The apple of Grandma's eye

I just wanted to share this picture from our informal "Family Day" yesterday. We spent a relaxing (and gorgeous!) day at the house: eating (Pete made Danish pancakes, cinnamon rolls & pizza from scratch), playing, enjoying the garden that Pete has so lovingly maintained, and just overall being thankful for time together before the craziness sets in. I think this is my favorite picture from the whole day. It captures the sheer sense of joy that Jade has brought into our family's life, but particularly to Addie, who is relishing all the joys of "grandmahood." The beginning of Addie's dialysis was coincidentally timed almost perfectly with Jade's arrival last summer. It was as if God said, I know you're starting something that will be challenging and burdensome, but here's a little something to help you enjoy yourself and bring you new life as you journey through it.

(Joan)

Countdown to a transplant

Greetings to friends and family, and welcome to our blog. We figured this would be the best way to keep everyone up-to-date on Addie's kidney transplant. We are less than three weeks away from T-Day (Transplant Day) - July 15. Last week Addie received her first IVIG (intravenous immune globulin) treatment. It went better than she expected and hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.

For those of you not familiar with the background of the upcoming transplant, here is a VERY brief summary of our adventure thus far:

Although Addie had been aware for several years that her kidney function was less than desirable, it wasn't until a local acupuncturist, Dr. Yu, recommended she go see the specialists up in Stanford that Addie realized how severe the situation was. She was put on the list for a cadaver kidney donor in the summer of 2006. The expected wait time was approximately seven years. At that time, the doctor told her that based on her current kidney function, he expected she would need to go on dialysis by the end of that year. Those of you who know Addie know that she is very determined and very disciplined. After some initial research, she made severe restrictions to her diet and was able to remain off dialysis for another two years. She started at-home peritoneal dialysis last summer.

Joy and Joan were initially tested as potential donors back in 2006, but were not found to be within the realm of a good match back then. Since then we explored the possibility of a couple other family members, but for various reasons, those did not work out. Last spring (2008), Stanford informed us that new advances in technology and medicine were making it possible for them to widen the realm of matching donors and Joan now fit within the margins of a "match". After much testing and some delays, we finally received the green light and the date has been set for July 15.

We hope to use this blog to keep you updated as the family travels up to Stanford for the surgery and Addie and Pete remain up there for the couple months following the surgery for follow-up care. Over the next couple weeks before the transplant, we'll post some of our thoughts and plans leading up to T-Day. Please check back here for updates or subscribe to the feed to get notification when the blog is updated.

Many thanks to all those whose prayers, thoughts and kind words have kept our spirits up and blessings flowing over the past three years!!

(Joan)