Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A Different Perspective

Hello. This is not Your Editor, this is a special guest blogger. I have hacked into the system here at The Trib while the "Big Cheeses" speed around California in exotic cars. This breach is necessary, I truly feel, so that another perspective can be had on the one year mark of RJM v2.0. Also, my Dad has been asking anyone with something remotely intelligent to say to go ahead and say it here. Despite that requirement, here I am. Allow myself to introduce....myself......Andrew J. Moss duh.

Really though, so much has been said here in this forum regarding the ups and downs, the bumps in the road, the puns, the cheers, the jeers, the catheters, and of course, the unbelievable gratitude toward those involved in every aspect of the process. I simply want to express a couple of things and leave the juicy stuff to the professional. As many of you may know, there is a beautiful creature named Linz who for some reason wants me to be around her. She and I began dating in December 2004. This was basically not a great time for our family as we lost our Gram (though Linz did get to meet her), and RJM was starting to feel really crappy. The next five years were not so kind to him of course, and one thing that became difficult for me was relating things to Linz about my Dad, like stories of yesteryear. It became fairly common for her to ask things like "wait, we're talking about your Dad right?"

Many things she heard about him from the old days seemed downright impossible to her. His energy wasn't there, his wit, his drive, his smile-gone. He was still a nice guy, but we knew it wasn't him. You probably know what I'm getting at. Linz now knows the real guy. This makes me incredibly happy, for awhile I thought we may never see the real guy again. My mother and I would talk about this, but of course she was ever the optimist, to say it mildly. Im sure this applies to RJ's other acquired kiddo, Lucky Man. He didnt quite get to know RJ until he was sick, and boy is he bearing the brunt of RJ's resumed vigor.

The lengths my parents went to are not at all lost on me. The choices made by strangers either. The things that had to happen for me to crack my ass up at my Dad again are staggering and amazing. But that's my family for you, staggering and amazing. One year later things are looking better than I could have imagined. Thanks to you all.
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RJ/Bob/Irv is a 61-year-old beloved husband, father, uncle, brother, motor racing fanatic, and Livermore resident who received a heart and kidney transplant in February of 2010. Bob's recent years have been defined by his health, which forced him into early retirement. Unfortunately, many of his days were spent in a dialysis center or at various medical appointments, primarily due to his living with diabetes for over 40 years. Numerous were panic visits to various Emergency Rooms all over California for treatment of chest pain. But now no more dialysis and no more late-night dashes to UCSF! The main focus of Bob's family, friends, and doctors has been a prompt transplant, so that he can get back to traveling with his Sweetie, driving fast cars, enjoying great music and laughing with his friends. This blog will function as a way to communicate with all interested parties and to keep everyone informed. And hopefully it can serve a great purpose also, in making people more aware of the importance of organ donation and how each life saved has a positive effect on dozens of related friends and relatives.