May = Mayo?

When I made out tests for my students, I liked to lighten the mood for them a little bit by including a joke. The first part was at the top of the first page. The punch line appeared somewhere else on the test. The point was to give them a release for any stress that might be caused by the students' lack of studying for the test. I know that the difficulty of the test couldn't have caused any stress! Students usually looked for the joke first or for the cartoon at the end of the test. For some reason, I thought of the following joke today.

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

Wait for it...wait for it...

Well, the answer is pilgrims, of course. Go ahead and groan and shake your head. I'm used to it. You don't even have to give me credit when you tell it to somebody else. It's not an original joke anyway.

It looks like May might be bringing another trip to Phoenix for us. I received a call today from the living donor coordinator at the Mayo Clinic. The insurance company has approved the process (again), and we are ready to proceed. I had called the clinic earlier telling them that I wanted to be tested to be a donor. The coordinator called back this evening. She told me the history of living liver donations at the Mayo Clinic, the possible complications that can occur with the donor, and the rest of the process for becoming a donor. She then asked several questions about my medical history. I think that I aced that quiz even though I didn't study for it.

The good news is that no donors have died at the Mayo Clinic since they began living liver donations in 2001. Of the 110 transplants, only two have had major complications, and both of them are fine now. Even the few minor complications have been resolved. After giving me all of that information, the coordinator proceeded to inquire about my medical history. She then asked if I had any other questions for her. She had already answered everything that I could come up with, and we had already found most of the information in our own research.

So what does all of this mean? Well, the coordinator will meet with the head of the program tomorrow. If he agrees that I am a good possible candidate, they will fax orders for blood work to Baylor Hospital. I will then go by Baylor on Friday to have the blood tests done. If anyone knows of any online study guides for these tests, please let me know because I want to do my best. It should take one to two weeks for the results to be evaluated by the team at Mayo. If I did well enough, I will get invited to travel to Phoenix in May for a week of evaluation. After that week, the Mayo team will make the final determination as to whether or not I will be a good liver donor for Missy. Sooooooo, if the answer is yes, the transplant could happen in late May.

We are making progress, or at least we are doing something. We still have some issues to consider and handle like logistics for Joy, our pets, and our house during the transplant. We also need to secure two caregivers for the recovery process. Thanks for all of your prayers and support through all of this.

Oh, one more pilgrim joke: Why do pilgrims have problems keeping their pants up? Because they wear their belt buckles on their hats!