The  long journey...years of watching Bobby's kidneys fail...seeing the effects on him and on us as a family. Now it's time for a kidney transplant. This will start next Fall with Bob going through all the testings, then it will be my turn. Hopefully, by the Spring it will be over and Bob will be back to planting his garden.
For those who are interested, you can go through this with us...We finally decided to let people know that the time for a transplant is at hand...There are three parts that I have to match to be his donor..one is blood type, we are both A-, the second is a tissue match...there are 6 parts to that and the more you match the better, but you can really get by without matching any of them...so we're all set there...the last one is a 'cross matching' which is the only one we aren't positive about. That we'll find out next Fall..if we don't 'cross match'..then I'll put my kidney on a list looking for a match for Bob, when we find one that I match and his/her spouse matches Bob, we trade...hopefully, we won't have to go that routine and Bob can stay off of dialysis.
We are thinking positive and hope you all will do the same...I am giving Bob a kidney for very selfish reasons, I want him here...I want the boys to have a father, and I want my grandchildren to have a Papa Bob...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWOTCmQTNA