It's May

Wow, a few things have happened in the last few weeks. The Donate life walk was a success, if I do say so myself!

I also got my biopsy results back. They were not as good as I was hoping. My newest liver has advanced to bridging fibrosis. Unfortunately, if it keeps progressing at this rate, I may only have a few years left with my newest little liver, but again, only if it continues like this. When I went to USC to hand out information for donate life month, I met a 75 year old man with hepatitis C. He had his transplant 6 years ago, and has no fibrosis on his new liver. He said, "All you have to do is make it a few more years, and something will be out to help you." I sure hope he is right, because I am freakin' tired!  Which leads me to my next bit of news. I quit my job. Really, this time. It was only part-time, but it was becoming too much for me. And once I got my biopsy results back, I was really over it. I am praying that I didn't underestimate my monetary contribution to the home. :-/ I also hope I don't lose my mind from being home- Mentally, it gets to me, and I don't need anything else getting to me right now. Hehe. I think that the thought of getting sick again soon rather than later, has been on my mind more than usual. I'm not digging it.

So it was kind of amazing that my training day to become a Donate Life Ambassador came up when it did. They only have them a few times a year in each area, but if you have been affected by organ donation in any way, I recommend it. I met 3 mothers, who's sons had all died, but saved many lives. I also met a man who's wife died while waiting for a liver transplant. These ones were tough to hear. I met a few living kidney donors, and a bunch of us recipients. We went over the facts and myths of organ donation... So if you are someone having doubts about becoming a donor, come talk to me. Seriously. When they went over the percentage of people that die each year, and how many of those that actually became organ donors (less than 1%) it reminded me how blessed I am to have gotten that gift twice! It could have easily went another way. So, I'm going to try not to think about getting sick, and enjoy the good days. I haven't been feeling very well lately, but I think it is the medicine that I started taking for the RA. I have another appointment in a few weeks, and I might ask to see if there is any damage that has been done to my bones. If there isn't any, then maybe we can just monitor it. We'll see.
If you'd like more information on being an Ambassador for Donate Life (depending on your area) click here.