Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire FANTASTIC NEWS! I AM GETTING A KIDNEY!!! HALLELUJIAH!! PTL!

YEP, you read it right here. I just learned this morning from one of my potential donors who has been through the full battery of tests including cell to cell accept/rejection testing that was just completed, that we are a match and moving forward!

I want to thank, most sincerely and deeply, the many of you here who have been praying for me and encouraging me through PM's and phone calls. Also many thanks to those of you whom are partway through the process of determining if you are a candidate to donate and who offered me a kidney. Your generosity and caring are just amazing to me. Even though I do not need you to donate at this time, my appreciation is no less. You were willing and were taking the forward steps to try to give me something more precious than any gun or thing made of metal or wood etc. I am humbled, and gratefull and so pleased to be abe to tell you that you do not need to continue with following through on this.

Either late March or Early April (I know, this is going to about ruin my Oregon ground squirrel shooting, but I have not felt much like going lately, anyway) Sherri and I will hook up the 5th wheel to the F-250 and point it all toward the U of W / Virgina Mason center for Kidney, Liver and Pancreas transplants. There is a KOA nearby and this will be our home for about one month while I go through the surgery and long recovery. My mother and step dad with possibly another caregiver/helper will be coming along and staying with us as I will be very frail and need 24 hour attention for a while. Due to the possibility of an artery suture blowout or my body starting to reject the new Kidney, I and my caregivers all have to stay within a 10 minute drive of the hospital for at least one month after the operation. My transplant will be more risky and difficult to recover from if, as I suspect, they will want to remove both of my very enlarged, plugged up kidneys. Survival rate is not 100% on bilateral transplants and my Nephrologist had his last bi lateral transplant patient pass away on his watch, but my disease has a zero percent survivability and killed my grandfather and great grandfather on my mothers side before they were the age I am now so this is a no brainer for me. I have two months to lose a little weight and get my cardiovascular health as good as I can get it. The chief Nephrologist has ordered the local pain clinic to give me as much of whatever I need for the next couple of months to enable me to excercise once again. I recieved some pain injections this morning that are helping already.

I am told that I will feel different and much better, other than the incision/surgery pain, the moment I wake up from the procedure. I guess that if I do not wake up from the procedure I will feel even better than THAT! (In heaven, with my Lord. That was mostly a joke.....) I am excited to again experience what it feels like to have decent blood running through me and not be terribly exhausted all of the time. To lose the Nausea, skin lesions and somewhat more slowly the gout that today grinds away at so many of my moving parts and makes them hurt so much.

I will have to take anti rejection meds forever, but if in trade I can toss my blood pressure meds and all of these damned Opiate based and neurological type pain management pills... well that is a trade I will be happy to make!

Maybe I will toss them all into the local small lake so that our close by trout can have one heckuva wonderful day, on me

Kidding aside, I just wanted to share this awesome news with my many friends here and say, again, a great big thank you to those who have been holding me up in prayer and encouragement. Don't stop praying yet, please, I have to survive the next two months without a stroke or another heart attack plus this pretty major surgery. That said, there is MUCH HOPE and MUCH JOY in this camp right now. I may be getting most of my old life and vigor back. I can hardly wait.

With deepest gratitude and all praise to our great, healing living GOD,

MARK

PS if all goes according to plan, I will be only the second patient in Dr. Matthias Stroemel's lifetime patient load to ever go from stage five or end stage renal failure directly to a transplant without having to endure Dyalysis. How cool is that? Thank you, Jesus. Once again I am reminded that I am a man who has been richly blessed of God. I cannot pay him back, not even close, and then there is that whole sin debt thing he handled on my behalf.... but I am sure motivated to try!

PS There is still the matter of my pituitary adenoma, a type of brain tumor, to deal with, but with a good kidney the Doc's will be able to use contrast dye again and get a good look at it. If it is growing the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Zion Ill has a gamma knife that can likely take care of that.

It will be interesting to me to see if just getting clean blood will restore to me my memory and ability to think more clearly and quickly. Might need to blow up that Adenoma thingy, but either way, a new day is dawning for me and I am MORE than excited.

Mark, great news of the donor match! Blessings abundant for the next few months!!

Congrats! Prayers continue

Cool! Prayers for a good surgery and quick recovery!

Congrats! Prayers for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.

Congrats Mark...great news!

That is UBER good news!!

Very good to hear, any timeline yet on the surgery?

A few formalities to tie up and getting my Nephrologist and the Surgeon there scheduled together for the proceedure.

Most likely Late March or Early April. COULD maybe be as early as the first part of March. I am hoping for that so that I can recover in time to anhilliate ground squirrels this spring

I ALREADY feel better, hope is a wonderful elixer.

I may, and probably will, be up to hunting big game again by next fall. Woo Hoo!

Congratulations Mark ! We don't have any good guys around here that we can afford to loose. E

Super!

Good news. Hope all works out for you.

Best to you Mark.

Good news Mark. Keep us updated, you know what I will be doing.

Great news!

Great news, my friend - hope you and Sherri are doing well!

PTL.

congratulations, hope it all works out well for you.

Great news. I will continue to pray for you.