Hello LDO,
First and foremost I would like to thank the members of this website who keep it running. It was a God send to me and my followers during what proved to be a powerful and interesting time in my life.
This is a follow up for those that followed my story "How is Celia?" which is archived on this website. I donated to my Uncle on January 26, 2009 at UCDavis in California. It was Chinese New Year and his best friend's birthday.
My Uncle is a diabetic who fights skin cancer and survived the Vietnam War as a helicoptor pilot. He is a Chaplin for the fire and police departments in his town and a Minister whom I watched marry my sister and her husband. He is a good good man. After the transplant he and my Aunt bought raffle tickets at an event where they never bought them before because the prize was a travel voucher out of the country. The Summer of 2009 they bought and they won. They have traveled several times since he got his new kidney and I can't tell you how happy I am for them. As you can imagine the daily battles of being diabetic and fighting skin cancer are daunting. They spend many hours at the doctors office especially with his immunosuppressants that are like candy to cancer. I am grateful to have been able to give them the gift of freedom from the machine. He is doing well.
I am feeling great. I am back to what my body seems to think is an ideal weight despite my head believing that I should be 20 lbs lighter. My doctor feels I'm fine so I don't fret too much about it. I have to remember to be careful when it comes to strenuous things like moving big furniture or letting my Boy tackle me in the grass (he likes the snow even more so I better not turn my back on him
Winter's coming). I still have a job requiring me to lift heavy boxes but I find myself allowing generous people to help if they're nearby and offer. I feel so great I sometimes forget I have only one kidney and I need to protect it. I refrain from high risk adventure but still wish I had gone skydiving when I had the chance.
I have discovered I am a walking barometer. I drive a lot and when I drive West my side will cramp up a little which I guess means I'm a walking compass as well. If a front is moving through I can usually tell and then find myself testing my body by double checking with the weather person. I'm usually right on. It's no more than a little crampy or achy which I would guess an arthritic person might feel.
I have noticed that when I spell... I can't. I believe in part because I have succumed to the poisonous addiction of spellcheck. But I will say that after my surgery it got worse. Immediately I became mildly dyslexic. I blamed it on the anestesia thinking it was temporary but it never really went away. I find myslef mixing up the letters in the middle of a word and or leaving some out. I just spelled mildly midly and left the r out of really. I know it comes from the surgery and most probable the anestesia but it's a small price to pay. And I live for spellcheck.
(Which I can't find on here.)
I do everything to my body nutritionally that I did before. Albeit Ibuprofen. I drink two to three cups of coffee a day. I drink wine which is always handy since I sell it. I try to avoid fast foods but only because they tend to land on my waist and stay like an unwelcome guest. Fruits and vegetables are never my first thought in the kitchen. I have no routine in the meal department. I avoid drugs but will occassionally take Tylenol and most expire in my cupboard. I sort of kind of want to pay attention nutritionally but I don't want it to be something I have to think about. Basically I try to eat healthy and fresh.
I forget that I'm a donor. My scars are minimal and I don't notice them. Occassionally someone will mention my event and state their thoughts. Usually awe and complimantary. It sometimes takes me a second to figure out what they're talking about. I have friended on Facebook pages like the National Kidney Foundation (I just found this site on Facebook). I don't get involved much mainly because I have so much on my plate as it is. I feel like I should advocate more but I know I may only half commit due to my schedule and so I don't. I also just friended a nurse and admissions person from UCDavis on Facebook. They were very wonderful to me. When I friended this page the nurse's name popped up as a friend suggestion. It was weird and there was no way I could see how my psychic computer made the connect. Although odd things like that happen to me all the time so I was more surprised that I was surprised. I was grateful none the less.
I learned a lot from the experience of donating. I remain very irritated with myself for being naive in my financial circumstance and therefore embarrased. I get solice from the fact that I put it out there for others to learn from so they don't make a similar mistake. (To learn more see the archive "How is Celia?") I also know that every situation is as unique as a snowflake and I am fortunate to have had such an amazing happy ending kind of a journey. Even though the end is not here. I know there will be years of story telling for both my Uncle and myself.
My Father passed away last year and I was very much at peace with his death despite his youth (68) and that he was my Mentor and Best Friend. I miss him daily. But, at the hospital where he suffered from Cancer and a subsequent lung infection that took him, they asked who would be officiating with their signiture to confirm his organ donation. I took great pride as I couldn't stop smiling to sign that paper. I did not know he was an organ donor and with Cancer I did not think they could harvest anything. As it turns out they could harvest his eyes. In the course of his life he lived his last 30 years in Colorado which he loved. He also had the opportunity to work in Japan for a time many years ago. We all found it ironic that one eye went to someone in Colorado and the other to someone in Japan. I just think he wanted to stay topside to keep an eye on us.
Again, I am more surprised that I was surprised. Namaste Dad.
Lastly I think my message would be to follow your gut if you're faced with a donation decision. And by all means... sign your donor card. I have an itch in the back of my mind that it should be law that you are one automatically unless you opt out. Opting out should be easy enough to do but I seriously believe less people would opt out than have signed on to opt in.
I've covered a lot here and again, I can't thank you all enough for maintaining this site.
Best,
Celia
Topic: How is Celia Now? (Read 4216 times)