2031
2031

I cant seen to get past this number, you see it is the number of people in Florida. Waiting for a kidney transplant.
The U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)are the folks who ensure the parts get where they are supposed to, well in theory anyway.

My sister Kat died 2 yrs ago, she died waiting for a kidney, she was on all the lists.
She was on dialysis 5 hours a day before she died, she would sneak calls to me,
so she could quit being everyone’s mom and wife and just be Kat, my sister who wanted to die.
She wanted to quit dialysis, but her husband and kids didn’t want her to.

The dialysis people were very kind, but she wanted to die. Dialysis exhausts you.
Dying from kidney failure is really not pleasant, About 2 months after we last had this conversation,
The Queen Mother went to pick her up, she had fallen in the kitchen, dead.

The Queen Mother railed for months about the injustice of a 48 yr old mom dying,
I finally figured out she was saying,it’s not right to outlive your kid.
She is right, you shouldn’t. I know.

What does this have to do with anything?

My friend Nee is one of those waiting , she is one year today on dialysis, she is already tired of it.
She questions just letting go of all of it. Just dying.

She called me this afternoon to talk, they are moving her to more frequent dialysis sessions.
She had read about the assisted suicide bill being upheld in Oregon.
She wonders if she moved there if she could get into the program, I for a change kept my mouth shut and just listened.
Seemed like the smartest thing to do.

I wonder why so few Americans are willing to sign up as organ donors.
I wonder if people really believe when they are dead that they need those parts.

For a free organ donor card or just imformation contact the National Kidney Foundation at 202-244-7900 or info@kidneywdc.org.
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