen the end of this month will probably help with that) and figure everything out.  But overall EXCITEMENT!

Mini Update

The University of Maryland wants Dave to do the CT-angiogram.  I haven't heard anything about the results from my full day of testing yet, but I am going to take this as a good sign since they didn't ask him about it until after I had my appointment.

Going to try to not get my hopes up though, don't want to be disappointed in the future.

Other Peoples Concerns.

I just wanted to comment on other peoples concerns and discuss how some have made me feel.  I think that although this is a public blog it is also a place for me to write out my feelings and my concerns about this process.  This meaning there may be some statements made here that people might not like, but this blog is so people know the truth about the donation process and sugar coating how things can make you feel, and how relationships can be affected would not be beneficial to me understanding how I feel or to anyone else who may stumble across this blog in the future who may be looking into living kidney donation.

First off when it comes to other peoples concerns I am willing to listen to all of them, this is a big decision and I would appreciate the opinions of the people that care about me.  This being said I do wish people would think about what they are saying and how they are saying it before they talk to me.  This is mostly because Wednesday night my dad called me to tell me he did not like my decision to donate at all.  He was worried about the things I can not do with one kidney, and "other things".  I just said okay to most of it knowing he probably hadn't done the research I have.  The conversation ended with him basically not wishing me luck for my full day of testing.  (I guess this sort of means he was wishing me to be unhealthy without realizing it?)  The way he said everything also made me feel like he thought I was wrong, hadn't thought about it enough, and was just doing it for my boyfriend without thinking about what may or may not happen in the future.  It really hurt.  I was upset, stressed out, and anxious afterwards.  It did not make me any less sure about my decision it just made me sad that someone I cared about disapproved of what I was doing so much without taking the time to have a real conversation with me about it, or look into it on his own.  I respect his opinion and I know how my dad acts and I should have expected this.  He does not like medical things and was a wreck when my mom was in the hospital 2 years ago.  He also worries a lot, and so do I sometimes so his worrying to me does not help the situation.  He did call me on Saturday though to tell me he didn't mean to upset me and he will support me even if he doesn't like it.  This is a step to him truly accepting my choice and I appreciate that he is at least trying. I think my mom talked to him a bit after coming with me to my apt. and hearing me talk about how he approached the subject with me.  But we will just have to wait and see how the future unfolds with this...

My mom as I said also is concerned about it but she trusts me and understands that I did not just spontaneously make this decision.

I also think most of my friends support me, or at least it seems that way so that is good.

Also the other general argument against me donating is that Dave and I are not related/family.  This argument is kind of invalid because, as my friends and I discussed Saturday, friends are the family you choose.  Dave and I are very close and I don't expect that to change.  I think that if anything this will bring us closer because we will have all the time together after Dave is done with Dialysis and one less stress in our lives.

Okay so if you are reading this and have comments or concerns about it, I invite you to leave them in the comments so I can respond to them!  This way everyone is learning together about everything!