Friday Oct 5th is this blogs birthday (1 year old now). It was also the day 3,000 hits were recorded. Kind of neat, I suppose.

But this will also probably be the blogs last entry. My final post.

This blog was to be about my experience with live liver organ donation. I wanted to let others know what it was like to donate an organ. It was started because the local hospital, where the transplant was to take place, wouldn’t allow this areas largest newspaper to do a story about me and my donation experience. I wanted to get the word out in case I wasn’t able to donate my liver. Which was what happened.

I also used ambiguous, yet obvious pseudonyms for the characters in and around me. Because of this blog, I received a pretty large amount of flack from people that didn’t like what I was writing about. All of which can be found here, on the blog.

Because of that, I chose to stop putting in personal accounts and observances of the characters so I could comply with those few that were unhappy. And, because of that, the only thing left was to regurgitate information that was already available to anyone that can perform a Google search. I can’t do that anymore. If it’s not personal, it’s not what I want to do. The blog has become old, stale and stagnant.

I want to thank most of you for stopping by every so often and supporting me over the last year when there was real honest content on the blog. It was a wonderful ride…..

I end with today’s numbers:

Waiting list candidates as of today 11:09am
All	97,504

http://www.optn.org/data/

Carl did, and here is his blog.
http://carlanddawn.blogspot.com

Well, actually from one other country. Here is a small article on Yahoo News, from Hong Kong about a living donor. Click here. Thanks to Josh for finding it.

On Nightline (ABC News) there was a story about a liver transplant.

Waiting list candidates as of today 9:31am 9/11/07
97,216
http://www.optn.org/data

332 people have been added to the waiting list in 23 days.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294607,00.html
FoxNews.com reported that an 8 month old boy received a FIVE organ transplant of the gastrointestinal tract. The organs did come from a single donor.

One of the web sites I visit frequently had this article.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1814
It is about a photographer that documented the last days of a womans life very close and “inside”. He talks about being inside versus outside regarding the subject.

When I asked a photographer from a local paper to document my journey as a liver donor, it was this access I was trying to provide. Not many times do they get that kind of an opportunity.

Waiting list candidates 96,884 as of today 5:15pm
Data from OPTN.org

It’s amazing how fast the numbers are rising. We will have 100,000 people waiting for an organ probably in less than a year (by my estimate nothing to substantiate those numbers). I can only assume that the number of people that die every day will rise accordingly. Right now, I believe that number is about 17 people die every day waiting for an organ.

CORE has updated is Facts and Statistics page. It’s an interesting read.

Apparently I have pushed someones buttons. I got this anonymous comment:
Ok, after reading the latest on your website, I really must say that you have your self up on a high pedestal, and it is not only Brad and I that think you are truly an ass.

That being said, the only reason we read it, is so we can see how much you think of your self and see how big your head has gotten for the day.

I emailed the above this question:
Would you be willing to share exactly what has gotten so many people on a tear? (that’s TEAR as in RIP, not tear as in crying).

Then got this anonymous comment:
You are an ass.

Never did get a response to my question. So, apparently my whole blog has been all about me. Well, yes, IT IS MY BLOG. From my point of view and my life. I guess it will be a bit biased. I still try to be pretty fair in my representation of the facts of life and the goings on.

So, when someone reads my blog only to see how big my head has gotten and it makes them so upset. Stop reading. Pretty simple.

I just returned from my 20 year high school reunion this morning. I can say with enthusiasm that it was the highlight of the year. Possibly the best week(end) in the past 5 years.

I had so much fun it was pretty difficult to return to reality. But alas, I am back here in the Pitt and dealing with dirty floors, a backed up sewer, boxes and boxes of stuff and of course the humidity.

“Yeah but it’s a dry heat” was never so right. The arid southeast corner of the Great State of WA was hitting highs of 90-100+ degrees and it felt so damn good. Hot, yes it’s hot. But at under 30% humidity (purely speculatory, I really don’t know), who cares. In western PA, we have more like 40, 60 and 80%. IT SUCKS. I took a shower last night and had to lay on a towel in bed because I couldn’t dry off.

While I was gone It appears that someone got very upset about a sentence or paragraph in one of my blog posts.

Well, the story I got was that PERSON_A read my blog. Then PERSON_A (or their spouse) called the recipients spouse. The recipients spouse got all upset and freaked out on my wife. My wife then called me.

I was reading all my posts to see what was so inflammatory. Of course the areas I thought would have put someone on the ropes were not even close to what was being referenced. I am still not 100% sure about the specific posts that caused such a ruckus.

So…..the moral of this story.

IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH WHAT I POST CONTACT ME FOR CLARIFICATION.

I have already made a few concessions in my web activities. I am not using names here on the blog to protect the innocent (or the stupid). I use carefully selected pseudonyms. To most, it’s not hard to add everything up. To many, no one cares. I also don’t blog about everything, like over at Dooce. I could, but that would open another can of worms that I won’t go into. Although putting in names and a full accounting of events might be more fun.

Although, I could be like others in this world and not care, that wouldn’t be me. I do care. I care enough to actually post here to let everyone know what the hell is happening. I care enough that I offered my own damn liver to help the recipient out. I cared enough that when my wife asked, I had already gone through the thought process to be able to say “yes, I will donate”. I even said yes to consolidating houses to help the recipient and his spouse since they are not able to sustain individual living on their own. Along those lines I clean the house (sometimes) I drive them to some appointments. I cook and have a few conversations every day. I deal with the nuances of their personalities. I even hold my tongue on occasion (rarely). We even go to dinner together when I can drag the recipients spouse off the couch. Does it sound like fun? Well, for the past 4 years, 3 months and several days, every time I speak to one of my family members I field the questions and answer session of when will we be moving back.

I DON’T KNOW. If it were up to me, I would relocate to 99336 tomorrow. But my wife and the recipients spouse have more say than the kids, myself and the recipient. Their arguments are valid. I understand. But I don’t have to like it. So, here were are and here we will stay until death do us part.

Employment has also kept us here, but that too is another LONG potentially volatile discussion.

To compare that to some of the other family members, I have done a lot for the recipient and spouse. I know that my wife and I are in a unique situation.

But everyone else is too, so don’t go there.

We took this on (taking care of them) many many years ago because of another situation that we were in. I will also not forget that the recipient and spouse have done a LOT for my wife and I. It doesn’t go unnoticed. I also have my own sets of parents to think about. This is probably a precursor for what the rest of my life will be about.

For those that question me, walk a mile in my shoes.

So hows that for pissing in your cheerios.