Alexx/Russ medical update

[alexxkay]

For those of you who haven't been following russkay's blog: My dad's kidneys are failing. I have offered him one of mine, if the tests say I'm a match. The testing has now commenced...

Spent a bunch of time yesterday on the phone to both Codman Square Health Center (my local clinic) and UMass Memorial (who are coordinating the transplant effort). Big kudoes to Jackie at UMass, who was both clueful and helpful at every step of fighting through Codman Square's bureaucracy.

Went into the lab at Codman this morning. Only a minor, 30-minute hiccup with the paperwork, which is frankly less than I expected. Didn't even have to call Jackie back (though I probably should now, to let her now it went through). The lab technician didn't speak english very well, which is always worrisome. But he was actually very good at his job, and got his blood sample very fast, with minimal pain to me. Soon, I will know my blood type, and then move on to step N+1.

This is all very scary. I've never underone major surgery before. But it's clearly The Right Thing To Do, so I'm determined to go through with it. kestrell is being very supportive, in her usual topsy-turvy way: To her, "never having had major surgery" is an alien concept, so she jokes about it, and makes it all seem easier. I love her so much.

Comments

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

I think the best thing that you, particularly, can do to help is to do whatever you can to make your own upcoming surgery go smoothly. The less surgical-horror-stories I hear in the next few months, the happier I'll be :-)

[kestrell.livejournal.com]

Forget the surgery horror stories, stay away from the tuna casserole. A person can survive very happily on Jello and juice for a week.

Also, I would happily bring my loudest talking clock and alarm, um, alert, the nurses when its medication time. See? I'm not just decorative, I'm useful, too.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

See? I'm not just decorative, I'm useful, too.

But of course!