July 4th Part 1
Friday, July 04, 2014
We had planned to spend the 4th at home
OUR home, not our hometown
For the first time in a very long time (EVER).
Most of our friends made plans to go to said hometown
So we didn't have any great expectations for our day
Little did we know, we were in for several surprises for the day
But I can only tell you about one right now due to other's privacy...
Thursday, I had planned to leave work around 2 and AT 2 Robert called me
It's pretty unusual for him to call me when he knows I will be calling him
So I answered in the lobby of my work
"Okay, so don't be mad at me"
was all he said at first.
I imagined he had somehow gotten roped into doing something
that required us to go home
He said: "There's good news and bad news".
"Just tell me" I said, slightly annoyed.
Then something unexpected happened…
"My dad got a call today, he's getting a kidney".
Ya'll, I started crying in my work parking lot like a child.
My father-in-law has had diabetes pretty much his whole life
He had been on the less harsh dialysis for about 5 years
and had just switched to the blood dialysis that is a lot worse on the body
And he was going downhill fast
For as long as I can remember his kidneys have been in the single digits percentile of function.
He literally pees every two days.
This is about the only thing that could have made me travel east this weekend
So we packed an overnight bag, games, and our iPad
And headed to Greenville (towards the hurricane).
Naturally I had time to prepare for the OOTD just in case our visit went into July 4th territory:
My Lilly Pulitzer tusk in sun Eliza dress with a red necklace.
We got to the hospital around 7 and he went back into surgery right around 11:30
We had the waiting room to ourselves and we all were in and out of sleep
Watching the weather channel and listening to the tornado watches all around us
At around 4/430 his surgeon came into the waiting room and told us all was well
I was in and out of sleep for the next hour or so
But when I woke up the sun was coming up and we moved to yet another waiting room
We were able to visit for a short time before he left but all seemed well.
We drove back to Raleigh and on the trip Robert said
"this time yesterday he had no idea he would get a kidney, and now he has some one else's kidney inside of him… saving his life"
He named the kidney Arthur.
The donor was a 21 year old man who was healthy, didn't drink or do drugs, and had an asthma attack and died unexpectedly.
The fact that he chose to be an organ donor probably saved countless lives
Please, consider being a donor.
There is a good chance my father-in-law will get to meet Robert and I's future children now just because of that man's choice to be a donor.
Happy July 4th Everyone!
Stay safe!
0 comments