My Living Organ Donor Story

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  • 1ThoughtKnown
    1ThoughtKnown Posts: 6,155
    edited November 2019
    Renfield said:
    A news article about our personal story as a living organ donor and transplant recipient:

    https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5341339


    Look at you two! Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. Wear your scars proudly!
    Thanks sir! I am proud of this scar! As a great Canadian once said “Scars heal, and chicks dig scars” haha
  • Renfield
    Renfield NYC NY Posts: 1,054
    Renfield said:
    A news article about our personal story as a living organ donor and transplant recipient:

    https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5341339


    Look at you two! Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. Wear your scars proudly!
    Thanks sir! I am proud of this scar! As a great Canadian once said “Scars heal, and chicks dig scars” haha
    Lol! I’m a chick :giggle:
  • Renfield said:
    Renfield said:
    A news article about our personal story as a living organ donor and transplant recipient:

    https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5341339


    Look at you two! Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. Wear your scars proudly!
    Thanks sir! I am proud of this scar! As a great Canadian once said “Scars heal, and chicks dig scars” haha
    Lol! I’m a chick :giggle:
    My sincerest apologies... how embarrassing. Lmao. 
  • Renfield
    Renfield NYC NY Posts: 1,054
    Renfield said:
    Renfield said:
    A news article about our personal story as a living organ donor and transplant recipient:

    https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5341339


    Look at you two! Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. Wear your scars proudly!
    Thanks sir! I am proud of this scar! As a great Canadian once said “Scars heal, and chicks dig scars” haha
    Lol! I’m a chick :giggle:
    My sincerest apologies... how embarrassing. Lmao. 
    No apologies necessary! And not embarrassing... I ❤️ It :)
  • 1ThoughtKnown
    1ThoughtKnown Posts: 6,155
    edited November 2019
    What that article doesn’t mention is when I woke up I was singing PJ’s cover of
    Comfortably Numb.  Eddie’s voice was the one in my head.... I was just so doped up it made
    me chuckle.  

    Was lucky enough to see it live in Krakow last summer
    Post edited by 1ThoughtKnown on
  • Renfield
    Renfield NYC NY Posts: 1,054
    What that article doesn’t mention is when I woke up I was singing PJ’s cover of
    Comfortably Numb.  Eddie’s voice was the one in my head.... I was just so doped up it made
    me chuckle.  

    Was lucky enough to see it live in Krakow last summer
    HAHA! I cannot imagine the pain- would’ve loved the drugs :/  I too saw it  in Krakow! GA about 12 rows back between Ed & Stone
  • 1ThoughtKnown
    1ThoughtKnown Posts: 6,155
    edited November 2019
    Renfield said:
    What that article doesn’t mention is when I woke up I was singing PJ’s cover of
    Comfortably Numb.  Eddie’s voice was the one in my head.... I was just so doped up it made
    me chuckle.  

    Was lucky enough to see it live in Krakow last summer
    HAHA! I cannot imagine the pain- would’ve loved the drugs :/  I too saw it  in Krakow! GA about 12 rows back between Ed & Stone
    There was not much pain to be honest with you. Felt like I did a thousand sit ups for a while (don’t really know what that feels like lol). More like soreness than pain.

    pretty crazy but we were about 10-12 rows back on Stone’s side as well!  Had a little problem with a Justin Bieber wannabe but other than that it was a lot of fun.  Great show and Krakow is beautiful.  Loved the salt mine and the Auschwitz/Birkenau excursion... well that changed me forever. 
  • oftenreading
    oftenreading Victoria, BC Posts: 12,856
    Renfield said:
    What that article doesn’t mention is when I woke up I was singing PJ’s cover of
    Comfortably Numb.  Eddie’s voice was the one in my head.... I was just so doped up it made
    me chuckle.  

    Was lucky enough to see it live in Krakow last summer
    HAHA! I cannot imagine the pain- would’ve loved the drugs :/  I too saw it  in Krakow! GA about 12 rows back between Ed & Stone
    There was not much pain to be honest with you. Felt like I did a thousand sit ups for a while (don’t really know what that feels like lol). More like soreness than pain.

    pretty crazy but we were about 10-12 rows back on Stone’s side as well!  Had a little problem with a Justin Bieber wannabe but other than that it was a lot of fun.  Great show and Krakow is beautiful.  Loved the salt mine and the Auschwitz/Birkenau excursion... well that changed me forever. 

    Krakow was a gorgeous city (particularly the square), the show was great, and GA was packed. I got slammed into quite a bit and most of my group bailed for the back but I stayed in, maybe roughly 15 rows back, Stone's side. We were within spitting distance. 

    And I hear you on Auschwitz. 
    my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
  • Renfield
    Renfield NYC NY Posts: 1,054
    Renfield said:
    What that article doesn’t mention is when I woke up I was singing PJ’s cover of
    Comfortably Numb.  Eddie’s voice was the one in my head.... I was just so doped up it made
    me chuckle.  

    Was lucky enough to see it live in Krakow last summer
    HAHA! I cannot imagine the pain- would’ve loved the drugs :/  I too saw it  in Krakow! GA about 12 rows back between Ed & Stone
    There was not much pain to be honest with you. Felt like I did a thousand sit ups for a while (don’t really know what that feels like lol). More like soreness than pain.

    pretty crazy but we were about 10-12 rows back on Stone’s side as well!  Had a little problem with a Justin Bieber wannabe but other than that it was a lot of fun.  Great show and Krakow is beautiful.  Loved the salt mine and the Auschwitz/Birkenau excursion... well that changed me forever. 

    Krakow was a gorgeous city (particularly the square), the show was great, and GA was packed. I got slammed into quite a bit and most of my group bailed for the back but I stayed in, maybe roughly 15 rows back, Stone's side. We were within spitting distance. 

    And I hear you on Auschwitz. 
    So, we were all within inches/ feet of each other... very cool!
    Krakow was rough, we had it hard for most of the concert- I was pushed around a lot. Prague almost same location a few rows closer and no one was pushing or shoving. 
    Nothing can prepare you for Auschwitz /Birkenau. I’ve seen many documentaries, visited the Holocaust Museum in DC 3 times, was at Dachau 6 months prior...  the heaviness I felt, it hung in the air, still stunned by it more than a year later.
  • 1ThoughtKnown
    1ThoughtKnown Posts: 6,155
    edited November 2019
    When we were walking back at Birkenau, I just stopped on the road... and it hit me. Like a giant wave of fear, sadness, emotion and dread. 
    Maybe I just never wanted to believe it before or I was just naive, but I realized all that I have come to know and expect (my human rights) could all be gone in a flash due to one maniac. 
    It was at that point Trumps face flashed through my brain and all of his crazy speeches and fanatical supporters. His hate speech towards certain groups, talk about saving the economy, etc.  It all started to sound eerily similar to the piece of shit, the human garbage responsible for what happened right where I was standing. 

    Maybe I was being over-dramatic, but in every way I changed that day and began living my life for others.  I may not have been a living donors for Steve had I not gone to Birkenau/Auschwitz the day after that Krakow concert, but I’ll never know. I’d like to think so! 
    I guess it’s just another way that being a PJ fan and experiencing them, observing their own humanitarianism (remember the speech on the Polish citizens freedom) around the world ha made me a better person. 
    Post edited by 1ThoughtKnown on
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    The Krakow concert ties - I love it.

    And beautiful description of what such a horrific place (and time) did for you.  I hope to go some day, and visit the ghosts of father's family.
  • oftenreading
    oftenreading Victoria, BC Posts: 12,856
    When we were walking back at Birkenau, I just stopped on the road... and it hit me. Like a giant wave of fear, sadness, emotion and dread. 
    Maybe I just never wanted to believe it before or I was just naive, but I realized all that I have come to know and expect (my human rights) could all be gone in a flash due to one maniac. 
    It was at that point Trumps face flashed through my brain and all of his crazy speeches and fanatical supporters. His hate speech towards certain groups, talk about saving the economy, etc.  It all started to sound eerily similar to the piece of shit, the human garbage responsible for what happened right where I was standing. 

    Maybe I was being over-dramatic, but in every way I changed that day and began living my life for others.  I may not have been a living donors for Steve had I not gone to Birkenau/Auschwitz the day after that Krakow concert, but I’ll never know. I’d like to think so! 
    I guess it’s just another way that being a PJ fan and experiencing them, observing their own humanitarianism (remember the speech on the Polish citizens freedom) around the world ha made me a better person. 
    You’ve captured it perfectly. I also had that sense of how fragile our seemingly-stable, safe democratic society could be. I wandered around thinking about what the response would have been if you had asked German or Polish  citizens prior to the war whether they thought such atrocities could happen. Five years earlier, even two years earlier, would people have laughed and dismissed it out of hand? How had it gotten that far? 
    my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
  • When we were walking back at Birkenau, I just stopped on the road... and it hit me. Like a giant wave of fear, sadness, emotion and dread. 
    Maybe I just never wanted to believe it before or I was just naive, but I realized all that I have come to know and expect (my human rights) could all be gone in a flash due to one maniac. 
    It was at that point Trumps face flashed through my brain and all of his crazy speeches and fanatical supporters. His hate speech towards certain groups, talk about saving the economy, etc.  It all started to sound eerily similar to the piece of shit, the human garbage responsible for what happened right where I was standing. 

    Maybe I was being over-dramatic, but in every way I changed that day and began living my life for others.  I may not have been a living donors for Steve had I not gone to Birkenau/Auschwitz the day after that Krakow concert, but I’ll never know. I’d like to think so! 
    I guess it’s just another way that being a PJ fan and experiencing them, observing their own humanitarianism (remember the speech on the Polish citizens freedom) around the world ha made me a better person. 
    You’ve captured it perfectly. I also had that sense of how fragile our seemingly-stable, safe democratic society could be. I wandered around thinking about what the response would have been if you had asked German or Polish  citizens prior to the war whether they thought such atrocities could happen. Five years earlier, even two years earlier, would people have laughed and dismissed it out of hand? How had it gotten that far? 
    Exactly. It’s like an evil card trick.  You let your guard down.... and before you know it, you’ve lost. 

    When I wrote that earlier it took me right back to that time and place the feelings, etc.   Must be just like Eddie when he sings those songs... it all just comes flooding back.  
  • Renfield
    Renfield NYC NY Posts: 1,054
    Hi 1ThoughtKnown! Checking in on you & your brother-in-law- how are both of you doing?
  • 1ThoughtKnown
    1ThoughtKnown Posts: 6,155
    edited November 2019
    Renfield said:
    Hi 1ThoughtKnown! Checking in on you & your brother-in-law- how are both of you doing?
    Hi there! My Brother-In-Law told me this past week he tells the best he has in two years! Had a bit of an infection develop but antibiotics made quick work of it so thankfully it was t one of those “super bugs” you read about. 

    I developed ulcer-like pain in my stomach and am taking some medication for it.  May have been a combined factor of a love of kamboucha and the medication I was on post-op did a little damage to my stomach lining. No kamboucha and a little medication and I’m 100%!
    Enlisted the help of a Holistic Nutritionist to help me adjust to living without a gall bladder.  Really didn’t realize how much fat intake My diet included. I really thought I was eating healthy! Lol.
    A week into the meal plan and it feels great. 

    Hope you are doing well! Thanks so much for thinking of us... makes me so proud to be one of the Jamily :) 
  • So good to know you are both doing well...
  • Renfield
    Renfield NYC NY Posts: 1,054
    Half a liver, no gallbladder, what’s a little infection...
    Glad to hear all is good!
  • Renfield said:
    Half a liver, no gallbladder, what’s a little infection...
    Glad to hear all is good!
    My liver has completely grown back! He has to live with 68% of mine.  Lol.
    It was his birthday today... certainly a better one than last year he said 
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    Here's to healthy livers!  And givers of such :)
  • Renfield
    Renfield NYC NY Posts: 1,054
    hedonist said:
    Here's to healthy livers!  And givers of such :)
    Hear, hear <3