Mark Your Calendars--April 16, 1:30 p.m. PST

Yesterday I talked with Fe, the transplant coordinator. I said that waiting until August to have a consultation with UCLA was way too long to wait. Two kidney patients who were actors in "Who Lives?" had been on dialysis for only a short time before receiving transplants--five months for one and a year for the other. And here I wasn't even going to have a thumbs up or down for the wait list for six months. Was there anything she could do? I wondered.

Phone calls and emails went back and forth between Fe, Dr. Butman, and myself. And there must have been phone calls between them and UCLA. Then this morning I received a call from the transplant scheduling nurse. I've now got a consultation with the kidney-pancreas transplant surgeons on April 16 at 1:30.

This could very well be the most important meeting of my entire life. The meeting that decides whether I am a viable transplant candidate. So please keep that date in your prayers and in your good thoughts. Surround the doctors in white light. See them coming away with a very positive feeling about me and about my outcome post-transplant. See me getting my name on The List.

The appointment itself is certainly good news. Four months ahead of the original time. Things are moving. Thank you, thank you, thank you.