New Year, New Start...

I guess the title of this post is a bit of a give away.

My brother has decided to opt for a direct transplant, instead of the pooled scheme. He has decided this because the responsibility of letting another pair down, is too much. At least this way he can do the transplant, when he is ready and on his terms.

We have decided that we'd like to do the transplant in January and have a very tentative date set, which is the 24th January 2014. There it is! An actual date. My brother will be getting my left kidney, which i have named Lucy!! You know for lefty loosey, righty tighty!!

I thought hearing the date would scare me more than it has. Of course I am scared but I am also relieved to have a rough of idea of when it is going to happen. At least now we can both make some plans, I can let my employers know and organise my recovery period.

For the past 18 months or so, I have felt like I have had to put certain aspects of my life on hold because I never knew when the transplant was going to happen. Yes, there were definitely times when this was very frustrating for me but you have to remind yourself why your making these sacrifices. I am giving my brother the greatest gift you can give a person, so in the grand scheme the sacrifices I have made are a drop in the ocean.

One thing I do have to do prior to surgery is quit smoking!! So with that in mind I have signed up for Stoptober. It's a little early, true. However, I figure, I'll never again have a better motivator to stop smoking than donating kidney. So wish me luck.