Day one of testing

We spent the day at the Mayo Clinic and Jake had a couple of tests with more tomorrow. Here's what we learned today.

After the tests, a panel will meet and discuss Jake's case. Following that meeting, they'll call and let us know if Jake is a candidate for the transplant list.

Because Jake would be getting two organs, he automatically would be bumped higher on the list.

Depending on blood type, the wait for an organ can be a few weeks or more than a year.

Success rate for kidney/pancreas transplant is about 93%-94%

If Jake gets the transplant, he'll have to stay here for four weeks following the surgery.

And finally, Jake and I can spend 48 hours together without killing each other. But we still have 48 hours left, so no bets on how that will play out :)

We made it

After a very long drive, we've made it to Phoenix. And after getting stuck behind some big trucks, I can honestly say that I understand road rage a little better. Anyway, no big incidents. We got here safe and didn't get lost. Tomorrow, we've got a full-day of meetings/tests. Oh, and I brought a camera, but no USB cable to upload photos. I knew I forgot something. I guess it could be worse. That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to post tomorrow. -Jess

Me and Jake

A little more information for those of you just tuning in. There are five kids in our family, and Jake falls smack dab in the middle. Our parents thought J names would be soooooo much fun. So we're Jennifer, Jonathan, Jacob, Jessica and Joshua. Jake and I are the only ones still living at home. Funny thing is, though, we can go for days without seeing each other. So after this trip, we may have had enough together time. The next post will be from Arizona. At least 10 hours stuck in a car together. Wish us luck!

Me and Jake when we were still cute and little.
This was soon after he was diagnosed with diabetes.

A change in direction

I know I am horrible at this whole blog thing. Sorry. I hope to be more consistent in the future.

I'm changing direction on this blog. My posts for the next while will be centered on my brother Jake.

Jake is diabetic. He's had the disease since he was 3. When you have diabetes that long and as severely as Jake, it does a number on your kidneys. Well Jake's kidney's have finally had it, and the doctors have decided to take the next step.

Long story short, we've known for a while that Jake needs a transplant, but it's just recently that the insurance company has agreed. However, the insurance company won't pay for it here, so we have to go to Arizona.

We're driving down to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix in a week for two days of testing. When his kidney function dropped from 23 percent to 17 percent in three months, the insurance company decided that yes, maybe he is sick. Hopefully after all the tests, he'll be on the kidney/pancreas transplant list.

We don't know very much about the process, but I guess that's what we'll learn while we're there. The goal is to for him to have the kidney/pancreas transplant and then he would no longer be a diabetic. That's the ideal. If he gets a lot worse while waiting, then we'll try for a living donor.

Here's some links to info. you might find interesting. I'll try to keep this updated as we learn more.

The May Clinic

National Kidney Foundation

A new look

I know I haven't done much lately, so I thought I'd try something new.
Now that I'm done tinkering, what do you think? Maybe next time I
might even try to write something interesting :)