Mom Won the Lottery....

My mom last April was going to the doctor and trying to figure out why she had no energy and her anemia was getting worse. We learned that she was Stage 4 Kidney Failure. I was so mad. How could her doctor not know this from all her doctor appointments? We were told that she could be starting dialysis as soon as 18 months. She started dialysis last summer in July. She also started all the doctor appointments to get approved to be put on the transplant list due to the stage of her kidney failure. She was approved and received the letter for confirmation that she was on the kidney donor list on November 1, 2010. We were called on December 16th at 12:30 a.m. and told there was a possible match for a kidney. We were told on December 17th at 3:00 p.m. that it was a match. She was wheeled back to surgery at 8:00 p.m. that same night and her surgery was successful at 1:30 a.m. on December 18th. WOW what a whirlwind!! Such a blessing from God!!!

My sister in law and I were lying on the couch in the waiting area last night talking. We were wondering how this would change her life. We have seen amazing changes in my mom this last 9 months. We went to Canton as a family in May and she was so tired and had no energy. We had to get her a motorized wheelchair to get around. We went to Canton again after a family reunion in October and she was walking around so fast we were having a hard time keeping up with her. She has had so much more energy just from the dialysis that we have felt blessed. We pray that the anti-rejection medication works so well for her new kidney. We pray that her body will heal. We pray that God will use her life in extraordinary ways because of this wonderful gift.

So as you can imagine, we were shocked that we got the phone call that there was a possible match for mom. I was the one that received the initial call from Baylor as she was going through everything. It was a 52 year old male that had a history of diabetes and hypertension but his kidney functioning appeared to be fine. We were told that they were going to biopsy the kidney to ensure it was appropriate to put in mom. We were also told that mom’s antibodies were extremely hard and would make it difficult for a negative cross match. BTW – Negative cross match is what we wanted. It took over 24 hours for us to know something. This was one of my longest 24 hours of my life. So the odds were against us and we tried not to be too hopeful because we knew it was a long shot.

We were in the ICU when mom got out of surgery and the surgeon told us it was like mom won the lottery. He said that this was truly amazing. He said that if this kidney didn’t come around when it did then there was a high likelihood that mom would have never received a new kidney. WOW! He told mom this again this morning and I was speechless.

God truly received glory last night and my faith increased. My faith has come up short frequently the last few years since my dad died, but to see something like this well I can’t help to have tears in my eyes and be grateful! I was never really close to my mom until my dad passed away and the last three years have been a time that I have been able to grow closer to her and develop our relationship. God has given me more time with her. :) God is giving more time to my mom to be with her family.

But even though we have tears of joy there are tears of sorrow. There was someone that passed away and a family that lost their loved one. I empathize with them as I know how difficult it is to lose a loved one. We don’t know if he was single, married, widowed, divorced, but we do know that he had loved ones. I pray that God brings them comfort. He extended the life of many last night as he donated all of his organs. He is a hero!

New Car Already Scratched Up! :-/

So I bought a new/used car in November and it is already scratched up before my first car payment was due! Urgh!!! It was not a good day yesterday. We decided as a family that we were going to get up early and take Lacey to get her picture taken with North Park Santa. We got to IHOP and ate and then we went to NP at 9:00 a.m. We got a number and we were thinking we would wait for a couple of hours. Our number was # 128 which means come back around 3:30 p.m. WHAT??? Let me say that I may not be a good mom b/c I thought that was absolutely ridiculous to come back! BUT I am a great aunt so I drove back up to NP and met my sister in law. My brother and mom had plans that afternoon so they didn't get to experience this craziness! My sister in law calls me in a panic and tells me that she couldn't park straight (she was in my brother's car and not use to the size) so I was walking all over the parking lot trying to find her. She was like 2 inches from hitting the car beside her. I was able to pull the car out and park it straight. We then went in and got a pic with Santa. BTW we were wondering -- what happens to Santa when a kid pees on them??? You know that it has happened! Does he have extra Santa pants?

So I walked them out to the car and helped her get Lacey in the car and started walking to mine. I saw this car trying to pull in beside mine and he completely clipped it and scrapped it. Not only did he do it once he did it twice!!! AS I WAS WATCHING! I have my hands up in the air and the guy continues to try to get in. Look dude if you hit the same car twice I think it is time for you to think you are not going to fit in that space. (Before I went into NP, I was secretly happy when I parked b/c I didn't think anyone could park on that side of me.) So I went up to their window and said you just hit my car... Their response. No I didn't. Dum dum! So I told him that we need to exchange information and he agreed but if you know how crazy it gets at North Park you would think I was a saint. I told the guy if you just pull back some I will pull out and you can have my parking spot and we can exchange information. He thanked me and as I got in my car, he drove off! Dum dum on me! So brillant me got out in my flip flops and started chasing him in the North Park parking lot. I caught him! So I started gripping at him for driving off and he was telling me no I wasn't trying to drive off. Idiot! He said let me park and we can exchange information. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! I wasn't going to fall for that again. So I told him no that I would take one of his passengers. That guy was annoying as all get out. He was trying to convince me that the scratches on my car were old like months. I told him that my car was a month old, that I would have noticed the scratches on my car before I bought the car! Moron! So he gives me his friend's name and phone number. They said it was a rental car and give me some paperwork where I wrote the information down. Then the driver comes over and gives me a different name and a different phone number. I am SMART! I didn't believe them. So I asked him to call my number so I can ensure I get a correct number. He said he didn't have his license or a copy of his insurance to provide to me. WHATEVER! Then they ran off and said we will call you at 6:30 with all their insurance information (guess what -- they didn't). Urgh! So I went looking for the car and the rental stuff didn't match the car that hit me. So I got scammed!

My insurance company is on top of it. I like that my insurance adjustor is a woman and she is hacked at how the guys treat me. She said that she couldn't wait until she finds him and then sends a letter that they will be suing him! Love it. Lets hope justice will be served! Need to go up to the police station to file a report. I am hoping that they consider it a hit and run and the guy goes away for LIFE in prison! Just saying!

I know that I have called these guys every name in the book. They probably are very nice people outside of hitting peoples cars and then trying to drive off. Until next time!

Andi