Poked, Prodded, and Passed for Transplant

Section 1.
To start this post off, I need to first give a short explanation of why this testing is being done. If you are not interested in the medical part of this post, please proceed to section 2. Once I receive a kidney, I will be immuno suppressed, meaning I will take medicine to decrease my immune response so I will not reject the kidney. This means that any illness that I may have now and not know about will go unchecked, so if I had cancer and didn't know it, it would explode unchecked. Therefore, I have to undergo testing for every possible problem. This was my August 7th.

Section 2.
The Testing.....

Trans-thoracic Echo-cardiogram........proof that I do, in fact, have not just a heart, but a good heart. For all my patients that say that I don't, "I told you so!!"

Abdominal Ultrasound......proved that I am a gutsy guy.

Chest X-ray.....Lungs of a champion, bones of a weak old man. (thanks kidney failure and hyperparathyroidism).

18 vials of blood for blood work......quickest way to lose a few pounds, though not the easiest.

Meeting with social worker for psychological work-up........(pause for all my friends to laugh and make jokes about my psychological idiosyncracies)......was told "you would be a great candidate for transplant, but I gather you will try to push yourself too hard and you will need to learn to rest and heal"......hahahaha.......then I asked how long I would have to be off the bike and when could I go back to work. In one ear and out the other.

Meeting with the MD.......passed. Md feels I would be an easy transplant. Tells me I should consider trying out for transplant Olympics afterwards. ( http://www.transplantgamesofamerica.org/ ). If you are not a donor, you can sign up on this website to become a donor upon death in your state. You could save multiple lives, please give this some serious thought, and check out my other post labeled Dear organ donor if you are.

Md told RN to fast track my file to get me into the transplant meeting on Friday, so as of August 10, I should officially be on the transplant list.

Section 3.
For anyone who has been watching the Olympics on TV, I could be the next Usain Bolt or Bradley Wiggins (for the transplant Olympics that is). So get your tickets now. This will probably be my post-transplant goal and you could know an Olympian.