Grab you partner, go round and round....

         A couple years back a dear friend from my old school informed me she was ill with kidney disease. My immediate reaction was: do you need one?  She laughed me off and said no. Then this past summer when I saw her I offered and she again said no, but I noticed it was with less certainty. Then in September I was walking down fifth avenue in the middle of the day when my phone rang, I saw who it was and knew before answering the question that was about to be asked of me. She timidly said “remember when you said you would get tested…” and before she could finish I said yep, sure, and when and were.  Since then we went through the tests and found out we are not an exact match.  That is not stopping us though; we are going on the kidney donor pair swap list. That’s a round robin of kidney exchange, I give mine to someone I match with and his or her “doner” gives it to my friend.      
       This is not just pairs though, this can start a chain that could be 3 to 4 or more recipients long. For some reason this brings to mind square dancing and all that partner changing and swinging around and I’ve taken to calling it the kidney square dance.

           

       I have the final clearance tests on Monday. The CAT scan and such. They really check you out (I even had to get a mammogram and a pap smear) and tomorrow I need to bottle all my pee and bring it with me Monday.  Yep I have to pee in a container for a full days worth of pee. And it needs to be refrigerated after being “collected”.  That is more than I bargained for but I’m dealing. Oddly being cut open and having a piece of me removed doesn’t phase me but I am freaked out beyond belief at having to collect my own pee.

      In preparation yesterday I went to the discount store and bought three super big Rubbermaid containers but now I wonder: How much do I pee? Should I get a forth or fifth? I mean really how much pee happens in a day?

     And then Monday do I take the subway? I guess that depends on the amount of pee I’ll be packing but what if I get pulled over for the random security checkpoint bag check? How do I explain that one?

      I have to stop at the office first so I’ll have to put my pee in the office fridge. I do plan on bagging and tying it, and yes I am going to double tape the lock tops on as well but still… I think I should keep this to myself.

        That should be it for all the tests and hopefully within a couple weeks we will be on the list and waiting for the phone call to tell us to prepare for the kidney square dance to begin.

       I’d been keeping this on the down low until now. Of course I discussed it with the drummer (she is proud of me and agrees it is the right thing to do, she is less thrilled that I am getting cut open but she is 1000% supportive) and of course I told Frenchie  (she is my second at thunder road after all), and then roomie and the protégés and fake wife had to find out because I wasn’t drinking for a week in preparation for the first round of tests and they were going to notice. But that is really it until now. I’m coming out of the kidney closet because I need that good energy in the universe for the tests to go well and for this to go quickly and smoothly.

        I want this to happen. I just really like the idea of something so little and really no big deal on my part helping other people have a better life.  At the very least I’ll catch up on my daytime TV.