Mr. McFarlin Goes to Washington – Sort Of

I was shocked to say the least to receive a call Wednesday afternoon from Sally Joy, public policy consultant for the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan. Although we have never met, Sally knew way more about me than I did about her due to the first-person account of my crummy kidneys in the current issue of HOUR Detroit magazine.

(If you haven't seen the article, you can read half of it online at Best Foot Forward. HOUR only posts half its stories on the Internet during the month the magazine is on the newsstand to bait you into buying it, those sneaky rascals.)

Anyway, apparently the article has made me this year's poster child for kidney disease in Michigan, which I find the height of irony because my new medical insurance in Illinois won't pay for the tests needed to keep me on Michigan's donor list for a possible kidney transplant. Sally asked if I would consider appearing before the Michigan Legislature in Lansing next April 28 as part of the Foundation's annual Diabetes and Kidney Day.  

"I'd like you to talk about reducing risks for diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease by making smart choices about lifestyle behaviors," she wrote in a confirmation e-mail, "and taking the medications you have been prescribed that manage the health conditions you may have. Of course, a good dose of 'your story' intertwined is mandatory!"

Oh, that shouldn't be a problem. I KNEW there was a good reason to do this blog! I'll have my testimony in Lansing written, rehearsed and polished to a high gloss repeatedly before April rolls around.

"Is it going to be anything like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?" Karen asked. "Probably," I replied, "but I promise not to filibuster, cheese off the legislators or pass out in a dead faint before I'm through."

The end of Sally's e-mail gave me an unexpected dose of hope as well. "Best of health to you," she wrote. "I hope that in April 2010 you're still living with a stable creatinine [level] and un-hurting feet. – Sally, kidney failure 1985 and a working kidney transplant since 1986."

Twenty-three years with a transplanted kidney? No wonder her name is Joy.