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I wonder how many more days it will be before the CAT scan is scheduled. I was told I would hear something this week. I can only hope that it will be soon. In the meantime, I do what I need to do. I go to work. I eat. I exercise. I sleep. I wait.
Maybe tomorrow?
Until I take the next round of testing, I wait to learn if I will be an organ donor. Hopefully, the test will be scheduled this week. It is difficult to focus on other things when I know this is so important…not just to me, but also to someone who is waiting as well.
In the meantime, I take my vitamins, watch what I eat, and continue to exercise. I want to be in the best health when I have the operation.
Over 340,000 Americans rely on a dialysis machine to keep them alive, and nearly 75,000 are on the waiting list for a lifesaving kidney transplant.
Kidney disease is on the rise and as many as 26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Because symptoms may not appear until the kidneys are actually failing, many people do not take steps to protect the health of their kidneys.
FAST FACTS
I decided to become an altruistic kidney donor because I was inspired by the incredible women from around the world I interviewed for my book, The Heroine’s Journey. Please go to www.womenrisingnow.com/index.html to learn more about them.
26 million American adults have Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), and millions more are at risk. Most people are not aware that they have CKD or are at risk.
The National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP®) offers free screening for those at risk – anyone 18 years and older with high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history of kidney disease. It is designed to raise awareness about kidney disease among high risk individuals and provide free testing and educational information, so that kidney disease and its complications can be prevented or delayed.
KEEP provides three simple tests that determine kidney function to nearly 2,500 people each month in dozens of cities across the U.S. Participants receive a comprehensive health risk appraisal, blood pressure measurement, blood and urine testing and the opportunity to discuss their health and review results with onsite clinicians.
The program, which recently screened its 130,000th participant, is finding kidney disease at the earliest stage possible.
I added Vitamin D to my daily vitamin intake since the testing at UCLA showed my calcium was a little low. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about, but this is one thing that is good about what I’m doing. Besides my calcium, my cholesterol is a little high…once again, something about which I should be aware so I will make better nutritional choices. By the time I have the operation, I will probably be the healthiest I’ve ever been!
Since my foot and knee have healed, I can walk my dog, Belle, regularly again. And this week, I’m putting together some type of daily exercise to help me lose weight.
I cannot stop thinking about the “wait.” It seems like an eternity since I decided to donate a kidney (almost a year). Since then, I’ve been waiting. Waiting for months to prove I didn’t have diabetes after being diagnosed. Waiting for Cedar Sinai to get back to me after I passed the first round of testing (I still haven’t heard from them about their altruistic donor program!).
Discovering UCLA has a program, but then waiting to get the first testing done. Now someone is on vacation so I have to wait for the CAT scan (it won’t until the week after next). As I said before, I’m waiting to get through the testing so I can donate. Someone is waiting for my kidney. My stress of waiting is insignificant compared to his or her waiting.
Every day it’s another day lost. Every day someone is waiting for the phone call. My sense of urgency consumes me and it’s hard to concentrate as I wait.
The wait must be horrific for someone waiting for an organ donation knowing there might not be one available for years … or ever!
I pray every day for things to move faster. The “voice” once told me, “God has His Own calendar!” after I begged for an agent for my book, a publisher who sees the value in The Heroine’s Journey (www.womenrisingnow.com/index.html), and speaking engagements on the topics of domestic violence and human trafficking. Everything takes time. So much time. In the meantime, I go about my day doing what I need to do to support myself.
Once I make up my mind to do something, I want the process to move forward quickly. Waiting, as I said before, is not a virtue of mine. Logically I know that waiting to be tested to be a donor is part of the process.
I wonder how someone waiting for kidney must feel…waiting for someone to agree to be a donor…waiting for the person to go through the testing…or waiting for someone, listed as an organ donor on their driver’s license, to die?
I cannot imagine the stress of waiting for the phone call that a kidney is finally available. Lives in the balance. Waiting. Taking a toll on the family and friends as well. All waiting for the phone call. I think this is one of the most important reasons why I want my testing to be done quickly. Someone is waiting for my kidney.
I spoke with Suzanne from UCLA today who is in the process of scheduling my CAT scan. She’ll let me know tomorrow.
I also want to speak with people who are going through dialysis. I hope she can arrange this, too. I thank God I’m healthy.
And Ellie from the National Kidney Organization and I have been playing telephone tag. I hope we can speak tomorrow about how I can help her organization.
When I spoke with Ellie from the External Communications Dept. for the National Kidney Foundation today, I mentioned yesterday’s posting about “waiting” and how I wondered how it felt to be waiting for an organ donation.
She said the Foundation’s newest campaign is called “END THE WAIT!”
Click here to read about this Multi-faceted Collaborative Initiative to END THE WAIT!
for a Kidney Transplant in the U.S. in 10 Years
There is on an ongoing, urgent need to increase the number of organs available for transplantation in the U.S. To address this complex problem, the National Kidney Foundation developed an action plan to increase the number of transplants for kidney patients—and to END THE WAIT! Its goal is to end the long wait for a transplant that subjects too many patients to deteriorating health, poor quality of life, and especially premature death.
END THE WAIT! has been officially endorsed by the United Network for Organ Sharing.
I promised to add the link to my blog and support the National Kidney Foundation in any way I can.
I was so excited today when I received an email from Ellie Schlam, the Director of External Communications for the National Kidney Foundation (www.kidney.org.)
She read my blog and wants to speak with me about how, hopefully, I can help spread the word about becoming a living donor.
I left her a voice message and hope to hear from her tomorrow (it was after 3:00 p.m. when I called and she is in NY).
I’m also still waiting to hear from Suzanne, my transplant coordinator at UCLA, about when my next testing will be scheduled. I feel like I’m making progress!
As an aside, I’m waiting to hear from a NY literary agent about representation for my first book, The Heroine’s Journey, that chronicles my life before October 25, 2005 (the day my life changed while attending the Women’s Conference in Long Beach, CA), but its main focus is on the lessons I learned from the incredible women I interviewed while on my spiritual journey “through the Dark Night.” You can read about the women and an overview at www.womenrisingnow.com/index.html.
I was asked again today: “Why would you give a kidney to a stranger?”
I have answered this many times already. Today I did some research online to find out why other people donated to strangers.
Several did it so a loved one could receive a kidney. That’s understandable. However, I did find stories about others who are doing it for the same reason I am.
God gave us two kidneys. We only need one. Why not me?
This is exactly what I thought last year when Paula Zimmerman told me about the kidney she gave to her husband.
It all makes perfect sense. I hope through this blog, more people will ask themselves, “Why not me?” So many people die waiting for an organ. And if they receive it from someone who just died, how does it make them feel? If I needed an organ, I would rather have one donated from someone who is living…and healthy.
