12.14.07: The Donor

So today, I was up on my feet more than I have been since Sunday.

It started with me waking up at 6 am in tears. I have no idea whether it was the Prednisonitis that my Home Health Nurse warned me about, or just the fact that it was so ridiculously early and I was in so much pain. Who knows. The day got better.

We headed into downtown Charleston where we went to MUSC's Rutledge Tower for my appointment at the clinic. It was a good experience overall. I had to go to the same place about a year and a half ago to get the ball rolling on this whole endeavor, so it was kind of neat to see where it all began again. It also felt good to be on the "working kidney" side of things.

While I was there, I read a bulletin board about successful kidney and liver transplants and on it was the story of an 18 year old life guarding soccer player that got a liver transplant and a 19 year old college sophomore who gave her mom a kidney. It really made me feel kind of dumb for being so whiny earlier in the morning. There were younger people who had to go through situations similar to mine that dealt with it, came through, and are living examples of how great transplantation can be.

And speaking of younger people, today, I found out a little bit about the kidney that is now inside me pumping out gallons and gallons of urine.

We were in the exam room and the pharmacist was going over my 9 new medicines that
I have to take... he had a chart on which he was marking things off, and he glanced down and said that neither I nor my donor had some illness. Then I got curious... What else does it say about my donor on that thing? I was (no pun intended) dying to know. So I glanced down, ever so coyly, not to let the pharmacist realize just how nosy I was being. This is all I could make out from the doctor's scribble on the chart...

Donor Name: o Donor Sex: M Donor Age: 18

An 18 year old male... part of him now living inside of me. Do you realize how amazing science is? While his life is over, his soul gone, part of him lives on inside me, allowing my life and soul to go on. I don't know what it was that caused his death... I'm assuming something accidental or freak since his kidney was healthy enough to be transplanted. It's just fascinating.

I will never know this person... never get to thank them... never get to share my apprectiation. And for that matter, if I was able to, I technically wouldn't have the kidney.

It's all so overwhelming.

Anyway, with this 18 year old guy haunting my spirit all afternoon, we went to Wal-Mart so I could stay on my feet and walk around, then we went to Chick-fil-A (where I had french fries and ketchup guiltlessly thankyouverymuch), and then I came home and took an amazing nap. This evening, my mom and I played that old school mystery guessing game "Guess Who?" which we bought on our Wal-Mart excursion. The rest of the evening was spent rocking out to my iTunes and finishing my research paper (which is complete now).

I was pleasantly interrupted by (in this order) Kate, Nic, Jenee, Nick, Tex, Zach, Mishelle, Missy, and Hoke who were celebrating the holidays at Kate's house back home. They cheerfully passed the phone around the room and shared love and well wishes, which didn't make me feel sad at all. It just made me thankful. I am so thankful to have friends to think of me while I am not there. And it is for that reason, that I will not live another day without being thankful for the person who made my life possible even though he is no longer here.

To the 18 year old male... Thanks.