Happy Birthday, Scott!

It's Scott's 51st birthday!  We will celebrate him with lasagna and gifts tonight when we all roll in from our days at work and school.  

Today is weighing on him.  He wants to celebrate, but he is tired, his body is not living up to his expectations, and his enthusiasm is waning - doubt about finding a donor is setting in.  Not to mention kidney failure zaps most of your energy, and yet he powers through to teach 150+ needy students every day.

It has been less than three weeks since we officially kicked off our search for a donor, and we have several wonderful friends who are somewhere in the range between curiosity & living donor assessment forms submitted.  We also have several friends who are willing but unable to donate due to age (70 is the max, no matter how healthy you think you are), arrhythmia medication that is nephro-toxic, and cancer history (but currently cancer free).  It is hard to focus on the possibilities that exist in the unknown, when in this stage, the piece that is known is about rejection.

Even in my case, I submitted my assessment, followed up 8 days later, and received a call the next day saying I'm not a match because we are not the same blood type.  What I wanted to say was "DUH!".  What I said was, "Yes, I know.  I'd like to be entered into the exchange [paired donation] program. Do you know when I can expect to hear back about that?"  The response?  "Well, she is on vacation next week, so maybe after that."  That is not a rejection, just a delay.

She deserves a vacation - this woman, who does the wonderful task of helping pair donors & recipients.  Keeping that perspective is tricky; another week of waiting feels like much longer.  That is another week Scott has to power through teaching, another week he has to focus on resting instead of living his dreams or working out or having adventures with his family.  And yet, that is one week - we have no way of knowing how many we have to wait.  Neither of us list patience as a strength.

Tonight we celebrate life and love and family.  We will be together, and appreciate each other.  We will focus on the opportunities we see in the future, not the things holding us back today.  We are rich with blessings, and the best is yet to come.