Rubbing Elbows with Hollywood

Today I was rubbing elbows with Hollywood at the Depot. The Depot hosted a news conference with George Clooney and Renee Zellweger on the release of the movie "Leatherheads". The movie is based on the Duluth Eskimos a professional NFL football team in the 1920s. It was very exciting for us at the Depot and the city of Duluth to host this. Few pictures and autagraphs of Renee and George. Me standing next to the uniform Clooney ware in the movie, which he donated to the Depot.

U of M transplant evaluation

Last Wednesday I had my transplant evaluation at U of M Fairview Transplant Center. Mom, Laurie, and Jon came with me. It was a long day(they took 18 test tubes of blood-my arm is still bruised and finaly got my blood type B positive) but we all learned a lot about transplants. I will definitely need a kidney. They tested my kidney function and I'm down to 18%. Which is worse from what I've been told by my Doctors here in Duluth. And at 15% I will need to start dialsis. At this point my best choice is a living donor then the next choice is being placed on the National organ tranplant list and waiting for a kidney to come available, on average up to a 5 year wait.
I recieved a call yesterday from the tranplant center saying I'm a great canidate for the kidney/pancreas transplant. But they would like me to have a couple more test. So I need to have another stress test just to make sure my heart is strong enough for the operations. I have blood work done every month to stay on top of my kidney function and my diabetes.
I will keep everyone informed on my progress and if anyone has questions you can contact either Laurie or Jon.

U of M Transplant Center

Universaty of Minnesota Transplant Center, Fairview Hospital --- kidney/pancreas transplant
www.fairviewtransplant.org

On March 12th I have my transplant evalution at U of M Transplant Center down in Minneapolis. Mom and Laurie will be with me. I'll go through more tests(EKG, blood work, chest xray) and meet with my transplant cooridator, surgeon, dietain, and go through a class about the transplant procedure. Where I'll need to go once I recieve the call that there is organs available. We will be at the Transplant Center 7am to about 4pm. It will a long and busy day with lots of information and how the transplant proccess works. Then I'll be placed on the Nationwide kidney/pancreas transplant list. I will let everyone know after my evaluation how things went and what I'll look forward to.