The "I Like Thunderstorms...Until The Power Goes Out", edition

iPod shuffled to "Words I Manifest", Gang Starr.  I like the flow, the beat and whatever it is that's sampled. I suppose I could look it up, but I'm not feeling the effort.  I got the (massive) packet of information from the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) Transplant Office. I'm going to try to explain the process as I review the documents and research stuff. It may be haphazard, so bear with me. "No Diggity", Blackstreet. Teddy Riley - yeah.

So there is an organization that keeps track of all the transplant candidates in the US.  This organization is UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing. UNOS is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network in the US. UNOS manages the national transplant waiting list, matches donors to recipients 24 hours/day 365 days/year. It maintains all data and you can pull up report and statistics, including how many people are listed, how many people are waiting and average wait time per state for an organ. So as of today almost 76,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. This includes all organs.  The number of transplants for the period of 1/2013 through 4/2013 was 9190.  The number of donors was 4534. So yep, people are waiting.  Average wait time can be 3-5 years.  "You Are Everything", The Stylistics. I played this on the piano. I always thought the song was so pretty :-)

The cadaver kidneys (heh, that's what they're called).  One can get a kidney from someone who has used drugs.  There is process for that determination. I was told I'd be eligible to get basically any kidney, as long as it had some function.  I guess. I belong to an online group where people have waiting upwards of 5 years. I dunno, dialysis takes a toll on your body.  I wonder if I'd accept a drug users kidney. I am blood type O+, the most popular type, so I may have a long wait.  

Anyway, I'm headed to Frankenmuth this weekend.  I'm going to sign the crapload of documents from DMC and from UNOS and keep doing what I'm doing. :-)  Signing off with the Tavares, "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel".  (I'm imagining a big ole disco ball - lol).   Oh yeah, I took a photo of me in the chair. I'll try to get a better one, one day.