We received word last week that our meeting with the Kidney Transplant Team at Integris is set for May 22. Naturally we want to receive as much information as we can as early as we can but we will patiently wait a few more weeks. Tim is still feeling good and we continue to put this in God’s hands and are filled with hope.

This initial appointment should take around four hours. We’ll meet with the nephrologist, surgeon, financial coordinator and social worker. The letter confirming our appointment also had a list of instructions for us to review and follow. My favorite is this one: Please be respectful of the staff taking care of you by arriving on time for your appointment with a clean body, hair and clothing. I guess that means I’ll have to do laundry!

We’ve been so thankful for the support and prayers from our friends and family. Many of you have reached out to us and shared stories of others who have traveled this same journey. We’ve had a number of people ask about Tim’s blood type and the crazy thing is, we don’t remember what it is. Mine is A Negative so we know that isn’t his type. We will know soon though and be able to share.

I mentioned in my first blog post that we are considering a paired donation where I would donate a kidney to someone I’m a match with and then Tim would get a matched kidney in turn. We also have had several people offer to be a living donor and give a kidney to Tim if they are a match. I’m keeping a list of all the wonderful friends and family members who have offered and will definitely be in touch when we know more.

My favorite story so far around this whole adventure happened when we were on Spring Break in Santa Fe. If you know us, you know we love to vacation there. Mainly it’s the food, but we also love the skiing and hiking. Even though New Mexico didn’t get much snow this year, we decided to brave it and ski a couple of days.

Tim wore his favorite sweatshirt that just happens to be from the University of Tulsa. While we were taking a break at the best mid-mountain watering hole ever, two different people stopped and asked if we were from Oklahoma. One guy was wearing an Enable Midstream  hat which made the conversation go a little deeper then just the normal chit chat. Enable is the natural gas affiliate of OGE, where Tim worked for over 14 years. We had a nice time chatting it up with our new friend and then headed out for more skiing.

Later that evening we decided to continue our quest of ranking the best margaritas in Santa Fe. We stopped by the outdoor patio at Inn of the Anasazi and grabbed a seat. We were greeted, served water and given menus. Then we didn’t see a server for 15 minutes so we left and went to La Posada. We love this hotel and the bar area is always hopping. We arrived and grabbed two seats at a small table in the corner. We placed our order and were getting settled in when we realized our Enable friend and his family were right next to us. We then spent the next 30 minutes playing our own version of Kevin Bacon’s six degrees of separation. But let’s face it, we live in Oklahoma and we never need six degrees. Thanks to poor service earlier in the evening at the other hotel prompting us to walk out, we had what I like to call a “God Moment” with Kelly and Maggie.

We found out more about each other and how many friends and experiences we have in common. Maggie also has a background in communications and public relations and works at Integris. You know – the place where they have this amazing organ transplant center. She was so excited to learn about our story and said she would be interested in being a living donor for Tim. Her husband assured us it wasn’t just the wine talking and that this was something she has always wanted to do for someone. What an amazing story this will truly be if she turns out to be a match and ends up being the living donor.

The spirit of generosity is alive and well.

I promise, as soon as we know Tim’s blood type, we will let everyone know and we’ll be in touch about the process for living donors who are interested.

One last thing – I learned in journalism school at OU that you are not supposed to bury the lead but there are multiple story lines happening in our lives right now. We did get fantastic news that we are going to be grandparents! Tyler and Elyse are expecting and the baby is due the day before my birthday. Lots of great things happening for our family and becoming a grandmother feels pretty terrific right now. And yes, I cried when the kids told us.

We truly have so much goodness in our lives and are thankful to be able to share this wild and crazy ride called life with all of you as we wait patiently for a new kidney and our first grandbaby!