Step By Step...Oooo Baby

*I know I owe a post about the NY/Michigan trip, Jeff's party, and all of the craftiness I've been up to. I have that post started but Iphoto is confusing me so I haven't been able to upload the pictures yet. I should have it done soon!*

Step 1...

I think most people who read this know, but here's some background anyway. My dad was diagnosed last year with multiple myeloma and amyloids that have wreaked some havoc on his kidneys.

(For more info about the process he's been going through, you can read his journal at this website. It hasn't been updated for a few months, but you'll get the idea.http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dennisminch)

He's been doing dialysis 3 times a week for 4 hours at a time pretty much since he was diagnosed. The lack of working kidneys puts him through a lot of discomfort and sickness. He was just recently accepted into the kidney transplant program and we've been told that a new kidney would help him a ton! That brings us up to date.

I am the only one in the family with blood that he could accept (O neg) so I'm really the only one who could consider donating a kidney to him. When we first found out he was accepted into the program, he said that he would only accept a cadaver kidney. With some more talking to the doctors about the donation process, he's opened up to the possibility of a live kidney donation. SO...Last week I started the process of seeing if mine will match. AND...I'm going to blog about it!

Total there are six steps to the matching process. Step one was four tubes of blood and a cup of pee. My mom would know better what they're testing for, but I can say they took a green tube, a red tube, a pink tube, and a purple tube. Such pretty colors! The results should be done soon so keep your fingers crossed that everything is good to go so far.

Of course both my dad and Jeff teased me because I pointed out that I got 4 tubes of blood taken and a teeny bruise. I'm know I don't have room to talk about getting poked, but it's something different so I'm probably going to talk about it anyway. lol

Even though my family can't donate their kidney to my dad, there is still the possibility of a paired donation. How that works is that someone in my family would go through the matching process. Then we'd be connected with another person who needs a kidney that matches theirs. That person would know someone willing to donate their kidney to my dad and we would help each other out. So there are lots of options these days and I'm hoping one of them will come through extra quick.