Brother, can you spare a kidney?

As you may (or may not) know,  I have been battling chronic kidney disease for several years now.  The story of how that came about, and my surgery in November, can be found in my prior post here.  Starting on Friday, October 22nd, the purpose of that surgery was put in to practice.  My kidneys are in a state of failure, and I have started on dialysis three days a week.  The surgery was to provide an easy access point for dialysis. The picture above is of the very machine I was connected to on Friday.

Juggling work and trying to maintain a decent amount of hours along with regular dialysis treatments is, as you can imagine, rather challenging.  I work for a consulting firm, so every hour I work is billed to a customer.  It not only matters that I get my work done, but that I bill a sufficient number of hours each week.  I am trying to arrive at work very early and work until it's time to leave for my treatment.  I also plan to try to get some work done at home after I've had an hour or two to recover.  I'm not sure how well that's going to go, though.  Dialysis treatments literally take something out of you.  You leave with low blood pressure, and the arm that was connected is very weak.  You weigh before and after the treatment, and after only two hours for my first one, I had literally lost 1 pound.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining -- I know in my heart that God has a plan for me, and that everything is in his hands.  My human mind, however, still needs a bit of convincing that I'll be able to keep this up and maintain somewhat of a "normal" life.

I am currently on the kidney transplant waiting list at Emory Hospital.  I am technically not "active" until I lose about 10 more pounds, but I am accumulating time on the list.  Typically, people on the list who have A-positive blood like me tend to wait about 3 years for a "non living" donor.  However, I would much prefer not to have to wait that long.  Also, a kidney from a living donor is much more preferable.   They tend to "take" better and last longer than a kidney from a "non living" donor.

Generally, I am not one to ask for favors of people.  I like to DO favors.  I believe God has granted me the resources I have so that I can help the people I care about.  This time, though, I would like to ask anyone reading this to prayerfully consider donating a kidney to me.  The entire process will be paid for my my insurance, and (bonus!) I would be eternally grateful.

If you feel led to submit yourself as a possible kidney donor for me, you can call the Emory Transplant Center for an initial interview.  Here is their contact information:

Emory Transplant Center
Living Donor, Kidney Transplant Program

Clinic Building B, 6th Floor
1365 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, GA  30322

Initial Living Donor Interview:  404-712-4857

Toll Free Donor Line:  1-866-727-3250

Fax Number:  404-712-7311

http://www.emoryhealthcare.org/transplant-kidney/index.html

I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support.

Rich

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Donate to Nashville Flood Relief

I'm sure most of us have heard of the devastation caused by the recent Nashville floods. The staff and members of Cross Point Church have been actively being the hands and feet of Jesus for hundreds of victims of the flooding. Now, you can be too, from the comfort of wherever it is you have yourself plopped in front of the computer screen. Just click on the logo above this post to go to a page where you can make a donation to Cross Point's Flood Relief Fund.

So...what are you waiting for? Go! Now!

Want!

I'm talking about the Parrot AR.Drone. It's a remote control helicopter-bot, so? You control it with. your. iPhone. (!!!) Over wifi. It has cameras that show the bot's eye view, on your iPhone. And oh, also augmented-reality games you can play while flying it, alone, or against other Parrot drones. Check out this flight video - it's like something out of a scifi flick!

My thoughts on the healthcare bill and politics in general

I recently commented on a post on Facebook about the debate on the healthcare bill and the prayers of praise and woe being offered up left and right on the social networking site in recent days. I think this sums up pretty much how I feel about politics and government. It's a passionate diatribe, so, mom, if you read this, pardon my "french". Read, and please comment. I'd love to hear people's reactions to this.

I'm just damn tired of everyone being so self-righteous, both conservative and liberal. I disagree with the particulars of this bill, that not in the morality or sense of fixing healthcare, which is obviously broken. The truth is that law by its definition DOES legislate morality. The question is whose morality does it legislate. I think the best is actually a mixture of liberal and conservative ideas. I believe that we can do some things to help those who cannot help themselves, but not at the expense of damaging those who DO help themselves, AND others. I believe that children, including the unborn and the forgotten, should be cherished. I believe that our elders should be respected and paid back for what they have given to society. I believe that unrestrained greed kills. I believe that unrestrained government does too. Far lefties will call me a "neo-con", far righties will call me "soft". I will continue as I am. Give me a reasoned argument, a workable idea, that doesn't hurt as much as it helps, I'm a reasonable guy. I can listen. Let us all listen to each other. That's the only way to get anything worthwhile accomplished at all.