The Joy of Giving

A couple of people have asked me lately if I have thought about the fact that even if UW approves the surgery it is certainly going to be a more risky surgery than originally thought.  This theoretically would lower the odds that the surgery would be successful.  I have even been asked if I would reconsider donating knowing this new information.  I know for sure that I would not reconsider, but wasn't really sure how to explain that to people.  Tonight I thought of it this way:

Let's say I have two beautiful vases full of flowers in my house.  They are both providing me a great amount of joy, but there is really no reason why I need two of them.  A friend of mine does not have any flowers in their house and their life would surely be enriched by them.  So I tell them I will gladly bring over one set of the flowers for them to enjoy in their home.  Now let's say I find out that I will need to transport the flowers over a bumpy road to get to my friend's house and the vase may break on the way.  And even if I do succeed in getting the vase over there in one piece there is a chance my friend may not have enough sunlight in their house.  And there is the possibility that the flowers might not get watered as much as they would at my house.  There is even a chance the flowers may fail to bloom at all over there.  So...what should I do?  If I keep the flowers I will continue to enjoy them, but my friend will still be without the joy that flowers can bring.  If I give the flowers there is a chance that my friend will be able to enjoy them as much as I do and I will still have my own flowers to enjoy.  And if I give the flowers, but they do not flourish -- at least my friend will always remember that I cared enough to try to enrich their life.  And if I give, isn't it truly me who will benefit the most?  There really is no such thing as a selfless act.  The joy of receiving will never hold a candle to the joy of giving.

Having said that... I am not crazy, I do realize that giving a kidney and giving flowers are certainly not the same.  But that is the best way I can explain it.  To me it is worth the possible bumps in the road to try to allow my friend to live the best possible life he can.  I cannot give with restrictions.  A gift is a gift.  I will joyfully share what I have if it is possible that his life can be enriched.  I will never regret that I did everything I could possibly do. 

Hopefully we will hear from UW in the next couple of days.  Until then, thank you again for your prayers and thoughts.  Your words truly mean the world to both my family and Lonnie's family.

There's That Word Again...

Today my co-worker Jean was handing out Dove Chocolate Promises to each of us.  She opened hers up and inside it read, "Here's to something more powerful than chocolate.  Hope."  Of course I asked if I could take the wrapper home since that is my word of the week!  Then today I got in my car and turned on my XM Radio to the comedy channel.  I pressed the button that tells me the name of the current comedian who is performing.  Her first name was....you guessed it....Hope.  Next week we will hear from UW as to whether our hope of a transplant can come true.  But I realized today that even if the transplant never happens, we can always have hope.  Hope for a longer life, hope for a new cure for kidney disease, hope for an everlasting friendship, hope for no pain, and hope for the future...whatever it may hold. 

Wednesday afternoon and again this afternoon I stopped over at Lonnie and Ginger's after work.  We spent time sitting outside in lawn chairs talking.  Lonnie was telling me all sorts of stories about his younger days and their early years of marriage...including a story about the teenagers who broke into the reception hall before their wedding and got into the beer!  How precious it is to spend time getting to know Lonnie and Ginger better.  How blessed I am.

Connecting With UW

Today I was on UW's website again and saw there was a place where you could send an inquiry about their kidney transplant program.  So I wrote a short comment telling them what our situation was and how to contact me.  Within an hour I received an e-mail from Chris, the coordinator that Lonnie had originally been set up with at UW before he was switched to Froedtert.  Ginger had tried to call Chris yesterday, but she was on vacation until Tuesday.  Well, it turns out Chris was e-mailing me from her vacation!  She asked me if I could give her details as to why Froedtert had decided the surgery was too risky.  She probably didn't want the long answer to her short question, but I gave it to her!  Within another hour she e-mailed me back to say how sorry she was that this had happened to us.  Then she promised to look into it as soon as she gets back next week.  She will then let Lonnie know what she thinks we can do from here.  I couldn't believe that she was contacting me during her vacation!  I told her I liked her already! :-)  It is just so nice to know that someone is going to at least try to do something for us.  Hope.  That's what we have.  And it feels good.

Tonight I took my kidneys to the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters game and the Rafters won!  What a great night at the ballpark!  Hopefully the kidneys won't be going there as a pair for too much longer!