IT'S A GO!!!

I am thrilled to report that I was accepted as Joe's donor today! Lorie, my friendly nurse practitioner, called me about an hour ago with the news. The biopsy results showed almost no fatty infiltration (my mockery must have sent poor, rotund Larry running for the hills), and gave the surgeons the last bit of detail they needed to clear me and schedule surgery.

Unfortunately, we have to wait until mid-January to do the operation. My veins are slightly dilated (a condition known as "mild sinusoidal dilation") due to some medication I had been taking until about three weeks ago. I need to have been off it for two months before they can do the transplant. That puts the surgery date on January 18, give or take a week based on surgeon availability. Lorie will give me the exact date early next week.

As for Joe (who makes his long-awaited Chopped Liver debut in a must-read comment in the previous entry), he's happy, I'm happy, we're all happy. This is the news we so badly wanted. Now we wait. And enjoy Christmas, to the extent we can with this hanging over our heads. I'll post by tomorrow a Q&A regarding what happens next.