Call for a Kidney

I was eating a grapefruit, so happy with my little dinner. You'll never know how much you love grapefruit until you know you can never eat one again. I'm not to eat one after transplant.

The call came.

It was 8pm. I was getting ready to watch The Office. The caller said "This is Dr David Schaefer" and I dropped my grapefruit. They have a potential kidney-pancreas for me.

I am to be there at 6am....The emergency room that is.

I was going to relate the long and exhausting week of training to you. I was going to tell you all about the wonderful training nurses and the amazing ways that John and my parents helped me. I wanted to discribe dialysis and the new understanding I have about the process. And that I was more relaxed about the whole transplant thing.

But here I am, about to tell you, my dear friends about how wonderful you are! These past 2 weeks have been full of dinners, debates, tv-watching and lots of love. One dear friend massaged my foot for an hour, then the other friend tried to outdo her. The next day, Pete called to try to get me to say that he had messaged better. I loved the competition.

Even now, my hands are shaking; I'm so excited. But my house is suddenly filled with Kim, Bruce, Amy, Bill & Lorrie. They are cleaning my kitchen and helping me file in a hurry....I am so lucky and blessed.