FINALLY!

On July 1st my transplant coordinator called to inform me that the medical board at Tampa General Hospital has FINALLY approved me for the kidney transplant list! It has been a long 14 months of doctors visits, medication changes, testing, treatments, a broken bone (it was my toe..lol), and lots of co-pays, mileage, and waiting room time accrued but all that accounts for is life experience as my time on the list of 99,754 others waiting for a kidney officially starts now.

Oddly enough the day before I was approved I had posted an update with a video I made discussing my struggle to stay positive during this process. I don't regret showing just exactly how stressful and lonely my situation can be. There are days when I just don't even have the energy to get up and accomplish basic chores, and then other days I wake up feeling like I could take on the world and that is typically when I over do it. It's because of this inconsistency that I get frustrated and depressed. Thankfully I at least have the listing part out of the way so that I can start accruing time while I continue to search for a living donor. As of now the expected wait time on the list for a type O kidney is 2-3 years here in Florida.

Also, being put on this list does not mean I am guaranteed to stay active on it. In order to remain active on the list I have to continually address medical issues that arise immediately, including my most recent discovery that I need two wisdom teeth removed. As most of you know, wisdom teeth can become impacted and cause abscesses or infections, something that I cannot allow to happen if I want to stay active on the list. So now I have to visit an orthodontic surgeon on the  5th to see just how much I am looking at to have them removed. One of my wisdom teeth which is actually numbered as the first tooth (go figure) has already started coming through my gum and it is decaying. Tooth #32 is still under the gum line, but it is impacted and causing frequent pain for me. With me undergoing the scrutiny of this wait list process it was mutually decided that both need to be removed prior to them causing any problems and/or infections that would result in me being placed as "inactive" on the wait list until the problem is addressed. Part of my struggle to get on the list recently was due to my white counts being high which typically indicates the body is producing more white blood cells to counteract an infection. The last thing I need now that I am on the list is to be put on hold or removed because of some stupid wisdom teeth that I should have gotten removed preemptively when I had dental coverage. As some of you know, Medicare does not cover dental so this is 100% out of pocket for me. My initial visit this Tuesday is expected to cost me at least $275 for the consultation and panoramic x-rays, and then the extractions themselves are another $250-600 each depending on what is required to remove them. I am taking $275 out of my kidney fund to pay for the consult and then requesting an increase on a couple of my credit cards to try and cover the extractions. I am up to my ears in debt and I am in the process of fighting to keep my Medicare and disability which is costing me almost $400 a month in fees for legal counsel that I really can't afford right now seeing as I need to replace my dying car so that I have transportation to all of my appointments and Tampa for the transplant when the time comes. Not having dependable transportation is also grounds for being removed from the list as well. :(

So with all that being said, I am trying to just take things day by day and do my very best to stay positive. My birthday is coming up on the 27th which is also the 20th anniversary of my first dialysis treatment and official diagnosis with kidney failure. I am focusing on making that truly a day to celebrate another year of life considering I was told on that day in 1996 that I was going to die. For a 17 year old to hear that from a doctor is terrifying! Even now most people take what their doctor tells them as the gospel because after all they are the ones who studied to become medical professionals and we have been bred to trust that they know what they are doing. I wish that I could tell the doctor who tried to plant that seed in my head to her face just how important it is to take an optimistic approach when giving a patient a diagnosis rather than bluntly stating their best guess based on outcomes they learned about in school. None the less no thanks to Dr. Voelpel, I am here 20 years later and still on this side of the grass. That is why I try not to take what the minor deities (MD's) say too seriously. The only one who can say when I am going to give up this human form is God and until that day everything I am told otherwise is merely an opinion.

Thank you everyone who has been following my journey and offering words of kindness, support, and love...it is all very much appreciated and it is also a huge part of why I am still here today. I couldn't have made it this far without all of you rallying behind me to boost my spirits and to lend a helping hand when I needed it most. I ask that you please continue to share my story and spread the word about the importance of organ donation. There are over 120,000 people on the list waiting for the gift of life and you can help all of them by bringing awareness to the need for more people to register as an organ donor, and educating yourself on living donation. We're all in this together!

Love & Blessings, 

Melissa
"If you give, you begin to live." - Dave Matthews