Overhwhelming

The outpouring of support for Stephen and to try to find him a kidney donor has been incredible!!!  I just wanted to thank you all so much for continuing to read and share our journey with us and for caring so much about Stephen and our family that you have shared our story with other people and they in turn have shared it with their friends and so forth.  I would have never expected to receive as many emails as I have regarding our search to find a kidney donor for Stephen.  It's truly amazing and I'm in awe of the kindness and generosity of people, a lot of them complete strangers!  And I have to mention the power of social media!!!!!  I haven't always been the biggest fan of Facebook and to be truthful, the Internet, because sometimes it's causes more harm than good, but in this case, it's been mind blowing how Stephen's story has made it's way through social media to other parts of the world.

At first we were actually fairly reluctant to ask people for their help.  Both Bill and I actually felt a bit awkward about asking people if they would be interested in donating their kidney to Stephen.  I mean how do you really ask someone for an organ?!?!  It's one thing to be an organ donor once you die, but it's a whole different ball game to ask someone for their organ while they're alive!!! We really had to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and think about what we would do if a friend, acquaintance, or stranger was in our shoes.  So over the past few days, I've had to really get over that fear of asking and talking to people about it, and just do it.  They want to help and I want them to help, so that's all there is to it, right? Right.

We did some labwork today and we have our now monthly dialysis clinic appointment on Wednesday and Stephen's third Synagis shot of the season this week too.  And my Mom is coming down on Wednesday to do some learning and training on Stephen's dialysis.  Bill and I are actually going to take a little vacation at the end of the month to Florida.  Crazy, I know!!!  But we could be more excited!!  It's a semi-work trip for Bill and I'm invited as well, so we thought, why not?  We desperately need some time away!  I've already done training with Bill's Mom, so now I just need to get my Mom up-to-speed.  So I've been working on making sure Stephen's medical supplies and medications are all stocked up so they don't run out of anything while we're gone and that all of his insurance paperwork is done since his Medicare Part D will switch over while we're gone.  And if anything happens, which I know it won't, I'm only a short plane ride away!

In case anyone was ever curious about what some of Stephen's  medical supplies look like....I got our shipment today of his dialysis supplies for the month.  Here's what one month of just his dialysis supplies (dialysis solution bags, tubing, caps, and drain bags) looks like.  We actually store it in the corner of our bedroom.  Not an ideal place, but it's better than the dining room!