Whoo... What a roller coaster of emotions!  So many highs and lows as many of you have been reading.  However yesterday around 2:45PM, the transplant unit had left me a voice message to call them immediately.  All I can say is that I was terrified to call them back.  I took a deep breath, and dialed.  I was prepared for the worst... if it was bad news... I was prepared... I wouldn't cry...  I did that last week.

I was given an explanation as to the results of my urinalysis and blood work, and my Citrate was a little on the low side, otherwise... all was normal!  Amazing!  I was told that the doctors were comfortable with the results of my tests, and that I should take preventative measures and drink 1 cup of lemon juice everyday for the rest of my life.  This would help ensure that my remaining kidney would be better protected from the possibility of future kidney stones.

I really truly was in SHOCK!  This was GOOD news I was hearing.  I wasn't expecting this.  After a short conversation, we started talking about surgery dates, and I was asked if Monday was a possibility?  MONDAY?? January 29th I asked?  They wanted to admit Johnson on Sunday and then perform the surgery on Monday.  Ugh... Ugh... Ugh...  Duh... Duh...

I was stumped and in total shock.  I mean...we knew this could happen, we knew we could be given a go on such short notice, but we weren't prepared!  So I phoned Johnson, and I think I gave him a heart attack when I asked what he was doing on Sunday?    Ugh... Ugh... Ugh...  Duh... Duh... we were thrilled, but in shock.

I called the transplant unit back, asking them hypothetically if we were not prepared to go on Monday, what would be our next possible offer?  After many phone calls back and forth, pagers going off etc, we arrived at our Thursday February 8th date.  A date a little easier to prepare for.

The phone calls began.  I phoned my sister Johanna in BC, asking if she was ready to go? Ugh... Ugh... Ugh...  Duh... Duh... We were all in shock.  So she spoke with her boss (Thank You!) and they were so kind to allow Johanna to take a compassion leave to care for us and our girls.  Now I needed to call my other sister Brenda, to make arrangements to fly Johanna down.  There were flights to book...etc.  My sister Brenda and her husband John, were flying Johanna down.

My sister Brenda called me today, asking for my mailing address.  You see... we all know how to get to each others houses, but we don't always know each others addresses.  After I gave her our address, she proceeded to inform me that starting the first week of February, we will have a company called "Home Gourmet.ca" deliver 3 meals per week to us, with 6 servings per meal delivered to our home.  We can pick and choose from their menus, as well, tell them any diet restrictions we have and they will accommodate us.  So each Tuesday for 6 WEEKS, these meals will be delivered to our home.  Then my sister Brenda called me a little later to say, that we also will have 2 cleaners come to our house weekly to clean the house for us too!  Johnson and I are eternally grateful to them for stepping up and helping us out in our time of need.  These beautiful ladies have really come through for us, and I am at a loss of words to use to express our gratitude. 

So we are now trying to get all our ducks in a row in preparation of our transplant in 2 weeks time.  Our daughter Stephanie will be celebrating her 8th Birthday soon, and is having a "Cheetah Girls...Karaoke Sing-a-long...Pizza Making...Sleepover...Dance Party" on Friday February 2nd.  What a name huh?!  I need to prepare for this party, I need to do so much before hand, like clean up, organize, and update this website... like it's way late now and here I am tying this.  Oh well....  I'll have many weeks to rest soon.

So tomorrow I will meet with my nephrologist as well as my urologist, Johnson will attend with me, as well we are going to another meeting in the afternoon to meet with other people who have had a transplant, and or who have given a kidney.  Here we will learn all about anti-rejection drugs, recovery times, and basically anything we want to ask about. 

Johnson and I will now need to go through many repeat, duplicate tests again prior to this transplant.  We will need to do the tissue typing... cross matching again... viral tests again... ecg's etc.  They check to see if anything has changed since our last set of tests.   So these next few weeks will be a whirlwind for us, and I will try to update all of you when I can.

Please pray for us!