Gonna spend another Fall in Philadelphia! 🍂🍁🧡🖤🎃☕️
Years ago, it was my tradition to post those song lyrics on the first day of Fall in Philadelphia, every year. Unintentionally, it got phased out. I’m trying to bring it back again lol
Hall & Oates are Philly boys 😁 They both attended Temple University!
I was happy to see that Daryl Hall received a successful life-saving living donor kidney transplant this year, at almost 80 years old! ❤️
Another Fall In Philadelphia- Hall & Oates
Xoxo Kim 💛🧡
Recently, a platelet donation gone wrong landed me in a hospital emergency. There was a complication that usually isn’t dangerous, but I had a worse reaction than usual. So to be safe, I was sent to an ER.
The needle slipped out of my arm and pierced my vein, and my arm filled with fluids that is irritating my nerves, and building up around my body tissue. It’s called vein infiltration. They were concerned about a possible blod clot or nerve damage. But thankfully, it’s just irritated.
Me in a hospital radiology getting my scans after being admitted lol
🤣😂
Yes, these are my real boobs. Lol They’re big (disproportionately large, compared to the rest of my body lol A fitness instructor told me that years ago), but I don’t usually take pictures at this angle to show off how big. It looks like I stuffed my bra. But these D cups don’t need stuffing lol
This is a picture of me just after putting my shirt back on after some scans.
Another platelet donor almost passed out, and the nurses had to lay him down on the floor next to me at our platelet donation appointment.
The things we do for (universal) love. Lol
The Things We Do For Love – 10cc
The doctors and nurses were all very kind and kept thanking me for being a platelet donor. The one doctor also happens to be a platelet donor! We are rare, only less than 1%! So it was a coincidence. He was going out of his way to donate platelets at a place that isn’t close. He had no idea about the place right up the street where I donate. It’s easier for him to go there, so now he’s switching! I’m glad we met.
In the U.S, there is an extreme blood shortage. There always is, but sometimes it reaches crisis level, like now.
We need more donors! Yes, I still recommend it, even after this. Lol
The doctors and nurses all took my pain seriously. It’s common for healthcare workers to be dismissive of a patient’s pain, especially if the patient is a woman. So I appreciated their care.
I will go back and donate platelets again when I’m all healed.
I got to attend an amazing event on Friday night! And they gave us free movie theatre popcorn and a drink! I wanted popcorn & soda, but we know how expensive movie theatre food is! Lol So I wasn’t buying anything, then someone told me we all get a free popcorn and fountain drink! I was thrilled like a little girl lol
I watched a documentary on what is considered by researchers to be “extreme altruism.”
The movie was a special viewing only for people who were invited. It was a movie theatre full of people, and we all had assigned seats.
The movie is called Abundant, about “altruistic” kidney and liver donors. People who donate kidneys/livers to strangers are 1 in 1, million. Extremely rare. We hope to change that and inspire more to donate.
It’s really not that “extreme” to help a fellow sentient being in need. Living organ donation is extremely safe. Yeah, there is potential for rare complications, even death of the donor (my dad’s friend died donating his kidney, but that was 30+ years ago. It’s safer than ever now).
But for someone else, there is no maybe. Someone else is dying now, of organ failure. And there are enough living people to stop that for many. Even if all healthy people register as potential deceased organ donors, many still won’t get the life-saving organ they need because most people don’t die under appropriate circumstances for organ harvesting.
The documentary shows the amazing impact of organ donation and what inspires people to donate to strangers, while still alive.
After the movie ended, we got to meet one of the donors in the movie, in person. She was there in the theatre. They surprised us with her in the flesh at the end lol
She donated her kidney to an anonymous stranger and then donated her liver to another anonymous stranger. There are only a few hundred people in the entire world like that. The first person became a double living organ donor in the 1980’s, I think. But they are becoming more common!
This woman has an incredible story to tell that nothing tops. I heard people crying in the audience around me. Lol
The documentary is for the average person to understand why a person would donate a kidney to a total stranger and to try to normalize it and show that it’s not as “heroic” as the average person thinks.
The target audience of this event (not the documentary itself, but this event it was shown at) was the Hispanic and Black/African American communities because they are the people most in need of organ transplants and unfortunately less likely to get the organ they need. Black people are also less likely to donate their organs even after death, because of what is known as earned mistrust of the medical community.
They have been victimized in ways white people haven’t, because of racism. They have a valid reason to be hesitant to donate their organs, even though the fear isn’t warranted. So the movie attempts to dispel myths surrounding organ donation that may especially provoke fear in non-white people.
The movie was shown for National Multicultural Heritage Month.
They had a few free tickets left, and I was offered one, by the Gift of Life Program where I volunteer! 💙💚
This is the website to the movie, which can be purchased. It’s amazing and inspiring. I can’t wait to buy it and watch it again.
One life touches another life that touches another life…
Everything that’s possible when we just choose to love a stranger.
“Abundant” – Documentary trailer
If you’re a universal lover or just interested in what it’s like to be one, this documentary may be for you. Many who have seen it said it’s transformative and even life-altering to watch.
Everyone is worth it. ❤️
I’m so happy it’s officially Pumpkin Season in Philadelphia now! (It begins in August!) Pumpkin spice coffee and pastries have been released around the city! 🎃☕️ It’s still like 100° every day and doesn’t quite feel like Fall just yet. It’s all gross and hot and humid and sticky and suffocating.
But we’re getting there slowly but surely! I LOVE sweater weather! Some streets are covered with crunchy leaves already, and when shady & breezy, it does give Fall vibes. And I did notice some brief parts of the day are cooler, and my bedroom is cooler with the air conditioning on now. The other day I was in a park for a meeting that evening, about organ donation, and I was slightly cold! I loved it.
Here’s to pumpkin season! (And “extreme altruism!” Lol)
🎃🍁🍂💛🧡🖤☕️🦷
Xoxo Kim
Now, I will stand in the rain on the corner
I’ll watch the people go shuffling downtown
‘Nother ten minutes, no longer
And then I’m turning around, ’round
The clock on the wall’s moving slower
My heart it sinks to the ground
And the storm that I thought would blow over
Clouds the light of the love that I found, found
Light of the love that I found
The flood that I was out in yesterday 😆 It came up to my ankles.
Friendly reminder: Do not drive a car through a flood.
I saw three cars break down in it. The people tried driving through it, and I guess it destroyed their engines. That happened to my dad’s car, years ago, when he drove through a flood. Car was done. I remember him yelling and cursing.
Three people in a row tried driving through it and just got stuck. So, there were three cars stalled in a row. They were all angrily beeping their car horns, as if that was going to help them lol I always think it’s funny when people sit in their cars beeping for no reason. I noticed they often don’t even know what they’re beeping their horns at. One person will beep theirs, and then a bunch more will for literally no reason, just because they heard that person 😆
It reminds me of when one of my dogs barks at something, and then the rest start barking, even in another room, just because they heard that one. And they run in, barking and bristling, like they want to give someone a piece of their mind, and they have no idea who they even have beef with. Lol!
At first, they were angry at the driver in the first car, not understanding why he was stalled in the middle of a street. Then, they soon realized why, when their cars broke down too. They were PISSED!
They could have all turned a different way to avoid the flooded street, but each one kept going straight through the water. They must not have known that can happen or thought they could get away without it happening to them. Another friendly reminder: nothing only happens to “other people” or only happens on the news. If it can happen, it can happen to you.
Hopefully, they are able to use car insurance or something to get a new car or fixed car. This is why I’m thankful I don’t drive. No car troubles. One less problem in life.
It wasn’t raining when I was walking, and then suddenly, there was a violent downpour with thunder and lightning, and before I knew it, it was inches deep. I stood in it on a street corner, for almost an hour, until it came up to my ankles lol I was not dressed for the rain and had no umbrella and was in walking shoes in the midst of a life-threatening (according to my phone) storm.
It was gross, but it makes for pretty pictures lol It looks like a swimming pool.
Even though I work outside, I never come to my senses and get appropriate clothes and shoes and an umbrella. So, I’m walking around like a drowned rat, with puddles sloshing around in my shoes. Super gross.
I’ll run in the rain ’til I’m breathless
When I’m breathless, I’ll run ’til I drop
The thoughts of a fool’s kind of careless
I’m just a fool waiting on the wrong block
Anyway, that song seems fitting. Lol
Fool In the Rain – Led Zeppelin
Xoxo Kim ☔️💙
Who are you most inspired by?
The helpers.
The Carnegie Medal is a prestigious award considered one of the highest civilian honors in the U.S. and Canada.
I love this!!
There’s a medal of honor awarded to “ordinary” people who legit risk or even give their own lives or risk very serious bodily injury, to save another person’s life, often the life of a stranger.
They have to risk their own life to an extraordinary degree, to be considered for the award.
They said there are around 800 nominations a year, and only 11% are accepted to receive the medal of honor. That is amazing, though, that at least 800 people a year go to great lengths to save someone else’s life, even at the risk of their own.
They don’t just potentially risk their lives but actually have a significant risk of dying or experiencing serious bodily trauma.
To receive the award, the victim or survivor has to have been in a situation where their life was in imminent danger, where they would have died right then, if not for the person who saved them.
I’m reading a book about the science and psychology of altruism, and the Carnegie Hero Medal is mentioned. I heard of it before, but I decided to look it up now.
It’s very interesting. The website has many stories of people who were given this medal. Anyone can nominate anyone we want for it. The incident has to have been in the last two years, and the victim and “hero” had to have both been within inches of death. In some cases, the “hero” does die and receives the medal posthumously.
To receive the award, they have to come so close to dying that it’s a wonder they’re still alive. They don’t have to be injured, but many are. There has to be witnesses and/or media reports to confirm the incident really happened and is extraordinary enough to warrant receiving a medal.
They have to be people who risk their own life not as part of their job but out of the goodness of their heart, for no reason other than to save another human. And they have to know their own life is significantly at risk, to receive the medal.
I was skimming through the stories, there are hundreds. It is truly amazing and so heartwarming to read the lengths that people will go to save a stranger’s life. It looks like most of them are men. I was skimming through the list, and saw hundreds, and saw only one woman “hero.” That’s probably because men are more likely to take risks and are more likely to engage in physical things because of social programming.
They are also usually physically stronger. All of these situations are very physical. Many drowning incidents and pulling people out of burning buildings and vehicles and tackling assailants who are assaulting women.
There are probably more women/girls on the list, I haven’t looked at them all. A while ago, I did read a story about a 16 year old girl who received this medal for saving a drowning man. Jumped in and carried him out of an ocean.
There’s one where a stranger saved a man and his dog who were almost electrocuted. The dog bit him when he was saving them lol To receive the award, the victim/survivor has to be human.
One of the “heroes” is as young as 10 years old (he saved another child’s life). One is a 15 year old boy, he ran into a burning building to save a family in the middle of the night when he saw the flames across the street while he was staying in a motel with his dad. His dad was trying to convince him not to go through with it, but the boy wouldn’t listen. And he saved an entire family. He ran in like a super hero and woke them and pulled them out. The story is wild! The boy was injured by smoke inhalation. Everyone involved survived.
There were three teenagers who broke into a burning car and pulled out two women who were trapped. They went into the car after getting the women out, to make sure no one else was in there on the floor or anything. The car was burning down and could have exploded with them inside. One man gave his life for a stranger who was being attacked. She lived.
Just scroll through the list and read a few if you want to be inspired and have your faith in at least some of humanity restored. It’s a reminder that exceptionally good and brave people are among us. Ordinary angels!
It’s amazing and uplifting to see the extent people will go to save complete strangers, even knowing there is a very good chance they themselves will die trying. We see so much negativity in the news and on social media. So much violence inflicted on humans by other humans, wishing death on each other, arguing over politics, just walking by when seeing someone in distress or having an emergency…
Stories and people like the Carnegie medal heroes get overlooked and drowned out in all the negative things.
We need more people caring and more visibility!! 💚
I don’t necessarily recommend risking your own life to save someone else, but I do promote caring more than it seems society currently does and bringing visibility to cases where someone does go to this length, not because they want credit but because it restores our faith in humanity some, and it’s just uplifting and balances out the negative in the world.
Remember what Mr. Rogers said? Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.
https://www.carnegiehero.org/heroes/search-heroes/
I picked up the morning paper
the headlines were no surprise
a random act of senseless violence
was committed again last night
it seems the whole world has gone crazy
and something needs to be done
so starting today, I’m gonna find a way
I’m gonna repay someone
With a random act of senseless kindness
unexpected hand to help remind us
a little bit of love
is the cure for hate
it’s easy to give up
but it’s never too late
a single step in the right direction
person to person making a connection
we can change the world
that’s become so violent
with a random act of senseless kindness
Random Act of Senseless Kindness – South Sixty-Five
Xoxo Kim ❤️
I see comments every now and again, by men, saying women over 40 years old are “past their prime” or “hit a wall” or are damaged goods and old hags. There was just a young woman going viral for being the “most beautiful woman in the world.” Men were writing things like “Wait til she’s 40 and her looks are gone.”
Boy, what?? Lol
This is me today at 40 years old!
Still got it going on. Don’t you think? Or nah? I think so lol
I’m as healthy and physically fit as ever.
People tried to ruin my day today. So-called “family.” (But that’s for another post lol) But I wasn’t going to allow it. No one is going to dull my sparkle.
I got to see my friend, Greg, my kidney recipient, for breakfast. He’s the best friend I ever had. I gave him the gift of life, and he gave me the gift of friendship. ❤️ I got a free coffee at Starbucks! An iced mocha! Yum! I got to go for a long walk around my favorite part of the city. It was perfect weather. I laid in bed with my dogs in the afternoon. I got to sit with my dogs (there’s my pitbull 😆😍 I had no idea he was there lol). I listened to music. I have the whole weekend off work, to do what I want. I’m bringing my own magic. 💛✨️
So, this is me going into the second half of life. 🩷 You can’t convince me I’m not 25 years old 😆 (not that I look that young, but my body definitely feels that young lol)
Free coffee! ☕️🤎
No stars are out tonight, but we’re shining our own light ✨️ 💛
Xoxo Kim
My story was selected to be shared on “Share Your Wishes,” a UK based organ donation org. March is Kidney Month, and they were sharing one kidney transplant/donation story a day, all month long.
I’m honored that mine was chosen! 💚💙
Kidney Month is over, but it’s still Donate Life Month! So, I’m sharing here. It’s late but still relevant!
“Kim shares her story in the hope that it will encourage even just one person to consider becoming a living organ donor, and register as a donor too, as both are equally important and very desperately needed.“
“On 16th January 2024, at 37 years old, I donated one of my kidneys to a stranger. It was a lifelong dream of mine since I read a true story, almost two decades earlier, about a man who donated one of his kidneys to an anonymous stranger. I thought it was the most beautiful thing, someone giving a literal piece of himself to save another struggling human.
It deeply resonated with me. I always had the gift of perfect health and wanted someone else to have even just a little bit of what I have. It made perfect sense, if I have more than enough of something, to give some to someone who doesn’t have enough. As soon as I read that story, I knew it would be me one day giving my kidney to a person in need.
Nearly, twenty years later, it was! That beautiful story stayed with me for all those years until I finally got around to making that decision. It was a very easy decision for me to make once all my life circumstances aligned for it to all work out. There was never any hesitation or reconsidering. It was my calling.
I knew that the potential benefits to a kidney recipient outweighed any of the rare potential risks to myself and that even if I did experience a complication at some point, at least it would be because I tried to help someone. I could never regret it.
I knew that maybe I would experience a rare complication, but someone in need of a new kidney did not have the luxury of “maybe” that I had. Someone else was already suffering complications of an illness that I could potentially help.Taking on some of someone else’s pain for a while, to potentially give that person a whole life, was more than worth it.
I did not care who received my kidney. It was a gift given out of love for my fellow human and sentient being. My only hope was to relieve a little bit of the suffering in the world. The less suffering, the better for the whole world.
In the U.S., we have The National Kidney Registry. Through the Registry, we can donate our kidney to an anonymous stranger they choose for us and receive a kidney voucher to give to anyone in the country we choose, usually a friend or family member. That person usually gets a new kidney soon after the donor’s surgery, often in a matter of months.
In my case, I did not know anyone who needed a new kidney, so I decided to look for another stranger to give the voucher to. I just happened to hear about a man in my location who was in urgent need of a new kidney. I looked up his family on social media and offered the kidney voucher, or my actual kidney, if we happened to be a match. No recipient was chosen for me yet.
Coincidentally, we turned out to be a match and only lived fifteen minutes apart! It turned out he wasn’t cleared for transplant yet, though, and still had more work to be done before he could have a transplant.
So, I continued with non-directed donation and gave my kidney to whoever in the Registry could use it. That person’s transplant was an immediate success! I have no contact with him and no information about him other than that he’s a 50 something year old man. I hope that one day we can meet or exchange a letter!
A year after my non-directed kidney donation, the man I gave the kidney voucher to, Greg, received his new kidney through my donation to the anonymous stranger. His transplant was also a success, and he is doing amazing! He felt his new kidney working instantly. He got his whole life back after being so sick for years on dialysis. He is able to work again, eat his favorite foods, go out with friends, volunteer for organ donation, and work on his dream of becoming a dialysis tech to help others in the position he was once in.
We have become great friends and meet up for breakfast and do organ donation volunteer work and attend organ donation events together. We love to bring awareness to living donation and organ donation in general.
I’m thankful that my one donation saved two lives. I think of both of my recipients as my kidney brothers.
My evaluation process to see if I was physically & emotionally healthy enough to donate my kidney, took six months. I loved every second of it. My donation surgery was flawless. I had a smooth & quick recovery. Very little pain and no fatigue. I did not even need Tylenol! No pain meds at all. I was out of work for recovery for three months only because my job is very physical, but I felt like my usual self after only two weeks!
Two years after my kidney donation, I am just as healthy as with two kidneys! I have a medical test once a year to check my kidney function. My recent results showed that my kidney is functioning as well as it possibly could. I have just as much energy and walk 10+ hours a day. I’m a pet nanny/dogwalker for work. I would never know I had surgery or only have one kidney. Nothing at all changed, physically. My scars have (unfortunately! I love them!) faded. I have one lifelong restriction with one kidney, and that is NSAIDS/Natural vitamin supplements. I’m recommended to avoid those.
I have become an organ donor ambassador with The Gift of Life Program where I live, doing volunteer work to bring awareness to organ donation. Organ donation is a beautiful thing that is so life-affirming. So many people, the donors (living and deceased, alike), the donor families, the healthcare workers, and everyone who advocates for the recipients, come together and go to great lengths to save one life.
Donating my kidney expanded my life perspective and showed me just how powerful each of our lives are. Any choice we make, good or bad, has a boundless & unfathomable ripple effect and will change the world in some way.
Anything my kidney recipient/s go on to do in life is something that never would have happened if I did not donate my kidney. They’ll go on to touch more lives, develop relationships, do work and acts of kindness. Even way into the distant future, when my recipients and me are no longer here, the impact of my kidney donation could still be existing.
This goes for any choice we make in life. It will have an impact we can’t foresee and may never know. I never realized this to this extent until I gave my kidney to save a stranger’s life. It’s the most enlightening thing!
Donating my kidney is the best thing I ever did. The sense of relevance and joy and importance never fade, no matter how much time goes by.
I love being part of the whole organ donation family and feel a sense of kinship with all associated with organ donation in any way.
I truly, inadvertently, gave the absolute best gift to myself when I gave the gift of life to someone else. At the end of this life, whenever it may be, this one decision alone makes my whole life a success.
I would make the same decision again & again. I see my experience with the perspective of this amazing thing I got to experience more than look at this amazing thing I did for someone else. It’s better than I ever imagined it would be.
My kidney donation has given me this whole family, a new friend, an expanded life perspective, and most of all, the gift of seeing someone’s whole life change, dramatically, for the best.
Even though it wasn’t my intention or expectation, my experience with kidney donation truly has given me just as much as it has given those who received the gift of life out of it. It has become an essential part of my identity.
In the USA there are over 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ, over 90,000 of them are waiting for a new kidney. A healthy person with two kidneys can get one of them off that waiting list and off of dialysis with little to no cost to us.
If I could, I would give a kidney to every person in need! 💚”
Please #ShareYourWishes about your #organdonation decisions with your loved ones, say #YesIDonate and register your decisionNHS Organ Donationtion
Xoxo Kim ❤️
(Those things on my legs are not bruises and nothing contagious lol It looked much worse but is healing now. It’s an allergic reaction. It affects various parts of my body, my legs get hit the hardest. It’s literally impossible to avoid my trigger. Thankfully, it never affects my breathing, even though it can)
This was my FB post earlier, just sharing here!
Yesterday was a special day! It was the last day of my living kidney donation journey at Penn Transplant Institute!!
We stay a patient at the transplant center we donate at throughout our evaluation to become a living organ donor and then two years after the donation surgery, if we get accepted. Then, they let us go, and we’re on our own.
The first two years of medical test results after donation surgery is used for living kidney donation research. Our transplant team tracks our results to use for statistics & the future of living donation. It’s a requirement we have to agree to, to get accepted. We don’t pay for our medical testing the first two years or throughout our evaluation. The recipient’s health insurance does.
I was a patient there for almost three years 💚
My journey began in March 2023 when, at the spur of the moment, I filled out an application on a train one night after work, to give my kidney to anyone who needed it, and ended in January 2026, with a perfectly functioning solitary kidney, and two lives saved. 💙
I get this heartwarming feeling in my chest just writing this.
I loved every second of it and am going to miss it! It was nothing but happy & positive. It’s always uplifting to interact with the Penn staff, whether on a video call, through the patient portal, phone calls, or in person. I still remember so many of my interactions there and where I was when I got phone calls & messages.
Yesterday morning, I had my last appointment there.
It felt like a kind of graduation day. Lol Some (medical) tests and surveys for the last years, and now I’m done!
It feels like something being complete or accomplished. There was something very sentimental about my last day there. It made me think back to the beginning, the thrill of anticipation and new beginnings, always having this big thing to look forward to. Now, it’s already three years later!
I decided I should do something to celebrate 🥳 So, I bought myself a pretty and very inexpensive necklace at a boutique lol I chose a heart to represent my act of love. I’m not wearing it in this picture because I want to paint it with clear nail polish to preserve it as long as possible lol This necklace is one my recipient bought me (it doesn’t have to be painted lol)
I never had the perfect grades in school to be a student at UPenn. It’s one of those elite universities.
But I did have the perfect kidney to be a patient at the living donor center at UPenn hospital!
Just like the university, it’s very difficult to get accepted into Penn as a living donor, they’re very selective. They must have really wanted that kidney lol 😆
I got my two year kidney function test results! And then, we talked about my results at my appointment yesterday and how to keep my remaining kidney safe throughout life.
Once a year, I have to get medical tests to see how my remaining kidney is holding up after losing its counterpart. I also have a glucose test each year. And I have to have my blood pressure checked every six months or less.
Sometimes, after kidney donation, the remaining kidney fails, and the donor needs a transplant (This is VERY rare). It doesn’t always happen right away if it’s going to. It can happen at any point after donation surgery. It usually happens within the first ten years when it does happen. There’s never a point where we’re “out of the woods,” though.
We all know this before donating. They make it very clear. During the psych evaluation, they ask us how we would feel if we ever need a kidney transplant after donating ours.
Can’t say I would quite like it, but it was worth the risk. I would get to say it’s because I helped someone. So many are sick for no good reason. I would never regret it.
Someone else already needed a transplant NOW. I think of the fact that “maybe” I could need a kidney transplant later, as a privilege or “luxury” that someone else did not have. For someone else, there was no maybe.
So, we’re recommended to get lifelong tests once a year after leaving our transplant center.
We can also become diabetic after donation. That’s the number one reason for kidney failure in the U.S. So we should have a glucose test at least once a year.
Anything that isn’t good for two kidneys is especially not good for only one. When there’s two kidneys, they each take a hit of whatever is a.ttacking them, so it’s split evenly. With only one, it takes it all on its own. This is why I’m generally keeping my sodium, protein, and added sugar low/in moderation.
Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!
I have to avoid NSAIDS & herbal/vitamin supplements. It’s one of the very few lifelong restrictions.
Donating a kidney also puts us at an elevated risk for elevated blood pressure that can require medication to keep under control. And seriously elevated blood pressure can damage the kidneys. That can also develop at any point, even years after donation.
It’s not extremely uncommon to develop blood pressure problems after donation because the kidneys regulate blood pressure. Having one removed can result in needing medication to keep it under control.
So we need our blood pressure checked every six or less months.
If it does happen, it’s usually easy to manage. My diet & lifestyle are already conducive to having healthy blood pressure, and I have no family history of any problems. So, that lowers my risk, and if it does happen, medication would control it without me having to do much else.
Everyone can actually benefit by annual kidney & glucose checks and frequent blood pressure checks. Even with two healthy kidneys. It can happen to anyone. And many people have some elevated risk factors. There are often no symptoms at first. If we get regular checks, they can catch it before it’s too advanced.
Righty is holding its own!!
Two years later, and it still got it!
My solitary kidney is functioning perfectly and as expected! It’s kicking a.ss all on its own lol No concerns at all.
My glucose, on point. Not diabetic or prediabetic.
Everything else was checked, including my sodium, potassium, calcium….it’s all perfect. All within normal range.
My most recent blood pressure was 104/72. Perfect.
My body weight is perfect.
There was nothing in my test results even slightly off.
At my visit yesterday, we went over my general diet, lifestyle, any medications I take (none),…literal perfection. (with the exception of my dental issues lol)
They don’t want anything at all to change and want everything to remain stable. “If perfect’s what you’re searching for, then, just stay the same.” 😆 lol jk
Going into middle age (except I feel 25 years old lol) healthy as can be!
It’s like an early 40th b-day gift to find that I’m completely healthy. 💚
Health is the greatest wealth.
I thank my super kidney for holding up so well. It stepped up to the plate and picked up the slack, no problem! And still going strong after two years!
I’m thankful for my amazing health not only for the good it does me but what it allowed me to do for someone else. It’s a gift to be able to share it and make someone else healthy, too. If I had another one to give, I sure would! 💙
I loved my experience at Penn and am proud & honored to get to call myself one of their “alum.” Lol
Yesterday, at my last appointment with one of my transplant team members, she thanked me again for my kidney donation (and for the thank you letter & gifts I dropped off, recently). She said it was an amazing thing to do for the whole community. I loved hearing that. The impact of organ donation is expansive & lasting. It never loses its relevance no matter how many years later.
I love being part of this whole Penn living donor community. I woke up this morning with that sentimental feeling again of my patient journey there being over. But I’m always going to be part of the community and have a place there. (They even took our pictures to put up in their center and had us sign a living donor flag! I love that 💙)
I plan to keep in touch with the staff through the events that take place every year, like the organ donor walks and celebrations. They asked for my recipient and me to join them at the events. They LOVE our story.
During the holiday season, along with some gifts, I took them a pages-long thank you letter, sharing our entire heartwarming story and all the amazing things we can do after transplant/donation. They said they were all blown away! They said they don’t usually get to know the full story or situation of their living donors, just some details.
So, they loved getting to read our whole beautiful story. It brightened their day to receive the gifts and letter. My surgeon called me and asked for my permission to share it!
I encourage anyone who has had an amazing healthcare team or healthcare worker taking care of them or a family member, to give a small gift and/or thank you letter/card (if allowed, not all places allow their staff to accept gifts or even cards or letters, so checking with the hospital’s HR is best).
It can leave a lasting impact or just brighten the day of someone doing one of the most important kinds of work there is, saving lives. They may even remember it years later or be uplifted on a stressful day when they see or think of the reminder. I don’t think healthcare workers hear thank you enough even though they’re not expecting it.
I love that I was able to send a bit of joy & love to my team at the end of my journey, to say thank you.
It uplifted them even more than I realized, and they couldn’t thank me enough. I wasn’t even expecting a thank you at all! But a few of them called me on their own cell phones to thank me and told me again at my last appointment yesterday. Knowing this, I definitely recommend thank you gifts, cards, and/or letters to healthcare workers.
💙💚
And today is a BIG day! It’s my 2nd KIDNEYVERSARY/Lefty’s 2nd birthday!!! 🫘
I ordered a custom cake & gift for myself to celebrate. I can’t wait to open my gift later today lol It’s something I had custom-made on Etsy. I kept it in the package because I did not want to see it til my day! Never even saw a picture online since it’s custom-made.
In the back of my head, I kept thinking I was going to cave and rip it open sooner. Lol I’m like a little girl who can’t wait for her birthday gift. But I managed to make it to the day! I’ll share it later, along with the cake and an anniversary post or two. 🩷 I have to go pick the cake.
My dogs love birthdays and candles. They get special treats for EVERY special occasion and holiday. They know the word “cake” and “birthday.” When they see a candle being lit, they go wild, jumping around, barking, waiting for their special treat. So, I got them a special treat and decided to light a candle on the cake later, so they can get all happy lol It will be a “birthday” for them 😆😍
💚🫘💙
#kidneydonor
Xoxo Kim
This is a screenshot response that someone wrote to me on a meme I shared in my last post here, this meme:
This is my response to that person’s response. I understand the person has good intentions, but I can’t say I agree that gun violence is ever good.
My response:
I do think of myself as the same as them. I am the same as them.
Differences in political & moral views are not significant enough, in my opinion, to make us fundamentally different. We’re essentially the same. Not only are we the same species, we’re all sentient. That makes us the same.
That “we’re not the same” philosophy I see so frequently on “both sides,” hinders our empathy and only serves to create more of a disconnect with each other.
I’m human just like them. I’m a sentient being just like they are. Like them, I can experience pain and suffering, and, like them, I gravitate towards relief and pleasure and life affirming things. I don’t want my head blown off any less than they do.
I’m truly no different than they (people with different political/moral views than me) are. And I’m no more worthy of life than they are. If it’s not ok to blow my head off while I’m walking up a street or talking to people, then it’s not ok to blow theirs off, in my opinion. It’s sentience that makes us worthy of life, not our goodness.
Some may argue that it’s for practical purposes that some people are killed, but I don’t believe it’s helping anything or going to stop their ilk. They’ll still be spewing their nonsense after people like them are killed. Research even shows that in places where capital punishment is practiced, there’s even more violence and nothing to show that killing “bad people” deters other ones.
https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/faculty-articles/143/
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/deterrence
If they’re so full of violent urges and hatred, it’s unlikely that killing them off in violent ways is going to make the surviving ones more peaceful and loving and accepting. It will just provoke more fury in them, motivating them to act with more violence either physically or verbally or politically. When Liberal/Progressive people kill a Conservative person or they assume the murderer is a Liberal, all it does is “confirm” for them that the Liberals are terrible people and that Liberalism has to be obliterated.
The only justification for blowing someone’s head off, in my opinion, is if that person is an imminent threat to me or to someone else, not just because they spew nonsense, even if the nonsense they spew is ultimately harmful. And it should always be a last resort.
I have progressive political views, pro equality for all minority groups…some people think that makes me a threat to society. That doesn’t mean one of those people can walk up and blow my head off out of the blue.
So, it’s the same with people who have views that I know are dangerous to society. I can’t just blow them to pieces because I don’t like their views. These Conservative people legit believe Liberals and minority groups are a serious threat to society and that they’re doing the greater good a favor when they kill us or strip us of our rights.
They truly feel justified in killing us off and/or trampling on our basic rights. But as we know, that’s not ok for them to do that just because they believe it’s helpful or that we deserve it. If we feel equally justified in killing them off because we know they’re a threat to us all, that doesn’t mean we’re right. It seems hypocritical to me. We get to decide who lives and who dies or who is worthy of the basic right to life and who isn’t. It doesn’t sit right with me.
Our convictions are equally strong, yet it’s ours that is right, just doesn’t make sense. I know the difference here is that they actually are a threat where we aren’t. But, still, I think it gets dangerous when we start subjectively coming up with excuses to kill people for their views. And I think there’s a better way to deal with them.
They experience fear and pain. They have things that make them happy. They have friends and family who love them. They have little kids and pets who need them and are traumatized over the loss…it’s not ok to decide that it’s our place to take their life away just because they have repulsive views.
We have to tackle their views and keep them out of positions of power (I know that’s very difficult to do and a complex issue and easier said than done), not murder them. There’s always going to be despicable people with corrupt views, trying to make life difficult for others. I believe there are better ways to deal with them than killing them.
There are people who find me just as repulsive as I find these people (I received death wishes, was told I deserve to suffer the “worst pain imaginable” and be killed after being tortured “beyond recognition” and more because of my political views, told I deserve to be caught in a massacre at a Democratic event), that doesn’t give them consent to kill me. It works both ways.
Also, I don’t necessarily believe that when someone kills someone for political reasons that it’s always for practical purposes. I think it’s often out of anger and “payback,” which is never wise to act on. I see many people rejoicing in a vengeful way when a political figure is shot dead, that shows it’s not just for practical purposes.
Having to kill someone, in my opinion, is never a happy matter. I get having to kill someone sometimes or not mourning for certain people when they die, because of how terrible they were. But there’s people just getting off on their deaths. That’s ok if that’s their inner experience. It’s not really my place to tell people how they should and shouldn’t feel about something. Especially when it’s an oppressed person rejoicing over the fact that one of their oppressors is dead.
Who am I to tell a trans person or a gay person or an African American/black person or a woman not to be happy someone who was working to kill them or take away their basic human rights is dead? But we can’t be acting on it or promoting killing for revenge. I believe for practical purposes, to make the country/world better for all, we should teach and promote more peaceful ways than killing.
Decisions, especially ones that have to do with ending someone’s life, should always be made, intellectually, and while in a rational state of mind.
Society isn’t going to progress by blowing each other’s heads off.
Xoxo Kim
No matter how repulsive those views are.
Simple reminder 💚
Violence isn’t the answer.
I picked up the morning paper
The headlines were no surprise
A random act of senseless violence
Was committed again last night
It seems the whole world has gone crazy
And something needs to be done
So, starting today, I’m gonna find a way
I’m gonna repay someone
With a random act of senseless kindness
Unexpected hand to help remind us
A little bit of love is a cure for hate
It’s easy to give up, but it’s never too late
A single step in the right direction
Person to person making a connection
We can change the world that’s become so violent
With a random act of senseless kindness
Random Act of Senseless Kindness – South Sixty Five
Xoxo Kim
In my opinion, our compassion is best when it embraces all sentient beings.
Reasons:
1.) Our suffering is all the same whether we’re good or bad.
2.) At best, suffering does the world no good, and at the worst, it makes the world worse for everyone
3.) Ultimately, the “bad people” are like victims of their circumstances- this is not to say we have no choice, but our choices are often influenced by various factors, our mental health, our life circumstances, our upbringing, our culture, our privilege or lack of… and sometimes without us fully realizing the consequences or that we have other options. I don’t believe that under the best circumstances, anyone would essentially choose to be a terrible person.
4.) Our own minds are more peaceful when we wish others well.
This post is inspired by all the (understandable) enthusiasm I have been seeing about Donald Trump’s medical condition and all the wishes that more bad things happen to him.
I don’t believe he can be rehabilitated. I believe he’s a bad person and that there’s no hope for him. I am not one of those loving people who believe everyone is truly good and that everyone can be rehabilitated with lots of love and care. I think Donald Trump was born with the predisposition for being a “bad person.”
His condition reminds me of my condition, but mine is not serious. It can be painful but is not life or health threatening. I have jugular vein insufficiency and insufficiency of a few other veins in my neck because of an obstruction in my head. The obstruction is also not life threatening. The blood leaving my brain to go to my heart through these veins, can’t get there because of the veins being impinged on. So, the blood backs up into my head. Many veins are all doing the same job, so it doesn’t matter. It’s harmless. The blood is still getting to my heart.
I have recurring unbearable headaches associated with it, though. The headaches are 10/10 pain, at least within their own context. I guess when compared to some other kinds of pain, they would be less than 10 on a pain level scale. But like within the context of headaches. They bring me to the floor. I have been bedridden for days sometimes. I think it’s the obstruction itself that causes the headaches, not the vein insufficiency or blood backing up. That can cause severe pain, too, though, among many other things. When I have these headaches or think of them, my empathy for others becomes boundless.
Mine doesn’t cause swelling, but you can see the jugular vein bulging out of my neck. I had to have scans a couple of years ago to see why it was suddenly protruding and so prominent. The doctors were concerned it could be a blood clot somewhere causing it. But it turned out to be nothing serious. I convinced myself I was dying and had six months left to live (certain kinds of cancer can cause it to bulge, and when it’s to that point, the average person only lives around six months. I convinced myself I had that), and my heart rate and blood pressure were through the roof in a doctor’s office. They had to tell me to calm down and to stay off Google 😆
I don’t want him as President, he’s absolutely repulsive. He has no redeeming qualities. None.
But I don’t wish him or anyone to be sick. I don’t believe anyone deserves to be sick any more than I do. We are all equal in our suffering and in our comfort. The goodness or lack of it in us, is irrelevant in this context. If Donald Trump was afflicted with one of my headaches, he would suffer the same as me. All sentient beings essentially want to live and be healthy. We all suffer the same. The headaches this brings me, I would wish on absolutely no one. I literally cannot bear the mere thought of someone else, even him, enduring what I do when a headache hits.
I believe the world would be a significantly better place if everyone was happy (not at the expense of others, but sincerely happy) & healthy. It’s people who are unhappy and hurt who hurt others. Happy, well rounded, people don’t go around tormenting anyone else. There are absolutely people who get off on hurting others (he’s one of them), it makes them happy. But that’s not genuine happiness, it’s happiness that often relieves whatever unhappiness that afflicts them. If they were genuinely happy, they would not inflict pain upon others.
Most of us have probably experienced this on a lesser scale, like for example, when we’re in a bad mood so we get snippy with someone when it’s not warranted. It’s displaced anger or annoyance. We may not usually do this, even when unhappy, but most of us have probably more than once been less than kind, when in a bad mood, to someone who did not deserve it. These people, though, live a life of that because they are always unhappy and are the kind of people who want others to suffer, too.
I don’t believe that everyone is basically good. But I think their lack of goodness is the result of their own suffering. Some people are born (and maybe upbringing often plays a part, but I think they have inherent or genetic inclination for it to begin with) never developing basic human abilities/emotions, like the ability for empathy and compassion. This does not result in true happiness. It results in the desire to hurt others, it brings them a superficial happiness. Donald Trump hurts everyone. And he gets off on it. He loves it. But we see he’s not a happy person.
Why do we think bitter, miserable people often insist on hurting others? Because it brings them relief or pleasure. They are seeking what we all seek. It’s just for them, their suffering influences it.
Wishing further suffering on them has no practical benefits. If anything, it only serves to perpetuate their abuse as their own suffering is the source of it anyway, and it doesn’t make our own mind any more positive or loving. It may bring us a moment of satisfaction again & again. But I don’t think it has any real value. At least wishing others well has potential to bring us inner peace, and then we’re more likely to interact positively with others.
Not all seemingly terrible people really are. Unlike Donald Trump, some can change. It’s dependent on the reason they are how they are.
I believe that if we were all given the choice before being born, to be a good and happy person or a bad and suffering person who goes to great lengths to inflict that suffering upon others, all of us would have chosen to be happy and healthy and good and someone who wishes that for every other being as well. Ultimately, no one chooses to be what Donald Trump is. Yes, he chooses to do bad things within the confines of the existence he was given. He’s a despicable person. Nothing changes that. But I don’t believe for a second that he would have chosen this if the uni-verse gave him a choice when he was still a “clean slate” if ever he even was. He was born suffering or was brought up to suffer, and now he wants the rest of us to suffer along with him.
Some people’s suffering inspires deeper empathy for others, but for others, it doesn’t, it has the opposite effect and inhibits empathy instead.
As the cliche goes, “Hurt people, hurt people.”
Suffering begets more suffering.
This doesn’t mean we always have to speak warm & kindly to everyone. Sometimes, people have to be told off & judged harshly and not get what they want. Some people need a firm ass kicking. It just means we don’t have to wish suffering upon them.
I believe it does no good to wish pain & suffering on others.
I wish he was happy & healthy and not born a psychopath. Me wishing that does no practical good either, though. But I think the world would be better and most of us more peaceful if more of us wished good things on people instead of bad.
People have countered my sentiment, saying anger & hatred fuel us to act for good. While that is sometimes true, compassion & love can fuel us just the same. Anger & hatred feel unpleasant and can get out of control and influence us to do things that are destructive to ourselves and others. Love & compassion can never go wrong. As I said, it doesn’t necessarily have to be warm and sappy and “feel good” feelings. It can be firm & harsh but still love. When anger & hatred frequently consume us, it leads to stress, depression, anxiety, physical ailments. When compassion & love consume us, it only leads to good.
I have wished bad things on people before, and I probably will again. But that’s not the philosophy I hold, it’s when I give into raw emotion that I allow to overtake me and blind me. I always find my way back to me, the authentic me who knows the truth, that wishing suffering on others isn’t the way.
If I could, I would flip a switch and turn all the suffering in the world off, even for “bad people.” I would in a heartbeat.
Think about it, there must be higher love
Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above
Without it, life is a wasted time
Look inside your heart, I’ll look inside mine
Things look so bad everywhere
In this whole world, what is fair?
We walk blind, and we try to see
Falling behind in what could be
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Where’s that higher love I keep thinking of?
Xoxo Kim ❤️
