Troubles McSteans

Tomorrow, July 27, is a very special day. It is the birthday of two classy ladies, my mother, and my good friend Nicole. I'm happy to say, my mom and I have a great relationship. I've detailed a little of my medical history here, but that didn't just affect me. My mother went through a lot of that with me, especially in the beginning. She took me to all of my nephrologist appointments which were an hour and a half away in Oklahoma City and was there when I was first diagnosed. I've been fine with all of this for years, but it was a scary day for a previously healthy 17 year old as words like "transplant" and "dialysis" were suddenly thrown around. We were so depressed that we took a detour to the mall on our way home for shopping and about a pound of chocolate each from the Godiva store. Mom took charge of my health, from altering our diets to doing her own research on kidney disease. She even took me to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for a s...

Anyone that has been to my house when I'm not expecting company knows I'm not the tidiest of people. Honestly it's good for us to have folks over frequently as it forces us to do cleanups. I don't like being this way. I wish I was one of those people (the majority of the population) who are able to put things back after they use them. Simple enough, right? But sometimes I remember to do this and other times I space out. Then the spacing out overpowers the remembering and soon I've got a cluttered living room. Having animals doesn't help. About a year ago we gave up completely trying to keep the dogs off the couch, so there's dog and cat hair everywhere. The hair is only part of the problem. Our backyard has grass except for over by the fence where Lucy has dug a trench running back and forth to bark at the neighbor dogs. When it rains this turns into a mud pit. Then Miss Lucy and sometimes Mel will show up at the door wearing a nice set of mud bo...

If you have some time, go watch Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog . It stars Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion, is directed by Joss Whedon and is awesome. Update: I think this is only available the next 2 days, so see it while you can! Maybe only available for free? I'm not sure. Go watch!

As briefly mentioned in my first post, I have had two kidney transplants. I took the second semester off from my first year of college to have the first one and received that kidney from my dad (thanks, dad!!). Living donor transplants are preferential to cadaveric donation because you can more carefully schedule and prepare for them and there is a better chance of the kidney working right away. I couldn't believe how much better I felt post transplant. My first semester at college I'd earned the nickname "Sleepy" due to my proclivity for frequent napping, but with the new kidney I had newfound energy. Actual photo of my dad's kidney My dad's kidney worked for about 5 1/2 years. I didn't reject it but rather it succumbed to my original disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis that I still carry. After that I went on dialysis for almost 2 years. My doctor thought there might be less chance of disease recurrence if I didn't have a transplant ...

We've had our black lab Lucy since she was 2 months old, and her first year was the closest I'll ever come to raising kids (I don't dislike kids, it's just not in the cards for us). Her first two nights in our house in Arizona gave me sympathy for those who have ever lived with a newborn. We could hear her loudly crying ALL NIGHT in her kitchen crate from our adjacent bedroom. I don't know if you're familiar with labradors, but lab puppies are a little like fuzzy tornadoes. Lucy had (and still has but not to the same extreme) the crazy eyes. She ate every object in the backyard: lawn chairs, rocks, towels, all 13 of our sprinkler heads. I even once glanced out the back window to see her running by with the rake in tow. Training sessions with her were like pulling teeth - she was physically unable to focus on anything but Jeff the Cat inside the house, even when he was out of the room. Her eyes remained locked on his last known position throughout the le...

I would like to express my sympathy for the Steans family, especially Rick. Rick's mother, Katherine Ross, passed away this weekend. I didn't get to see Grandma Ross but a handful of times, but did get to spend a very nice Christmas with her last year. I regret not being able to attend the funeral, but will keep you all in my thoughts.

Ryan's high school pal Meredith has also recently started a blog. She has her hands full with her three boys Nathan, Evan, and Zach so I'm sure she'll have lots of great stories! Go take a look and say hi: Meredith's blog