New Years 2014, something changed. My coworkers starting acting like I was a person and no longer a bump they had to endure. Not that they liked me quite yet, but as if they made a New Year's resolution to try to find a way to like me. Turns out, they had new evidence that suggested that what they had believed about me was not accurate, so they were going to give me a clean chance. (Looking back, I think God orchestrated this change.) By April I was convinced that my coworkers genuinely liked me.
In their giving me a chance, they started including me in little conversations. In January I found out that my tiny supervisor's sister was coming home early from her full time religious mission in another country to donate a kidney to this, her older sister. I was floored. Why did I have that prompting if someone was already donating to her?
It had only been a couple of weeks since my prompting. Had my supervisor been suddenly approved to be put on the waiting list? Nope. I guessed family members could donate before approval for being added to the waiting list, or maybe it was required first.
I had planned to give my 2 week notice that weekend, but I decided to stay so that my boss didn't have to worry about hiring and training while she was supposed to be in recovery. I did tell her that when she came back after recovery, I would give my notice. I figured since my transformation from bump to human made it tolerable, I could hang in there just a little longer for a good cause.
I started being trained to close the drawers, which kept me from my home after my kids were home from school, but it would only be a few weeks. I was somehow under the impression that the surgery would be in February, but it became late March, and I had never heard more about it, except that her sister had made it here and was going through testing. I heard nothing more and was wondering when I would be quitting.
Finally I asked, and I found out that the very last test ruled her sister out as a donor, because her kidneys were abnormally shaped. Just so you know, 60% of people have "normally shaped" kidneys. The rest have kidneys that are varied in shape or connections, which function fine in their own way, but which could not be attached to someone else.
I found out that Facebook and local newspapers from her home town in another state petitioned another donor. I felt a second prompting, "here's a chance to offer," but I decided to wait for a month and see if there was anyone else to step up, first. There was.
In April I inquired and found out that a former high school acquaintance of my tiny supervisor remembered her and wanted to help. She started the process. I heard nothing more. Remembering that it usually takes only about 8 weeks for testing before surgery, when July came and still no surgery, I asked a co-worker if she had heard anything. Turns out that donor had pulled out a while back, and no other donor had come forward yet. That's when the 3rd prompting came, "That's because you are supposed to donate to her."
I still wasn't committed enough to make the offer, but I was ready to believe the prompting and start secretly and seriously researching.
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