It's a New Dawn, A New Day, A New Match, A New Date

Remember in my last post when I mentioned that I was a little hesitant to give the update because things can change so quickly?  Well, things changed. 

I received an email a few weeks ago letting me know that the chain had fallen apart...again.  I was super bummed.  I had mentally prepared for an October 27th surgery, I had coordinated volunteers to cover for me at work during my recovery time and so it was a real let down when I found out surgery wasn't happening.  Then, instead of being stubborn and selfish, I remembered that God's plans are bigger and better than my own and started to relax a little bit.

My information was put back into the Matchy Match Computer (not the real name) to hopefully find a new match.  Hurray!  A new match was found on the first day!  That meant I was headed back to Baylor for more blood work and was glad to be moving forward again.  My first question when I got to Baylor was, "what the heck happened with the match in Charlotte?"  Turns out the reason the chain fell through was because that lady got a new kidney!  She was matched with a deceased donor and she was able to have the transplant immediately.  My next questions was, "what the heck is the deal with my new match?" (ok, I didn't really say that).  So those plans that God has??  Yeah, definitely bigger and better.  The new match is a person in New Jersey.  My kidney will go to New Jersey.  That recipient has a donor that will give their kidney to a match in Atlanta.  That Atlanta recipient has a donor that will give their kidney to another person in Atlanta.  That other Atlanta recipient has a donor waiting to be matched to start a whole new chain.  More links on the chain means more lives saved.  The Charlotte match was just a 1 way chain whereas this one is a 4 way chain that ends with a bridge donor waiting to start another chain.  Bigger and better.   Giddy up.

My new surgery date is November 3rd, only one week after the original surgery date.  Also, since the time of my last post, our family found, purchased and moved into a new house.  It has been a crazy few weeks (with some more craziness coming up in November) but I look forward to moving on to the next steps in this process.  I will be doing my pre-op appointment the week of October 26th so my next post should be happening at that time.  Thanks again for all of the support and prayers and words of encouragement!