Happy Kidney Day!

Today is Kidney Day. Four years ago, Ger gave me Lefty and rescued me from a life in the Big Pink Chair. Lefty has been through a lot since then but is still hanging on like a trooper. Later today, I'm going to NYU to see Dr. Sloane for the first time since I was discharged from the hospital, so I'll actually be at the scene of the big kidney transfer on the anniversary of Kidney Day.

Hi Ger! Happy Kidney Day! Because of you, I do not have to spend three hours of today getting my blood scrubbed by a machine in a dialysis center. I can never thank you enough for what you did for me and for Gerry and Mike. I love you!

To celebrate Kidney Day, Ger is donating blood today at her hospital's blood center. Blood donation is a living-donor organ donation, too! Please make this February the month you decide to become somebody's hero; become an organ donor today and talk to your family about your decision. There are several links on the right that will show you how.

After the hospital, I'm going to pick up my oldest nephew in Brooklyn for a little vacation to my house. All the kids in the NY public schools are off this week, so I will probably have the whole contingent of nephews and nieces in shifts of sleepovers. Poor Mike has to wait until April for his week off. I don't think he cares much about it, though; he's in love and his feet hardly touch the ground when he walks through the door each day. Because I've been either sick at home or in the hospital for so much of the past six months, I haven't been able to spend nearly enough time with the younger kids. I'm hoping to get as much of them as I can this week, while the getting's good. And, the breathing.