(Missed any part? Here’s the whole series.)
Picking up from last time –
Once we get close to Let’s Make a Deal, I realize I just ate chili – red, messy chili!
That has to be one of the worst things to eat before going on camera – when you want your teeth to look all pearly white. And I didn’t have a toothbrush or any mouthwash with me. Gah!
We stop at a couple of close-by gas stations. No one has whitening rinse. (Granted, I guess that is more of a grocery store thing than a gas station/7-11 type thing.)
How did I forget mouthwash? And with a white outfit, no less! It’s already hard for teeth to look great while wearing white. Oof.
Speaking of my white outfit, it was white because I went with the kidney donor costume this time around!
A) I thought it was a stronger costume than the runner.
B) I thought it was simpler to explain. I thought it took fewer words to say, “I’m two tests away from becoming a living kidney donor” than, “Oh, I’m a runner and I lost 60 pounds, so I’m bib number 60.”
When you look at it written out like that, they sound almost equally easy to explain. But there was something about it that made the runner one seem harder to me.
Not to mention, I feel like every time I talk about my weight loss, there’s at least a smidge of negativity that goes into it – negativity such as, “How could I have gotten so fat in the first place?” Also, “uuugh I still have at least 30 pounds to lose. Why are we even celebrating right now?”
I don’t necessarily try to bring that negativity in, but I think you can hear it in my voice. So, I wanted something that I was purely proud of (and that wouldn’t be embarrassing in any way).
C) This is the most important reason! When I’d gone with B and Jaime, it was before big kidney day(s), and I had no idea what to expect from the UCLA psychiatrist.
Would I crash and burn there, as I did in Ohio? I didn’t feel comfortable going as a living kidney donor until I was reasonably sure it would happen.
When I went to LMAD with my dad, I’d gone through all the tough tests! All they had to do was repeat my 24-hour-urine collection. I was sure everything was going be fine. All my urine tests were fine in Ohio. What could’ve changed in two years?
Well, the answers to that are in the kidney saga – not the LMAD posts. The point is, I was reasonably sure I’d be a living kidney donor. I also thought I’d be having the surgery basically right before this aired, which I thought would be lovely timing, and hopefully a great way to spread the word on how awesome(?) kidney donation is.
[*Deep, long sigh*] I was so wrong.
Nonetheless, that was my costume. And this is where I’ll pick up next time.