Because I'm Really Competitive, That's Why....

My friend, D and I have sort of an unofficial competition with each other. It's a medical competition. You see, when we first became friends, about 15 years ago, (gosh D, you're OLD!) I was very pregnant, and pretty much miserable all of the time. Then she went off to Russia on a mission trip for a l-o-n-g time, which, much like pregnancy, can be both rewarding and kinda miserable all at the same time. When she got back, she started having pains and things very similar to those I have with all my kidney stones.

It turned out that she had endometriosis and had to undergo a few different surgical procedures to deal with it. In the meantime, I had a few more kidney stones, and 2 more kids. So, she went ahead and got married, and then had 2 kids of her own. Then I developed the endometriosis for myself. Then we both had one more kid each--which puts me ahead in the kid department, but we were pretty much even on the whole medical complication issues.

Since then we've continued to go back and forth with various odd ailments as well as some common ones, like ear infections...but always really close to being the same thing--at the same time. The oddest one being that shortly after I was finally diagnosed with stage 2 kidney disease, she started having kidney issues as well--although hers were said to be "over-active" while mine are, of course "under-achievers".

So, this brings us to December 2010 when I did something obnoxious to my foot.

The first suspicion was that it was a stress fracture, but x-rays showed that it was just a pulled/swollen tendon, and after 2 weeks of steroids, and a month of wearing only flat shoes (oh how I miss my cowboy boots!), I would be just fine.

Then D decided to one-up me and crack a rib or two a couple of weeks ago in what must have been a really spectacular fall in her laundry room.

Not one to give up easily, I somehow managed to hit myself in the face hard enough to knock my glasses off and apparently BREAK MY NOSE! (And yes, I remember getting hit in the face, but I can't for the life of me remember how I did it...sigh.)

So, now I can't wear my glasses...which means I can't really see all that well, so who knows what I'm really typing here...AND we're right in the middle of Cedar Fever season here, so I'm having to blow my nose about 62,000 times every day--OUCH!

So now the question is...who's ahead? Does a broken nose beat cracked ribs, or do I need to step up my game just a bit???


P.S. (By the way, right after I wrote yesterday's post, I went by Sam's Club and saw no less than THREE people buying flat screen tvs! Guess they must be a tad more reasonable these days...I haven't priced them in awhile, lol!)

Late to the Party...as usual

Hey there, I'm lying here sick as a dog and catching up on email messages when I saw that I had missed a very important message.

My dear, dear blogging sister Kelli has been waiting almost 4 years for a new kidney. Obviously, this is an issue close to my heart. It is time for Kelli to get her kidney. Things are finally in place to test donors and the search has begun to save my friend's life. Since, as I mentioned, I'm really sick and coherent thoughts are not possible, I'm just going to copy and paste the information I received.

If you don't know Kelli, I highly recommend that you spend some time in the archives of her blog Living in Grace. After you get to know her, please consider how you might be able to help. Not only does Kelli need a living kidney donor, but she also needs financial gifts to pay for expenses associated with the whole process that insurance doesn't cover. Thanks for taking the time to pray for and help my friend.

I will now return to my not-quite-but-really-close-to-death bed.

Thank you for offering to be a part of the call for living kidney donors, and to help with our fundraising efforts. It is a true blessing for this family, and we love you all.

Here is the basic info on being a living kidney donor and the process. Feel free to put in out in whatever way you see fit, letting me know if you need further info or anything.

1) I will be listed with OHSU in Portland, OR. If someone is interested, they should contact us at jkbach@comcast.net and we will get them the contact info they need.

2) Because of some complications, I will most likely not be able to use a cadaver donor, although I have been listed with another hospital on the UNOS list for 3 years.

3) I will need donor with the A or O blood type. If you don't know your blood type, they will have you get tested.

4) All medical costs are billed directly back to OHSU where my insurance covers 100% of all incurred costs. This allows the donor candidate to have all testing up to the end done at their local hospital or Dr. office at on charge to them.

5) Pre-screening involves an over the phone health questionnaire, then a simple blood test where my blood and theirs are combined and cross-matched. If that is ok, then they will have a series of tests done locally to them and billed directly to my insurance.

6) All this will lead up to a scheduled date for everyone to meet in Portland for transplant. The process, from the time a suitable candidate is found, is about 3 months to the actual surgery.

7) Fundraising is currently under way for all costs not covered by insurance (all non-medical). This includes things like travel and lodging for the donor, my housing and support for the month or more I am required to stay in Portland after surgery, etc.

We are going to be using giveitforward.org for the fundraising efforts.

The fundraiser is located at:

http://www.giveforward.org/kidney4kelli/


Thank you again everyone, and please let me know if I can give you more information.

Kelli

I think she must love me....

I had a surprise dropped off at my house today. If you recall in this post I mentioned my love for the "Butter Rum Life Savers". I also mentioned that they are next to impossible to find outside of a Life Saver's storybook.

Apparently, my forever friend, C. took that as a challenge and today her husband and daughter brought this by my house.
Can you believe it? An entire case of my most favorite flavor of Life Savers! Woot-Woot!!

When I called to thank her, she said there was no such thing as "impossible to find" and that she took that challenge...but personally, I just think she loves me. In spite of myself.

And I love her too. :)

I Humbly Defer....

I'll not be writing a post today. Well, I guess technically, by writing this and posting it, I am, but I'm only writing this to send you elsewhere today. Shannon at "Rocks in My Dryer" started a new Thursday series a few weeks back titled What I'd Like for You to Know, and it has been completely amazing to read the different stories from various bloggers that she has put together. Today, her guest poster is my bloggy friend and fellow kidney disease sufferer, Kelli, at "Living in Grace". Kelli opens up about some of the specific struggles she is going through on her road to a kidney transplant. Her daily blog has let us get to know her wit and her strength and an inkling of what her struggles have been over the past two years, but this special post goes much deeper and will touch your heart. You must go here and read Kelli's heartfelt post today.

And if you're like me, you'll want to go here and read all the other posts in this series if you missed them the first time around.

You may have noticed the "Operation find a kidney for Kelli" button in my sidebar. That search is still on, and if you are interested in being tested as a living donor, you can click that button for all the information. And if you are interested in donating money to help Kelli pay for all her medical care (or maybe that laptop that her husband needs to help him be able to work while also being with Kelli as much as possible), there is a donation button in Kelli's sidebar that you can click on to make a donation via PayPal. I'll check with Kelli to see if I can get the code to put the button over here as well, but hanging out over there is pretty cool anyway, so why not just head on over!

Okay, that's it for my "I'm not posting speech"...man I use a lot of words to not say anything, don't I??? Now, go and read this post. Please :)