Poked, Prodded & Drained

All for LG!

Today was the long awaited thorough physical to make sure I'm in tip top shape for the donation. First, I should say that Hahnemann was awesome! Linda was my "guide" and walked me through everything, answered all my questions, and made sure I didn't wait for more than a couple minutes for anything! The team there was really nice and so appreciative of the fact that I want to donate. It really made me feel special.

So I started with paperwork...shocker! :-) Then on to the blood draw. They took about 4 viles of blood to re-check for infectious diseases as well as all my blood levels. They also check for any viruses, etc that I may have that could be passed onto LG and determine whether there is anything I will need to take ahead of time to reduce the risk of transmission. I'm sure this is for things like mono, etc. They will notify me if anything is abnormal in my blood counts or cholesterol or anything...so that is great! Now I'm just praying that everything is normal so I can go ahead with the donation. Then I had a full physical check with a doctor and 4th year med student. That was fun! Then, the final doctor came in to do another check over everything and to walk me through the surgery.

Surgery...yikes! Well, there were no surprises about the process, but he was wonderful to give me the full run down, options on procedures, and potential side effects. They have done LOTS of extractions there, so he was pretty honest and open about the process. Here are some of my options:
1. General anesthesia (recommended) or epidural. Not really looking forward to having a tube down my throat under general, but I don't want to be awake either!
2. Staying overnight. Most people stay. This actually surprised me. I mean, get me out of the hospital, right?!? I'll have the option to leave, but they like when you stay so they can monitor you. They can also change the dressing that way before you go home. Plus, they said my caretaker can stay over night with me. So I'll consider it...

So....the date is set: March 10th. Mark your calendars for lots of prayers and good thoughts! My awesome sister Kristen is planning to come down from Boston to wait on me hand and foot. I have already ordered a bell off etsy.com with her name on it for me to ring all weekend. (j/k). I'm excited that she will get to stay with me and take care of me. We're going to have a blast! Plus, they will give me percocet so she may get some funny information out of me while I'm recovering. Send all embarrassing questions to her attention at erin.vandorn@gmail.com so that I may approve them first! LOL!

As the date gets closer, I am excited. There are lots of things going on for me in the meantime, but I can't wait until this process is over and LG is on her way to hopefully being cured. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement. It really means the world!

I was reminded in yoga on Monday night that we often live life day-to-day without noticing the good things. It is when the bad things happen that life sort of stops and we take stock of what wonderful blessings we have in our life. Take a moment to do that today. Articulate the good things and the blessings now so that in the hard times you have something to lean on.