I woke up this morning after a very restful sleep. As is my usual routine, I reached over beside me and grabbed my iPhone. I have an app on my phone called “Sleep Cycle”. You turn it on before you go to bed, and you turn it off when you wake up, or, you set it to wake you up at a certain time. It analyzes your sleep based on your movements. It can somehow detect when you’re in a deep sleep, awake, etc., then, it gives you a percentage of how good your sleep was. The percentage I woke up to was 74%. Not bad at all, but it could have been higher. Must have been because I got up about 3 times to go pee.
That said, that is what this entry is about. A year ago, as I’ve said time and time again, my life was changed when I received my kidney transplant. And now, a year later, dialysis seems like a distant memory. Just the other day, when I went to the hospital for an appointment, I stopped by my home dialysis unit. I greeted Meagan-the unit’s secretary/admin assistant. Then I went to see my dear nurse Rose. I miss her. Hair hair is longer now-way past her shoulders. She’s always had a short bob.
Anyhow..as I mentioned, I checked my phone. I saw a text message. It was from my friend SB. She has msg’d me to inform me that she got “the call”. She was on her way to the hospital because a kidney was available for her. She just needed to go to the hospital and do all of the appropriate tests to make sure the kidney would be suitable for her. I was elated when I saw this message. She’s young like me, with only a couple of years separating us. We both discussed the frustration that is dialysis just a week or two ago. And now, here she was..rushing to the hospital to hopefully get a transplant.
Yes, I said hopefully. Just because you get the call, it doesn’t mean it’s 100% a “go”. Maybe the kidney wouldn’t be suitable for her. Maybe she has a cold and cannot go through with the surgery. Who knows. But what I did know is that today, on Good Friday, she got the call..and I prayed that it would be her time.
I texted her anxiously after the noon hour, craving more info. No updates yet. She was going to go to her hospital room and get some much needed rest-especially after flying out of bed early in the morning to go to the hospital.
Later on in the afternoon, SB called me. Everything was set-she was getting her appropriate pre-transplant medication via IV..and the surgery would happen in a couple of hours!! I couldn’t be happier!
By the time I type this, SB is very much out of surgery, or close to it. I cannot wait to see her, and hug her, and kiss her, and probably cry too. I’m just soo happy for her. She’s been on dialysis for a long time..and it was definitely her turn.
I haven’t forgotten that somebody else is not here..and because he or she is no longer here, SB has a chance at a more normal life. Wherever the family is who lost their loved one…I’m thankful that in the end, they agreed to allow their loved one’s organs to be donated…or even to the person him or herself who had lost their life…thankful that he or she made the decision to have their organs donated.
This is so powerful. SB is my friend, and I’m thankful that she is getting a kidney. But there are plenty of other people who will be impacted by the person who passed away. Other organs will be donated to other people who have been waiting for the call. It’s just so powerful to me.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll continue to say it. All the time. Make your wishes known to your family, sign your donor cards, register online to be an organ donor at http://www.beadonor.ca
I can’t wait to see and talk to my friend.