Another Chance

At 5:30 tonight I received a call from Chris, our transplant coordinator at UW Hospital.  I was so surprised to get the call -- especially at 5:30 on a Friday evening!  I had not talked with her since the day in August when she called to let me know that Lonnie and I could not do our surgery.  Tonight she told me that she was calling with the news that UW was planning to "go live" on a national kidney swap program in December.  She was calling to see if Lonnie and I were interested in being listed in the database.  Well...OF COURSE!!

For those of you unfamiliar with a swap(or paired) donation, let me take a minute to explain it to you.  When a donor and a recipient find out they are not a match for each other they can choose to be paired up with another "non-matched" donor and recipient pair.  In this case Donor A would donate a kidney to Recipient B and in exchange Donor B would donate a kidney to Recipient A.  Although this sounds like a great idea, up until now they have only been able to compare donor/recipient pairs within centers -- not between centers.  And even then they have had to try to make the connections all by hand.  It could take a transplant coordinator weeks to match up one pair with another so the chances are finding another pair were very slim.  The great news from Chris today was that now there is a computer program that has been designed to do the work much more efficiently.  It also allows centers to share information on their donors and recipients, thus greatly widening the pool of available pairs. 

Once Chris found out that I was definitely still on board she needed to call Lonnie and make sure he was okay with the plan as well.  Of course he said YES!  So, the next step is to get all of my physical testing done at UW Hospital.  I had all of these tests done at Froedtert Hospital back in May, but never had them done at UW.  Due to the 6 month time lapse and the fact that UW never did the testing themselves, they will need to be repeated.  Then Lonnie will be re-assessed to make sure he is still healthy enough for transplant.  If all works out we will get listed in the national database.  Then....we wait.  Chris says that Lonnie and I would definitely still have surgery at UW and the organs would be flown wherever they needed to go. 

So...we possibly have another chance at this kidney thing!  We are cautiously optimistic tonight!  Of course we know that it is possible that we will not find another pair, but we indeed have renewed hope.  Prayers are certainly appreciated!

Update....Still Waiting

Tonight I decided it was time to finally update my blog.  Believe it or not, after months of writing whenever I felt the urge(which was quite often), I just could not bring myself to sit down and write.  It still seems so unreal to me that we travelled this incredible journey that seemed to come to such an abrupt end.  Lonnie still waits for a kidney and I still struggle to understand the reasons that all of this happened.  I have had so many people ask me how things are going, whether or not I still have two kidneys, and if the surgery was a success.  My heart breaks every time I have to tell someone that the surgery never happened.  But then I think back to the day that we found out Froedtert Hospital cancelled our surgery.  We were devastated.  We couldn't understand the reason why we would get so close and then be rejected.  It was only after the genetic testing was done at UW Hospital that we realized if Froedtert had done the surgery it surely would have been a disaster.  The rejection rate would likely have been almost 100%.  What we had considered to once be a huge disappointment turned out to be a blessing.  A blessing in an incredible disguise!  So that is what helps me understand why this has happened.  We cannot begin to know the future.  We don't know what will happen with Lonnie and the search for a kidney.  But we know that whatever is in the future, God is already there.  He has already laid out the plans for all of us.  And THAT is what allows me to trust that His plans are so much bigger than we can even imagine. 

Since my last posting three people have agreed to be tested for Lonnie.  The first person was not the correct blood type, so he was ruled out right away.  The second person was tested and found to not be a match.  And we await blood results from the third person to see if perhaps she will be a match.  Thanks go out to all three of these people who were brave enough to step forward and say, "I'll do it".  They are all heroes in my book.  And Lonnie also continues to wait on the deceased donor list.  We hope he moves up that list quickly of course, but it is always sad to know that someone has to die in order for a kidney to become available.

As far as the bracelets go...WOW!  What a fantastic response!  People are so incredibly generous.  I have watched as my sons put their bracelets on every day and ask if they have to remove them to go play in their football games.  I have watched our varsity football coach wear his on the football field(and they are moving on to playoff game #3 this Saturday!).  I have seen the generosity of my hairdresser and Swiftwater Ice Cream shop in Nekoosa as they have both sold bracelets at their businesses.  I have had people just walk up and hand me money and tell me to keep the bracelets to sell to someone else.  And I received a check from someone who paid $100 for one bracelet.  So I thank all of you who have bought and worn your bracelets.  I will wear mine every day until Lonnie gets the kidney he so deserves.  All of the money is safely tucked away in an account.  As soon as Lonnie goes for surgery the money will be given to them to spend for expenses.  What an huge relief it has been for them to know that they will not need to worry about money when the time comes. 

Please continue to pray for Lonnie and his whole family.  They need strength and hope now more than ever.  The wait can be so hard.