Big news...

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read the first post on this blog, I got a lot of great feedback and appreciation for being so forthcoming about my health situation, and I truly appreciation all of your concern!

On to the most recent development:
As you know if you read the last post, Sarah has been undergoing a ton of testing for UCSF to see if she's a match for kidney donation to me. The first part of the process is clearing her health-wise to be a donor at all, the next step is comparing/mixing our blood to see if I have any antibodies already that would react. A couple weeks back she was cleared as a donor, which meant even if we weren't a match she could donate through the exchange program (good news), and on Tuesday they called to tell her that she's a match for me (hell yeah!).

This is such great news because now we have a lot more control over when the transplant happens and can plan accordingly. We'll both be down for 8-10 weeks recovering, and aren't supposed to lift more than 10 lbs (weighing each my guitars now:). So we'll have some serious granny and family help to wrangle the kiddos.

Of course it seems a bit surreal that we've gotten to this point, and it really is starting to sink in that this will be our reality in 2015; her recovering from donating, and me recovering from receiving and trying to get my immunosuppressant drug cocktail dialed in.

My biggest concern (as with anyone in this situation going through a major medical challenge) is that I really don't want it to hinder anything I do, or to be forced to change my lifestyle in any major way. My compromised immune system is just a fact that I'll always have to be aware of, but I want to get back to what I love–traveling the world performing music! And of course first and foremost, being Dadda horsie (see below). If anything, 10 weeks of downtime will have me chomping at the bit (pun intended) to get back out there.

I'm just so grateful to have so much support for this upcoming challenge, and am always the one who seems to be the least concerned about the process. And what can I say about Sarah? She's giving me the ultimate gift, and is happy to do so. I'm so grateful and blessed we found each other (12 yrs and counting) and I'd gladly do the same for her if the situation were reversed.
The next step is for me to undergo a ton of more tests, poking and prodding. But fingers crossed the next post here will be announcing the date for the surgery, hopefully in early 2015.

Phew!



PS. A good way to learn more about PKD or how you can help is to visit http://www.pkdcure.org , in fact the national Walk for PKD is happening all over the country on this coming Sunday 10/26, the local one is in SF.