Cold pizza, blog-reading and kidney transplants

Eating cold pizza and catching up on blogs. I would say this is a great way to spend my lunch hour. I just spent the past hour and a half running errands. I picked up some golfballs on sale at Oshman's for my dad for Christmas. He'll love it. He usually buys cheap balls, so it will be a nice treat for him. Got some gas. Picked up a free chicken biscuit with a coupon I had and bought a soda as a treat. Went to sign up Hot Rod for a day of daycamp over the holidays and then went to pick up six dozen tamales at the school. It was a fundraiser sale and Army of Dad and I are tamale-eaters. Funny to think that he had never heard of a tamale until he came to Fort Hood.

For some funny blog reading:
Bad haircuts - I totally agree about this style.
Sgt. Hook plans to hang up his blog. I'm bummed about this. He did so much good.
Sweet Courtship story - I really like this. Every girl's favorite love story - she resisted, he pursued, she acquiesced.
Review of The Village that will make you laugh. I wanted to see this stinker and will rent it at some point, but she makes the same point Army of Dad did - a village of men and no guns to shoot the monsters? yeah right.
An Early Christmas Present for porn-lovers everywhere.
Got to love dancing babies
Pot stickers recipe that I'll have to try. Really bad joke though trying to play on the "its getting hot in herre" song. But, an A for effort. This guy must have about as much ghetto in him as I do.
Harry Potter Book 6 may be on the way!

Talked to my cousin this morning, too. I plan to go see her tonight. I may look like Michael Jackson with a little mask on, but just in case my sniffles are more than allergies, better safe than sorry. She is doing awesome. She got one kidney in the transplant - the right one - and is doing great. She thought she was going to the hospital Monday for bloodwork and learned about midnight Sunday that it was more than just a blood test for a cross-match, but the surgery was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Monday. She said there were many times that she was called to go do bloodwork for a possibility of transplant, but she knew that every blood test brought her one step closer. So, she was stoked. She had very little function in her kidneys when she went it. I don't understand all this, so if I screw it up, sorry. She said the creatin level in her kidneys was 5.9 before the surgery. The higher it is, the worse it is, she said. Two days after surgery, her level is down to 4.something. Two is normal and the goal, she said. Because the kidney is kept on ice before the transplant, she said that often a transplant patient has to undergo dialysis for days, weeks or months to get the kidney to work right. Hers was working immediately! She said she anticipated being on the waiting list for another year, so this was a fantastic Christmas present and surprise. Her only disappointment - and it is a slight one - is that she will be in isolation for about 30 days. She can have guests, but can't venture out. The doctor cautioned her to stay away from children and she was heartbroken at the aspect of Christmas without her grandchildren. (Makes me feel old to have a cousin with grandkids - her grandkids are the same age as my children, but she is actually old enough to be my mother.) But, she is so excited to get back on her feet and return to working.

I am looking forward to seeing her tonight.