MAY 20TH!! MAY 20TH!! WE'RE TRYING FOR A TRANSPLANT DATE OF MAY 20TH!!!!!

When I got home today, from dialysis and the dentist, there was a message from the Living Donors coordinator. She says she'd like to proceed with a surgery date of May 20th!!!
YES!!!!
Now you know, that works for me...so I left her a voice mail message to affirm.
As soon as I hear back from her again, all systems will be GO!!!!!
YES!!!!
YES!!!!
May 20th...exactly a month after Bobby's birthday...so once again...(never mind).
My job is to keep affirming that my transplant will be a success...and to keep disinfected!!!!!!
YES!!!
OK, OK, enough with the Yes's, I know.
I'm thrilled...Blue, but thrilled. Quite a combination...blue and thrilled. I've gotta admit, it's quite a trip.
Incredible!!! I've never received such good news in all my life!!!!
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaytah!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR RPJ, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

I know, I know, what are the odds that the birthday boy himself will happen to read this???
But, in case so, my birthday wishes will have reached him.
Happy Birthday, Bobby Jameson, and many, many more!!
My itinerary for tomorrow includes scheduling my transplant, and making an extra special birthday cake...I think I'll write, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RPJ" on it. That way there'll be room for it all.
Once I have a picture of said cake on my computer, I'll post it up here.
But for now, here's my birthday message to you.
Love ya!!
As promised, here's that cake.
By the way: I called to schedule my transplant, but by the time I got home, it was almost 4:00, so I ended up leaving a voice mail. I'll give it a couple days. If, by Wednesday, my call isn't returned, I'll call again. But yes, I did try to schedule today, so things once again are moving forward. Bobby, you've brought me nothing but good luck on the transplant front ever since we met. Thanks!!
Now...here's the cake. Note: I NEVER said my cake lettering was of professional quality!!! That, I never promised. All that I can promise is that you'll be able to read it.
Have a lovely, lovely rest of your birthday!!

New Info, and Excellent News!!...And, Apr. 20th seems to bring me such good luck!!

I must have misunderstood my doctor. I thought he wanted me to have four more blood cultures drawn! Nope. Just the one set of cultures that were drawn last Monday has to go through at least four different tests for infection. If all of them are negative, which they are so far, and the last test will be on Monday, Apr. 20th...if that's also negative, I get to call and schedule my transplant!!!!!!!
YES!!!!
Believe me, I'm thrilled, even if I don't sound like it!!
So, once again, Apr. 20th proves to be a lucky day for me.
Two years ago on that day, I had the "PD" catheter put in. That's the same "PD" catheter that had to come out last May when I had peritonitis and a perforated ulcer.
WOW!! So I could be getting a Cinco de Mayo transplant after all!!! Or, maybe even BEFORE May 1st!!!! YES!!!
Damn, I'm thrilled!!!
And I love how Apr. 20th seems to bring me such good luck...especially, ESPECIALLY, this year!!! ;-)
Happy Birthday to you!!! Happy Birthday to you!!....(if you're about to have a birthday, I trust you know who you are; that's for you)
Well...gotta get ready to take the car out to Kirtland (which is about 13 miles west of Chardon).
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaytah!

My birthday song last year....on my 38 & 5/6ths birthday!

I just realized! It's my 5/6th's birthday!!!!!! In other words, today, I'm exactly 38 & 5/6ths old!!
Damn!!! I REALLY didn't want to make it this far!
All the times I've had chest pains, and shortness of breath, and whatever else...you'd think that would have been the beginning of the end...but nooooooo. I'm still here, and I'm not sure why.
Well...one thing's for sure. Once I get my transplant, I'll be sooooooooooooooooooo absolutely positively gorgeous, no one will be able to resist me! ;-)
This was my birthday song last year. I'm going to find a better song for my birthday this year, but I wanted to prove that there was, indeed, a song written with my name in the title. I, however, happen to spell mine with a "y" at the end...not an "i" as in the title of this song. But, it's still my name. Actually, the other reason I threw this song in is because, after my transplant, when I'm so irresistibly gorgeous, someone out there, somewhere, might actually want to sing this song for me. Juuuuust an idea!!! ;-)

Another Day On The "Moonster"

I know. I keep ridiculous hours, don't I?
Well, that's what happens when you find a good writer who happens to be a night owl, and then you yourself can sleep through dialysis, as I did again today.
What a day, too! I started off treatment as usual, doing my crossword puzzle before my eyes got so tired that I just had to fall asleep, which is also usual. The unusual part was, that when it was over, I didn't want to get up out of that chair. First of all, I was still tired. Second, I've gotten used to having to stay in the chair a while to let my blood pressure go back up (when I say "go back up", I mean up from, say 86/48--I think that was a reading yesterday or the day before). So when I was allowed, even encouraged, to get the heck outta there, I was surprised, and not exactly ready. Apparently, today my blood pressure didn't get that low until I stood up for the first time.
Wonder why I call the machine a "moonster"?? That goes back to two years ago, when I first started "PD" (Peritoneal...). My cat, Tony, was scared silly of the PD machine, so I started calling it a "moonster"...for "monster". When I switched to hemo., I called that machine a "moonster" too. So there's the history of that.
Da-yam!! I'm supposed to be getting healthy for my transplant, and here I am with muscle aches and a general feeling that if a truck ran me over, I might perk up a little.
Oh well. Off to rest this bug off, and hopefully have four negative blood cultures starting yesterday, so that I can hurry in and get my transplant!!! God, I can hardly wait!!! I'll be so much healthier after my transplant, that I'll be just absolutely irresistibly gorgeous!!!!!!!!! (Consider that a fair warning.) ;-)
Laaaaaaaaaytah!!

One more month...and my eyes are way too damn tired for this!!!!

Yes, unfortunately, the word is that I get to wait until next month to schedule my transplant, because I have to wait three to four weeks after the antibiotic I'm on during treatment has stopped. And they don't want to stop it yet, and I have NO idea why!!! I thought we wanted me to get my transplant NOW, BEFORE my birthday!!! If we stretch this out too long, it'll be after my birthday after all.
I need to AFFIRM!!! If I don't AFFIRM, it won't happen. I'm affirming a Cinco De Mayo transplant!!!!! I need some cooperation here, but that's what I'm shooting for!!
Look at this.
I took this with my new WebCam.
My eyes are really starting to look worn out and tired, and here's why.
See...the fluid piles up all at once, then comes off all at once. Every two days, except on weekends, the fluid comes off all at once during treatment...then has two days to pile back up...off all at once, on all at once...like a damn yo-yo!!! Humans weren't made for that kind of trauma. My eyes are tired and worn out from being puffy with fluid one minute and damn normal the next. My poor little heart is probably getting tired of all of this, too. You have NO idea, do you, how I wish I could pee again!!! I hope I make up for all lost time and then some, as soon as I get my new kidney!!! For almost a year and a half now, I've even gotten the physical sensation that I've gotta pee...but of course, I haven't been able to. I can hardly wait till I can do that again!!!
THIS is why I thought I had to get in right away to get my transplant...so I won't have to go through THIS for much longer!!!
AFFIRM, AFFIRM, AFFIRM.....
Oh, and here's another picture I took the other night, too. My hair really is longer than it was a year or so ago; but it might not be as healthy as it once was. Notice that it looks like there are all kinds of gaps between my teeth. There are NOT. For some reason, my WebCam makes it look that way, but my teeth are almost perfect!!! Just wanted to spell that out for you. Let's face it. I won't have all of my beauty back until after my transplant....but then, look out, because I will DEFINITELY be an irresistible beauty!!! ;-)

...so what'll become of this blog???...Wellll.....

Just wanted to sneak back and see if I can answer the question of what'll ever become of this blog, as thank goodness, I've done what I set out to do, which was to find a living kidney donor.
Well...there's still my three wonderful cats to share stories about.
Let me start with two.
These go back a ways. Both of these tales have to do with Jerry...my "double miracle" kitty.
Summer, 2006: one time, I had to walk past Jerry to get my water glass. I told the little guy. And he answered, "Meow-Wa-Wa!" Naturally, this meant "water". I knew that. Smart cat.
And it got better. Also Summer, 2006: I was getting ready, quickly, to drive out to Chicago--actually, East Dundee, IL--to visit DJ Dick Biondi (for the record: that's Dick and me in my blog photo; that's from when I was there). I had already told my cats about this. Jerry replied, quite clearly, "Meow-WOW-i !!!!" This, of course, was his way of saying "Biondi". I knew that.
That's a start. More cat tales...er, ah...tails???....no....tales....to come.