Embracing Life

Sometimes when I talk about how stressed I feel, I am met with this response: But all you do is sit at a desk all day. How can you be tired? Apparently mentally tired is not a thing. By the time I get to work, I'm tired. Due to my anemia, it takes a lot out of me to try to hurry in the morning, deal with the kids who always need me right when I am walking out the door, and then when I finally do get to work, it's a long (COLD) walk from the parking lot. 8:00 - Computer is on, I'm logged in. 8:02 - First question of the day from someone in the doorway. I haven't even had time to check my voicemails or emails. 8:06 - Attempt to check email, read 2, start to respond to one... 8:07 - Co-worker comes in with a question and some paper to look at 8:50, I have been trying for 40 minutes to finish that email I started, as well as make myself a cup of coffee to warm up since my office is freezing. I have to hurry for the coffee since I need to take my pills at 9 a.m. Try to go to...

Title: Bound to Die: A Cozy Mystery Author: Mak K. Han This was a fun cozy mystery, in which is I hope there will be many more! The first chapter set the tone for the book - it had humor and just a little bit of paranormal mystery. However, most the the real mystery centers around the killing of a grumpy man in Strawberry Shores. The main character, Laura, has a cool psychic ability. She and her two friends, Alex and Emily, are drawn into solving the case, yet the killer knows they are on to him/her. There was just the right amount of mystery, romance, and danger in this cozy mystery. I recommend this book for anyone, including YA readers. *I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.   (less)

January. The time of new beginnings. New starts. The dreaded resolutions that everyone proclaims will change their lives in the new year, yet many fail to hold onto through the very first month. I don't make resolutions. Strike that, I did make one for the kids. "What's a new year revolution?" one child asked. "It's a positive change you make at the start of the new year. And your re S olution is to fold your own laundry and put it away." This worked for two days. ;) Let's be honest, 2015 was a stressful year for me. It started out great - we headed to Disney with my family for a week of fun, mostly sun, and great memories. But mere weeks later, I found myself in kidney failure from a hereditary disease that normally does not worsen. By May, I was officially on the national transplant list. By the grace of God, I didn't have the normal 5 year wait that most people have when waiting for a kidney. On October 15, just months after being li...

The surgery began around 2:25 and lasted until 6:45.  They woke me up and told me the time was 7:15, so that was the point that I was in the recovery room.  After monitoring my vitals for some time, I was able to be taken back to my room.  There was little pain at that point since I was pretty numb, but my arms hurt from the various IVs I had in them. I had a total of 3 in me, and had had the initial one replaced before surgery.  That one had hurt the most.  My arm was pretty tore up for about two weeks after the surgery.  Other than that, I had 36 staples in my abdomen and a JP drain in my side for fluid in me to drain out. The thing about a kidney transplant is that they don't actually remove either of my bad kidneys.  The new kidney is actually placed in my abdomen, and hooked up to an artery in my groin that comes from the leg (Or something like that)...so technically at this time I have three kidneys.  One that works great, and two that...

Was it just last week that I posted I was on alert for a kidney? Seems like months ago at this point.  The night after I was put on alert, I still wondered if I would get a call.  I received another call in the afternoon stating that I was still in the running.  There was one person ahead of me, and he/she was a multi-organ recepient, and that took presedence over me.  The other two times I had received the alert call, I felt sick to my stomach. I prayed that it wasn't the time.  I wasn't too concerned about being called back.  This time, I was strangely calm.  I didn't go crazy trying to clean the house or get things done, rather I played Uno with the kids. We all laid in my bed at bedtime, reciting prayers and just being together.  Keith and I watched some DVR.  At 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14, the phone rang.  It was the nurse coordinator, stating that the kidney was mine, and that I needed to be into Chicago by midnight. ...

About this time last year, I wrote this post: Enjoy the little things... .  I quote one of my favorite songs - Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  I talk about the time I drove home from my grandpa's funeral, all alone, and this song came on the radio.  But from time to time, this song will magically appear on the radio when I need it most. Like today while I was driving. I debated bringing this up as I don't want to hear people say - "I hope it works out for you" or "I'm sorry" when/if it doesn't. I will begin this by saying, there is no right thing to say to me when I share this news.  Perhaps just a like on my FB post will be enough to know someone read it. But here's the thing.... I am #2 in line for a cadaver kidney today. I found out last night. This is the third call I've received since the end of August putting me on alert. (Because it doesn't really happen like it does on t.v.). First they call and say, hey we have a kidney, b...

So here's the thing - I have a really sucky disease.  Well, sort of. I mean, it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things. (Despite what my mom thinks.)  A little girl I follow on FB just had a liver transplant, and they think the new liver is failing. Don't even get me started on all the gun violence in the world... especially Chicago and my hometown. Life could be worse. Strangely enough, I seem to be the only person in my family with such a positive outlook. I say that loudly and proudly on my blog - 1, because most of my family doesn't read this, and 2, because I say it to their faces as well.  But do you know what sucks about being positive, even with a life-threatening disease? People think you're cray cray. It's true. They don't know what to do with me. Apparently I am not your typical kidney failure person.  I'm always out and about, I work full-time, and I am not on dialysis. Well not yet anyway.  T-minus one day until I go for th...