A New Birthday Buddy
Janice and I became Great Aunts to Brayden John! He arrived early! Delightedly Brayden John and Janice are Birthday Buddies! How cool is that? — with Janice Gill.
Read MorePraying for Janice
The staff at the Mayo Clinic are kind, caring, and treat each and every person like royalty. Each life is valued.. Patience, empathy and manners reign supreme! Janice proudly wears two band-aids after being prodded & poked all day! Keep praying!
Read MoreA Medical Week
Sometimes life is all about medical issues. On a Tuesday this month, Janice was admitted to the hospital, Wednesday Dad had a stroke and Thursday my cousin had a kidney transplant – a gift from his loving wife. Janice is now out of the hospital. Doctors say Dad will fully recover; it was mild. My cousin and his wife are home recuperating. Life is precious, fragile and worth fighting for! Thank God for those who awaken each day and go to work in the medical field. God bless Jan, Dad and my many cousins
Read MoreWhew!
Whew! The last ten days have been tense. My sister, Janice, had gallstones and then more gallstones, and then surgery to remove her gallbladder. Three scopes and ten gallstones plus surgery took a toll on a very sick Janice. Our worry was palpable – holding our breath – that her transplanted kidney stayed safe and continued performing its magic. We sent out an SOS – please pray – and are delighted with the vast number of people who prayed. All surgery involves risk. The risk of infection is a very real fear for people with kidney transplants. Compromised immune systems and the word – complication – makes my heart stand still. All is well even though Janice spent her birthday in the hospital. Janice joked with the surgeon that he was going to landscape his yard with the gallstones. She has a funny sense of humor and I loved hearing it! She is feeling so much better. Today I give thanks for the success of Janice’s surgery, gratitude to the surgeon, doctors and nurses who worked diligently to care for her, and the family that helped her through some tough days. Most of all, I give thanks for Janice! Happy Birthday, Jan! There is a sentence in my book – “Kidneys don’t grow on trees!” There are over 110,000people waiting on the transplant waiting list, most of them needing a kidney. My family knows what it is like to be on that list. Daily, I pray for all those waiting for a...
Read MoreThree Sisters, Seven Kidneys Between Us
Both of my sisters attended the launch of the book. The Star Tribune newspaper took some photos of us. We hope the caption reads: three sisters, seven kidneys between us! Despite each of my sisters having had a transplant, both of them still have their diseased kidneys. Each sister has three kidneys. Many people are surprised to learn this fact. Sometimes diseased polycystic kidneys are removed prior to transplantation because of complications or size. Many times the patient is too ill to withstand the removal of their diseased kidneys during the transplant of the new kidney. This was the case for my sisters. Polycystic kidneys can weigh up to thirty-eight pounds. One of my sisters has been told her diseased kidneys weigh twenty pounds each! She would love to have them removed, but she is afraid of an infection or complication that would jeopardize the transplanted kidney she received from a donor in 1995. New kidneys are hard to come by – they don’t grow on trees. April is Donate Life Month. Help us increase organ donor awareness! Two people saved my Mom and my sister because they were organ donors. We are one grateful...
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