A Close Call

There are very few things in this world that can still put a genuine smile on my face. My niece is a lot of those ways. But when I recieved a phone call at 1:30 am Sunday morning from the hospital saying they've matched me to a kidney I gotta say I was smiling like a fat kid lost in Hershey, PA.

To "get matched" what happens is that a donor kidney comes available and it is run against the database of candidates waiting for a kidney. It matches candidates based on the number of antigens it matches. The human body has 6 antigens, 3 from each parent, and basically they create the antibodies that go out through your body and make sure there's nobody there who shouldn't be there. As long as enough antigens from each person matches, I get that phone call.

So the nurse checked up on my health, told me not to eat and get some rest. One more test to do and that should be back in a few hours. They said they could have me in the OR that night as long as the last test goes well.

The antibody test.

My heart dropped. I've been down this road. This test never goes well for me.

What they do is take your blood/antibodies, mix it with the donors'. Either they get along and a transplant is on or my guys go on a Boondocks Saints-style rampage.

Ideally you wanna have no antibodies in you but we all get sick, so we have some. On a scale of 1-100 ,my last antibody count was 73. What this means is that roughly 3/4 of all donor kidneys will get the Macmanus brothers treatment from Jeremy and my antibodies. Which is what happened this weekend.

So the call back was a huge let down but if there is a plus side to all of this it's that I am rather high up on the transplant list. How was your weekend?

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