Monday, 1 February Screening - Continued

We are home now. I had hoped to do an update on the bus, but it was too bumpy to type. My typing is bad under the best of conditions.

After our meeting with Ilana, the social worker, we met with Dr. Serur, the Nephrologist (Kidney doctor). That seemed to be mostly about our general health; smoking, drinking, exercise, etc. He seemed pretty happy with our lifestyle -- even asked Barbara if she wanted to be a donor! I think he is going to give me a prescription for an echo cardiogram, since I have never had one and my BP is a bit high.

After that meeting, we said goodbye to Marion, our coordinator, and left the transplant center for the basement where they did a chest x-ray and CT scan of my pelvis and CTA of my abdomen. The CT and CTA are to identify blood flow to and from the kidneys. The CTA part required injecting dye into my veins. The nurse told me that it would make me feel warm -- and, boy, was she right -- I wonder where I can get some of that stuff.

Next, I went to a different floor where they did an EKG. This went very quickly. At the end of the test, the technician said to me; "I know you are a donor -- good luck to you." That was very nice of her.

That concluded my screening. It was great to get outside. The weather had warmed up to the 30's so we decided to walk toward the apartment and, of course, get something to eat. It was after 2:00 pm and I had only been allowed a granola bar and bottle of water since the night before.

It was so helpful having Barbara with me through all of this, besides moral support, she handles all of the logistics; food, transportation, paperwork, etc. Not sure where I would have wound up without her -- she did a great job of negotiating the NYC subway system. We asked both Marion and Ilana if Barbara would be able to stay with me at the hospital. They said that donors usually get private rooms, so it would likely be possible.

We went to a supermarket where they had a salad bar and a place to sit down and eat.

After lunch we started walking toward home. It was nice to see all of the sites of NYC, especially the people watching. As the day went on, it got colder and a bit windy. We got to Whole Foods somewhere about 5:00 pm. We setup our netbook computer on their WiFi, got a hot dinner, returned some phone calls and just relaxed.

Kate called while we were in Whole Foods and we had a long talk. She seemed upbeat. She told me that she was applying to get on two other waiting lists, Charlotte, NC and one in Nebraska (I believe that is correct). We discussed the logistics of staying in the NY area for the surgery and Kate's desire to hold out as long as she can for a pancreas and kidney double transplant.

We then walked about another 6 blocks back to the apartment. Barbara checked her pedometer -- we had walked almost 8 miles.