May 2nd Update

Today is Dave's birthday, Happy Birthday Dave! We are all going to celebrate at lunch today at Q'doba. My first suprise is that I'll clean the van, and have the oil changed. Later today I'll do an overhaul on our house while Julian is sleeping. It's the small things!

Julian is doing very well. They've moved his labs to about every two weeks, but he still seems pretty stable. Therefore, he is not on Dialysis yet. We are still hoping for a match with a live donor, and are still proceeding down that road as we wait for a "cadaveric kidney" from the list. I found out definitively yesterday that Julian's health insurance, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, will not pay for any donor testing. The blood tests are 2K a pop, and we've already had Dave tested. We've decided that if any non-relatives want to be tested we are asking them to raise the money for the blood test on Julian's behalf, because we just can't afford it on our own.

Meanwhile we also found out that insurance will only pay 10K toward the live-donor's operation. It's about a 50K operation, so that leaves the balance as our responsibility. We've come to terms that it is what it is, and of course I will be appealing every decision of the insurance, but meanwhile we are coming up with ideas on how to offset the costs. One of them is that I've just become an Arbonne Consultant. Hopefully over time this will give us an increased income, and we will be able to set aside money so that we have it in the bank for when he'll need a new transplant (15 years or so). That way we keep our options open, as a live-donor kidney is a much better kidney to transplant than a cadaveric one. It works better and lasts longer and has less chance of rejection. Secondly, a friend of mine in Estes Park recommended that we organize some kind of 5K Benefit for Julian. I think that's a great idea too. If any of the people being tested come back a match, I will get right on that.

He is so sweet. He is learning new words every day, and saying them. He knows all his numbers up to ten, and all his letters. He can point to them and say them. What a doll! He is an outdoor boy, and loves to go adventuring around our "yard" (if you can call 3 acres a "yard"...to him it's a whole new world!).

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Take care,
Stacy