Wow I can't believe I haven't posted here in such a very long time. A lot has happened since my last blog entry. I celebrated my 37th birthday on May 30, 2016. As many of you know , I am on the kidney transplant list at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Last year, I received 6 calls from them about a possible kidney. I can't describe for you the emotional roller coaster one endures when you receive a call. Needless to say, none of the calls worked out because my cross matchs always came back positive. In the kidney transplant world, a positive cross match is not a good thing. The transplant team was baffled as to how the national computer could match a kidney to me, but once the cross match was done, I wasn't a match. They wanted answers...we wanted answers. During this process, we decided to try our luck at a transplant center in Arkansas. That ended being a total waste of time and energy as the Doctor turned me down based on medicine that I take now for my lupus. It is the same medicine you will be required to take post transplant. I was highly disappointed with this center as they have one of the best hospital designs in the country. As the summer went on, I received a few more calls, but none worked out. I felt as though maybe I will never get a new kidney; maybe this is all in God's plan for me. I'm not sure what God's plan for me is...I know this has taken an emotional toll on myself and my family. I try to continue on with life, as much as possible. I attend my dialysis treatments 3 nights a week from 6:15pm until around 1:45am. I swear it's like going to a job. I wouldn't wish this on my worse enemy. I spent a majority of the summer at home, as my ability to travel more than 2 hours from home is limited. For me it's like being in prison; not being able to live a normal life. Fall came, and still no new kidney. We were told they would be opening up a new nocturnal dialysis clinic closer to my home in November. Let's just say it is January 22nd, and it has yet to be opened. I had my 2 year re-evaluation at Vanderbilt at the end of November. We finally got to speak with one of the transplant doctors. He took the time to finally tell us why the cross matches kept coming back positive. As it turns out my body has created antibodies the doctors can't even identify; thus giving us positive cross matches. The team discussed giving me 2 different drugs in an effort to reduce the antibodies production and help increase the chances of a negative cross match. We were happy, someone actually sat down with us and told us what was going on, instead of just saying, "no we won't do the transplant". The doctors are currently working on getting this approved and going. I'm happy that we may finally be moving in the right direction. December came and with it the holidays. I got the chance to enjoy family and even take a trip to Nashville for New Year's Eve. Then came January..still no word from the doctors. I was scheduled to have surgery on my arm to have my fistula revised on January 25th, but it clotted on Wednesday January 18th, so I had to have emergency surgery. I ended up spending the night in the hospital and was just released yesterday. My surgeon was unable to place the catheter in my neck as usual, but placed in my upper right thigh area. I am not happy at all about where he put it, but I guess it could have been worse. Thank God it's only for 4 weeks. As of January 11, 2017, I have been on dialysis for over 6 years. When we started this process, we were told that I should receive a transplant in 3-4 years because of my blood type. Well, that hasn't been the case at all. My blood definitely has made it almost impossible to find a match for me. I pray daily(sometimes more than once), that I will get a call saying they have a negative cross match and this nightmare will be over. But until that day comes, I will continue to go to dialysis, advocate for dialysis patients, and inform others about the need for organ donors. There simply not enough organs for the number of people on the waiting list. Everyday, at least 18 or more people die while waiting for a kidney. There are over 123,000 people on the transplant waiting list; with most needing a new kidney. What most people don't realize is you only need 1 kidney to live a happy healthy life. If you're not an organ donor please consider becoming one; you could help save up to 8 lives. Since things are kind of slowing down in my life, I can get back on track with my blog. I am going to try and make an entry at least once a week, even if it's a short one. Thanks to everyone for reading this and I wish each and everyone of you a great 2017!!!