First of all, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️☘️
I’ll always fondly remember our St. Patrick’s Day spent in Ireland:
No big plans here except Ivan and I ARE going to go out for that St. Patty’s Day beer at a nearby Irish pub. Planning to go later, after dinner, and hope it won’t be as busy then.
Things have been good the last week or so. I’ve honestly still felt like I’m in recovery mode post-swim season and have been enjoying the peace and quiet. We’ve had plenty to do- lots of catching up, some pre-vacation errands/shopping, household things, etc. But it’s been good.
Last Wednesday 3/11 was Ivan’s birthday. A middle of the week birthday, on a day when Ethan had a tennis practice after school, is not the most optimal. We ended up meeting up with Ethan downtown and having a great little ramen dinner out, just the 4 of us.
We got talking about some college related things and somehow ended up on the Marquette University academics page, where we found this fun and silly “choose your major” quiz. Ha, I’m not sure about the accuracy, but it was entertaining to do with the boys.
I made Ivan some of his favorite cookies on my lunch hour:
It’s nice that I no longer have to help oversee gift buying, either! The boys each drove themselves to buy gifts- Ethan got him a restaurant gift card + some candy, Asher bought him a new polo shirt, and I got him a new pair of Vuori shorts. It was a nice day!
On Thursday night I had a work “gala” to attend in Waukesha (about 45 min away). It was a ‘Spotlight on Life’ event focusing on kidney transplantation and the gift of life (and it was a fundraiser/ auction type event benefiting the National Kidney Foundation of WI which is a wonderful organization).
The dress attire was ‘cocktail with a spot of orange’. (Orange is the Donate Life color.)
Well I didn’t really have anything that exactly met that description, but I do own a burnt orange dress. So I went with a lot of orange instead of a spot of orange. Haha. Whatever.
My work bestie and I carpooled together which was fun. It was a nice event! Nice to sip a glass of wine and enjoy a free dinner and a ginormous piece of apple pie.
There were some very moving and inspirational speakers sharing their stories of living donation, including some live donor/ recipient pairs in the house.
Since we’re on the topic, let me share a few fun facts!
🔶 Did you know that many people have the beginnings of renal disease WELL before they have any symptoms?
🔶 Uncontrolled hypertension (high blood pressure) and diabetes are two of the biggest causes of renal failure. Make sure you’re getting regular checks for both of these things! Treating these conditions early is your best chance at avoiding progression to renal failure.
🔶 Receiving a live kidney is usually the BEST option for a transplant recipient. (But deceased donor kidneys are an absolutely amazing gift too- make sure you’re a registered donor! Check the box on your drivers license or sign up online. You can find the link to your state here. Spread the word! You can’t take your organs with you when you go… save a bunch of lives here with them instead! Donate life.)
🔶If you are so inclined, you can donate a kidney altruistically and anonymously. More people do this than you’d realize! It is awesome.
🔶The living donor surgery is typically done laparoscopically- just a couple of tiny incisions. Most people are in and out of the hospital in just a couple of days and recover very quickly.
🔶We only need 1 kidney to live a healthy life! For most healthy people, it’s no big deal to give one up. 🙂
🔶If someday something did happen (very rare) and your single remaining kidney failed, there is a safety net in place to allow a past live donor to go to the very top of the transplant waiting list and get a very quick transplant.
🔶Important! If you know someone who needs a kidney transplant, you DO NOT need to actually be a match in order to donate a kidney to them! There’s an amazing system called a “paired kidney exchange” where your kidney can actually go to someone else (who you are a match for) and then someone else donates to your loved one, on your behalf. Paired kidney exchange is an incredible way for more people to receive live kidney donations.
My most memorable moments as an inpatient transplant nurse were getting a fresh post-op kidney recipient patient up to walk for the first time to see their live donor. Walking down the hall to their donor’s room, pushing their IV pole, in their little hospital gown…. seeing them see each other for the first time, knowing that the donor’s kidney is now IN the recipient and giving them a chance at a whole new life…. seeing the raw emotion and tears of gratitude….it’s just incredible. It never got old! It was so cool and always made me so glad I went into the field of transplant.
Anyway, I realized the other day that I’ve never shared much about organ donation or transplantation on my page, and thought… I should! Who knows- maybe someone out there needed to hear this. 🙂 Reach out with any questions!
On that note, off to get my work day started. I have a big Kidney Transplant Quality meeting this morning. 🙂 Have a good one!
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful that the boys + Ivan did all the snow clearing yesterday… we got like a foot of snow. Also grateful it’s going to be 70 on Saturday, so hopefully the snow will be short lived. 😉
GRATEFUL KAE 
Thanks for sharing about organ donation! I received a living donor liver donation from my aunt 22 years ago It is truly the most amazing gift and has allowed me to live a whole life not possible without it.
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That’s amazing!! And yes, I didn’t even get into live LIVER donation in my post (was just trying to keep it simple and focused on kidney!) but thank you for also pointing this out, too. Live liver donation has made such great progress in recent years, too. I think many people don’t even realize that live liver donation is an option, since we only have “one”. 🙂 (To anyone wondering- The liver is crazy and regenerates to its full size, so they can transplant just a portion of the donor’s liver and it will basically turn into a full liver! incredible.)
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First of all- you look amazing in that dress! Good thing you had it. This event sounds incredible, and I did not know most of those facts about kidney donation. And, I can imagine how moving it would be to see the donor/recipient meet like that.
Happy Birthday to Ivan! Sounds like you made it fun. And, enjoy your beer- I forgot it was St. Patrick’s Day until you mentioned it.
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Thanks Jenny! Yes, this dress came in handy! It’s such a cute dress but I also kind of hate it because it has this tight “under sheath” part which rides up when I walk! ha. So it’s an annoying dress but best worn when I don’t have to do a lot of moving. I originally bought it for a wedding and it was an irritation when trying to dance. Ah, the price of trying to look cute… lol.
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I had my oldest son while I was in medical school and the last thing I did before going into labor was scrub in on a cadaveric kidney transplant. It’s amazing to see how quickly they can start functioning — we were still on the OR. It was a Friday and when it was over I scrubbed out, changed into street clothes, got a little rush knowing I didn’t have to be back in the hospital until Monday and started having contractions about 30 minutes later.
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YES, it is crazy how the kidneys (very often but not always) start working basically immediately and have urine output right away! That’s so funny about your birth story relating to transplant. Haha. Maybe the excitement of that transplant case kicked off your labor. 😉
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Aw to Baby Asher in Ireland four years ago. Now he’s all grown up!
I took the “what’s your major” quiz for funsies. It said that I should work in a creative field or in HR lol. I mean, my career in payroll was HR adjacent.
It was neat to learn more about your day job!
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I thought the quiz was fun too. I think it said I was an “entrepreneur’ though, which couldn’t be farther from the truth! Haha. (I struggled with a few of the questions- like, none of the answers were really a perfect fit for me?!)
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I knew most of this stuff, but only because several years ago my aunt donated a kidney to a co-worker! It is truly an amazing gift and I learned so much about the process from her experience, which she feels so happy and honored to have done.
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That’s so cool! Thanks for sharing that. I know several people who have donated and they all feel the same way your aunt does. It’s such a selfless thing to do and makes such a HUGE impact on the recipient’s life. Life on dialysis is awful- and many people don’t realize that while yes, dialysis can technically let people keep living with renal failure, there are many complications from it, mortality rate is high on dialysis, and quality of life is quite terrible. Gold stars to your aunt!
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That dress is gorgeous! You look fantastic!
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Thanks Nicole!! 😘
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I had no idea what you did for a day job! My daughter had a heart transplant when she was 4 months old – she is now 17 and doing relatively well (we’re having some GI issues right now – may or may not be related to meds, but her heart is working okay)! We are so very thankful for our donor, but we never heard from them. Totally understandable for a baby/toddler donation I think. I would say I can’t imagine, but there were many days when I didn’t think we would see my daughter as a teenager. So, so, so thankful. She goes to transplant camp in the Summer and her two good friends from there were both kidney recipients. Anyways – thanks for spreading the word. Donating is such an important thing to do. And thanks for what you do as well!
That ramen looked amazing! And I am adjusting to my daughter driving herself places – she actually doesn’t do it very often yet. But, she just got her license a few months ago. We need to make her do it more often though.
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oh WOW!! At only 4 months old!! That’s incredible. I’m SOOOO happy to hear she’s alive and thriving all these years later! Unfortunately, even after transplant there’s still a lot that goes into maintaining the transplant, as you well know, with all the meds and follow up and potential complications, etc. But still- it’s such an incredible life-saving gift. Thanks for sharing her story!
Good luck with the driving. Both of my boys were very eager to drive right off the bat, which has its pluses and minuses. Haha. I am sure your daughter will keep gaining confidence!
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That’s the domino right? I have highly considered doing that. Does the hospital cost get covered ot does that come out of the donor’s pocket (or insurance)?
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Yes! The donor’s medical expenses all come out of the recipient’s insurance! And there are even programs that exist to cover things like any travel expenses related to a pre-surgical visit, etc. for willing donors to make sure it isn’t an expense for them.
Being an altruistic donor is awesome because you could be the one to kick off a whole new pair kidney exchange “chain”. You’d donate to a recipient who has a willing donor, but their donor is not a match for them. Then that recipient’s (intended but not a match) donor would donate to someone ELSE in the same situation who they are a match for, and so on and so forth. It drastically expands the donor pool and allows more people to receive live kidneys. It’s awesome. Typically the chain will eventually end up with someone who really needs a live kidney (but unfortunately has no willing donors in their life) from the national kidney registry. (Some patients with certain medical histories/health statuses are deemed ineligible to receive a deceased donor kidney (because they wouldn’t tolerate it well) and are only approved for a live kidney transplant- so these chain transplants can be a literal life saver for someone in that situation who doesn’t have a willing live donor but can’t get a deceased donor transplant. (Or, they may just have a blood type with a long wait time for a deceased donor transplant- it can be 3+ years in many cases. And some people might not tolerate dialysis that long. So getting a planned live donation (sooner) would be game changer.)
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Thanks for the kidney donation information. I teared up thinking about recipients and donors seeing each other post surgery.
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This was really interesting reading about the kidney transplants. I know you were in transplant medicine but didn’t realize it was specifically kidneys. One of my longest and closest friends gave her son a kidney about 5-6 years ago. She was in her mid-60’s at the time. Her son went into kidney failure at around age 25. They spent years waiting for a kidney and were disappointed a number of times (once he got a virus, another time the chain broke). Finally she was given the go ahead and they are both doing great. It was much rougher on her than him. He felt significantly better immediately! What a gift to give your child.
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Oh that’s awesome about your friend! How wonderful. It is remarkable how much a functioning kidney helps people feel so much better!! I have seen the opposite, where a parent needs a kidney but they refuse to let their adult child donate to them (presumably out of guilt/fear something will happen to them, which I do understand…). It’s a very emotional decision I’m sure! So glad your friend was able to donate to her son. As a parent that would be so important for me to at least try!
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I’m a long time reader but first time commenter. The information about kidney transplant chain donors was so interesting, I never heard about it before. The whole transplant topic is amazing. My husband had a liver transplant 18 months ago at age 72!! He’s doing so very well. He could not use a living donor because he had liver cancer caused by the blood disease hemochromatosis. So happy you have given such important information about being a lifesaving donor.
Have a wonderful vacation, you deserve it!
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Thank you for commenting! (And reading! :))
Congratulations to your husband! That is incredible!! I’m SO happy to hear he’s doing great!!! Yay!!
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