Cousin Brenda's visit

As most of you already know, my cousin Brenda has been here all week to finish her testing to be my donor. Brenda lives just outside Denver; she has been with us since Friday & leaves today around 5pm.
We had a GREAT week and loved having Brenda with us. It was especially nice to have her here to share Thanksgiving with us. I really loved being able to get to know her better. Even if things don't work out for her to be my donor, this has been such a great experience and I have loved having her here with us.
My grandparents instilled a very strong "family first" value in all of their children. I know they are with us, and they would be so proud that Brenda is willing to give me this wonderful gift.

Things went well at Mayo Clinic. There were several key things they were looking for: blood type, cross-match, antigens, and MRI results. Her blood type we already knew was O+. To find out if there is a cross-match, they mixed her blood & mine together in the lab to see if they would be compatible, or reject each other. We had a negative cross-match, which means our blood was compatible (which is good). There are 6 antigens they look at- they are genetic markers, we get 3 from each parent for a total of 6. They can now take someone to be a donor even if they have zero mathing antigens, because the rejection medications have improved so much. But of course, the more antigens that match the better. We matched 3 out of 6, which is great. The MRI looks at the size of the artery going into the donor's kidney, and it also looks to see if there is one artery or two going into the kdiney. Narrow arteries could cause an increased risk for blood clots for the recipient (me). And most people have one artery going into each kidney- some folks have two, and that makes the kidney not suitable to be donated. Everything on my cousin's MRI looked great.

Her file goes to the comittee on Tuesday. We should be getting a phone call on Wednesday, so keep us in your prayers.

If Brenda is a match, Mayo has told us we can have the surgery as early as mid-December. But we have decided to wait till early January. That seems best for everyone.


I am nervous. I feel like we are so close. Spending so much time around all our friends & family who have babies has only deepened our longing to have a family of our own. We love spending this time with everyone, but when everyone goes home & the house it quiet again, the saddness settles in. But we have to just keep moving forward & hoping. If I have the surgery soon, maybe nexy holiday season we will be able to start trying again.

I hope everyone has a happy holiday!!