Deadheading Back to Louisiana (Updated)

Location: Alpena County Fair Campgrounds; Alpena, Michigan

Update: as of 6:00 am on 7/23/18 the available organs went to the other person. My plan is to still head back, but perhaps not as frantically. Ya'll take care of each other.

This will be a short post without pictures. Even though I have one more day paid up here at Alpena, I'll be pulling out tomorrow morning heading back to Louisiana. As you know, Brandon was put on the "active" list for a Pancreas/Kidney transplant about a month ago. We anticipated an 18 to 24 month waiting period. Surprise, surprise but the transplant coordinator called Brandon today and informed him he was Number 2 on a pancreas/kidney. They said they would call back if the number one person had problems. Well, it's been about 6 hours since the call and no further word has been given. We are new to this, but after being part of a couple transplant groups on facebook this lengthy waiting time is not unusual. In Brandon's case, it will have to be a deceased donor because of the pancreas. In many cases, the doctors will keep a patient alive in order to buy time for the testing and harvesting of donated organs. If that is the case, it could be a couple of days before a final decision is made as to who, if anyone, will receive the organs. 

So, it seems the extended waiting game may have just gotten much shorter. But on the other hand, he may not get these organs and have to wait the 18 to 24 months. But, to get a call to be Number 2 after only being active for 1 month is amazing. So we see that as a good sign. 

With organ donation it is really a matter of perspective. You can think of the donated organ as keeping Brandon alive or you can think of it as Brandon using all of his body to keep a piece of the donor alive. :)

I'm about 1,300 miles from Mansfield. My plan is to leave sometime in the morning and stop at a truck stop around 10 pm to catch some sleep before continuing the trip. Looking at the weather forecast, it should be dry and the night time temperatures at about the 10 pm stopping spot should be in the lower 70's to upper 60's. Good sleeping weather. I'll decide then to either nod out in the truck or crawl up in Liberty. 

No time to proof read, got to get ready for tomorrow. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.