Review board yesterday

We've had a busy couple of days now and yesterday Neysa and I went to the market to do some shopping. It was very interesting because they had everything from sandals to a butcher shop. We chose not to go too far into the butcher shop because neither of us really wanted to see it. (Not to mention the smell was awful!) We got as far as the chickens and the rooster all caged up waiting for their day to come. We were surrounded by fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts and spices. We met Amy and two of her kids at the market. She explained that she loves coming to this market because they can find things they can't normally get in the grocery store. Something like Diet Dr. Pepper and soft toilet paper is a novelty around here. The walls were stocked with boxes of dry food that we can find anywhere in the states. Neysa and I then went to another market where we bought pashmina scarves and Neysa bought me a beautiful aqua marine ring to remember her and out trip whenever I wear it.

Yesterday evening dad got drained again because they wanted to check to see if the infection was gone yet. The Doctor told him he could take just the sample, or since they're already in there they can also drain him. Dad chose to be drained. It's really amazing how big his belly gets. We give him a hard time about having quadruplets in there. We don't know the results of this test yet. We did however receive some great news about the creatinine level in that it has dropped again to 2.4. We are almost there and want to be at 1 by Monday. Neysa and I have been feeding him hepatic (like ensure) and vitamins (Dr approved) to help with this. Not to mention all your prayers are helping!

Yesterday evening we went in front of the review board where we sat at a huge table in front of 9 people who asked us questions. The event was video taped with the video pointing on us. Dad went in first and was out within 3 minutes. He says they asked "How many children do you have" and one of them is the donor? He said "Yes, Renee is the donor". Then they took him out. When I went in they asked a few more questions. They asked "How many siblings do you have?" They asked "Are you donating a part of your liver on your own free will?" "They asked if my husband gave me permission to do this and if he had any objection. They looked in the file at the letter he provided and said they needed it to be a little more detailed and they wanted it to be notarized along with a passport sized photo attached. They reassured me this would not hinder the process any longer but that I should get this paperwork in ASAP. I immediately went back to the room and called Miguel at 7am to request the information. I found it very interesting that they had one of the members on the review panel said "she has more responsibility to her husband than to her father". That's why it was so important to have this information. They then proceeded to ask if my husband was here and where my mother was. I answered that they were back at home. This morning I received the notarized letter from Miguel and forwarded it onto the department. We should be all set!

I completed my last test today- an MRI. It was interesting. I would recommend that if you have any type of claustrophobia that you keep your eyes closed the entire time. I only opened mine once when I got into the tube and I regretted it a little bit. They kept me in that tube for about 40 minutes. It wasn't horrible, I just had to concentrate on my breathing even though they told me "breave nomal". When I breathed normal I guess it wasn't good enough, so I really had to pay attention to my breating. Then they would say "stop breave" I was given head phones to protect my ears from the noises that were created by the machines. When I got out of the machine the man told me "you take short brefs" I told him that was normal breathing for me. I got up and went to the cafe for some cappuccino and a cheese danish (not what I expected but good). Then we took dad for a walk. It's been raining a bit today and the temperature was pleasant.