Fast friends

Here is the whole chain, again, so you can see who's who and who came to play. I have de ja vu. Did I already do this? I did, but here it is again. Memorize it, dammit. HA.
Me/Cullen
I donated to Shannon- NOT AT LUNCH
Shannon's sister Sheila donated to Mark -HE WAS THERE!
Marks friend Ann (SHE WAS THERE!) donated to Pricilla (not there!)
Pricilla's son in law John donated to Ron (neither were there)
Ron's niece Heather (SHE WAS THERE!) donated to Matt (HE WAS THERE!)

So, here is your run down on Who They Are, because I know you're dying to know. :D You should be, you know.

Mark- at the last meeting he was clearly in pain, uncomfortable and not doing so well, NOT kidney transplant related. But I'd felt bad for Sheila, because it was difficult to have a conversation with him when he wasn't feeling that well. I'm happy that I had a good report for her yesterday. He's a psychologist or psychiatrist, I can't recall which, and he looks the part. Except for his eyes. What is it about his eyes? He has very, very youthful eyes, and he SOOOOO MUCH reminds me of someone. Who is it, who is it....whoever it is is a girl, and she has the exact same mannerisms as he does. His eyes are VERY expressive. His numbers are good and he's down to visiting once a month with the kidney doctor, feeling much better. He has some other health issues going on, but it sounds like, and appeared that everything is pretty darned good right now. He's soft spoken, but well spoken.

Ann, his friend, reminds me so much of Cullen's aunt Paula. It's in the face- the soft, sweet eyes. She has a very sweet, kind energy around her. She has short brown hair, longer in front, and glasses. She's insanely smart, I get the feeling (and it's not because of the specs), and very intuned to people. She's married to Gus, a massage therapist (out of her home, Pooks!) and she's in school to become a (correct me, I'm going to butcher this) bio-energy therapist! How freakin COOL is that! I told her that I want to know everything she learns, even though I MUST know some of it already. She said it's way intense, and involves learning how to manipulate energy. And of course, EVERYTHING is made of energy. I move the clouds already (should I go for day two and see if can get us some sunshine???). I want to know what she learns! She has 2 kids, 14 and 17 and says that teenagers can be plenty of fun. She's very calming.

Heather is a HOOT. She describes herself as "as shallow as a teaspoon"- "but not in a bad way". HAH! She just takes things at face value and isn't deep thinking- until now. She's a nurse, and she's doing research right now, and one of the research groups was on renal patients. She was floored by the number of people who hadn't heard about the paired exchange program (because it's still in it's infancy here). So she's been flappin her mouth to anyone who will listen about how easy the surgery is for donors and how important it is to at the very least be an organ donor when you're done using your body. She speaks in exclamations, and says whatever comes to mind without much thought. I love her! She ordered a wine saying "there ain't nothin wrong with my liver!" and when Matt, who she donated to, said to Mark at one time "didn't you ask straight out of surgery about drinking beer?" the table erupted and Heather said "That's why we're a match!" So funny! She just moved home to MN with her 6 and 9 year old to be with her previous high school sweet heart. She has long, dark brown curly hair that she keeps pulled back mostly. A long, oval expressive face. She loves coach purses, shoes, makeup and all the girlie things that have somehow passed by me. She's a little petite thing and loves to run.

Kidney Matt- another hoot! He's tall, and sturdy looking. He has blonde hair, and a fantastic sense of humor. He wants very much to stay in touch with everyone, but hasn't joined facebook yet because it's a passing fad and won't last. ;) He is married to Sommer, who has red hair and brown eyes and I think she's so pretty, and they have 3 kids, 3 and under. He barely avoided dialysis. His numbers are coming down nicely, but he's still going in every 2 weeks. He wasn't sure why, and is going to find out. He is participating in a study for one of the anti rejection drugs, and it's making his hair fall out so he is getting off of it. He feels so good and normal that he has to set a pill alarm to remind him to take his pills, and he says that over and over again, the alarm will go off and he'll be all the way to work and have to turn around to get them. He means to put some in his car so he won't have to go home, but hasn't remembered to do that yet either.
He says "I'll do it when I go home!" deadpan and made me laugh.

Heather brought her boyfriend Matt also. He has 2 kids, 11 (and autistic, pretty severely...well, I'm not sure of the scale, but he functions at the level of a 6 year old, he said) and a 23 year old. Yes, I said that. Matt is all of 37. The 23 year old came along with Matt's first wife, and even after the divorce Matt was Dad, so he has continued to be. Don't you love that about him already? They have a pool and we all have plans to crash their place in the summer, along with Matt and Sommer's.

We got to hear some of the backstories to the surgeries and see the bigger picture- what was really going on while I was on here blogging about being so impatient. That's the amazing part, to see how everything happened PERFECTLY, just as it should. Mark had another donor who fell through after a month of testing. Heather's uncle had a donor, and that was The Donor Who Backed Out. Remember the Very Important Meeting they had with me the day before surgery? Telling me someone backed out and giving me a whole bunch of different scenarios? You almost couldn't breathe in that room, there was so much tension. And all I could think of was Shannon, and how this huge decision was laying in my hands. I could say RE DO! It made me sick. And then when they mentioned that there was a possibility that there were other people who would fit into the chain, and it would actually get one more person a kidney- well....giddyup.

Anyway- we swapped stories about the roommates we had in the hospital, and laughed about Heather going home with a cath- she tried to pee at the hospital, but just when it was about to happen the tornado sirens went off, and they were pounding on the bathroom door for her to get out into the hallway, and scared the pee pee away.

It's magic.