George's Transplant Evaluation @ UNC

I would have to say that my day today was easy street compared to what I had imagined it would be. I registered at 8:30, echocardiogram (pictures of heart) @10, renal ultrasound @10:30, cheat x-ray after that, then found my way to Wendy's for a out of the ordinary fast food "meal". Al (my uncle) met me at 1:00 for a meeting with the donor coordinator which went very well, she is awesome, all smiles and very happy to be doing the work she does, it made our meeting enjoyable for sure. Then we met with the financial coordinator and that also went off without a hitch as I am well covered with BCBS and Medicare and therefore should not have any issues with expenses.

Al had to leave and I was left with one more meeting with a Neph. I was brought into the room and a nurse/tech took my blood pressure and temp then informed me that the Doc should be in very soon as they had been running on schedule all day. I was expecting just that as all of my appointments had been very close to scheduled times. So I sat in the chair put my head back and dozed for a few minutes, kind of tired at this point. Well, I woke up, looked at my watch and an HOUR had gone by. I walked out of the room and the nurse/tech was a few doors down so I made eye contact and asked what happened, "do they know I am here?" She said, oh yes they know, they must have gotten busy. 5 minutes later the Neph comes in and right away apologizes and says they DIDN'T know I was there, someone put my chart in the wrong place or my name was in the wrong place (can't remember exactly as I was in disbelief). I just smiled and blew it off...."Poster Boy" that I am and all that. Anyway, he asked the general health questions, checked me out, we talked, and I was on my way to do my labs to finish the day (blood work and EKG). Upon checking out I was given a parking validation slip "because you waited so long", what a swell thing to do to make nice for FORGETTING ABOUT ME. Anyhow, I made it home by 5:30ish and to opening night for the Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) game by 6:45.

It was a good day, much better than I had anticipated. I was told by the donor coordinator that my mother has begun testing to be a donor, her blood type is O, and she has gotten up to date with her physicals. I am not getting excited about this though as it is to early in the process yet and there are issues with our personal relationship. I know I would be foolish not to accept but I need to talk some things out first with an outside listener. My mom and I have talked maybe three times in the past 8 months or more and we always argue so there are some questions there. She has already told the donor coordinator that I may not be willing to accept so she (coordinator) is aware and will be leaving it up to me, naturally.

So there you have it, my day of ups and downs from health issues to loosing the hockey game in overtime. Hey at least we earned a point right!