A continuation of me.. sort of..

Wow.. I'm not even sure where to start with this. Many of you probably don't know this, but I used to blog about 4-5 years ago and LOVED it! I stopped blogging when I started my current job.. I never did or said anything that I would regret... I just needed to stop blogging because I was super busy with my job.

And I've missed it terribly..

And have wanted to get back into it..

And up until this very moment, I've been debating about whether to start blogging again...

And as you can see, I made the decision to start again..

Only this time, it's not really about me as much as it's about the name of my blog,

"...in sickness and in health..."

Does that saying ring a bell? If you're married or ever been to a wedding, it should. It's part of the Marriage Vow from the Book of Common Prayer. The complete vow states, "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, til death do us part."

Now don't get me wrong.. I am 1 million percent in love with my husband, Neil. In fact, we are celebrating our 15 year anniversary on Thursday July 30th. We've had our fair share of all of the parts of the vow above... except "...in sickness and in health..." and to be quite honest, I'm not even sure that's the vow we said! (I need to watch our wedding video to double check!!!!)

Regardless of whether we said it at our wedding or not, it's still a vow or a belief or an issue that we should all promise to keep and not run away when tested... and that's what this boils down to.. I am facing this part of our vows and it's not easy... I need to write about it, to stay sane and to vent and to also keep friends and family updated on this process.

If you know the situation, skip the next part but if you don't... read further..

Neil has polycystic kidney disease. It's a genetic disorder that was passed down to him from his mother. She had her transplant in 2001 and is doing well.. Anyway, Neil was diagnosed with it in 1998, I believe. At the time, he was told he could manage it by taking blood pressure meds. He's not really a pill-taking kind of person so I don't think he took them exactly as prescribed.

Sometime in 2002 or 2003, Neil's nephrologist sat down with us and told us that kidney transplant was inevitable... not what we wanted to hear BUT.. we listened and he continued to tell us that if he was able to keep his creatinine on an even level then transplant would happen in 10-15 years and if not, it could be 5-8 years away.... well, guess where we are? We are at the point of finding a live donor in order to avoid getting on the transplant list... and that is why I am here... writing, venting, informing, updating, trying to stay sane, asking for prayers and learning what exactly "...in sickness and in health..." truly means.