The First Potential Donor

I got a call on Friday from the transplant team. They said that there was a potential donor for me and that I should go home, pack my toothbrush, and get my little butt over to the hospital. So I did.
Now let me just preface the rest of this story with some information. When I was going through the process of getting set up on the transplant list, they warned me that this was going to happen from time to time. That I'd get a call saying that I was number 2 or 3 in line waiting for a particular set of organs so I would need to go to the hospital so that I'm there and ready in case the first two (or however many) matches don't work out. So I was cautiously excited and hopeful. Thinking there was no way I was actually going to have a transplant surgery this weekend. But they didn't say that I was number 2 on the list They said that if the organs look good when the surgeon goes to harvest them, they will be going into my body. A new kidney and a new pancreas.  They were going to be mine. I was going to be healthy again. And everyone I talked to seemed so certain that it was happening. They showed me to my hospital room. They did the chest x-rays. They did the EKG. They explained everything that could go wrong with a surgery this big and had me sign the scary consent forms. They scheduled surgery for 6 am Saturday morning. I was in my room and ready to go...or as much as I could be ready for a major, somewhat scary surgery like that.
But then the call came. The donor was found to have Spinal Meningitis aka West Nile Virus. The doctor told me that 100% of recipients who received a transplant from a donor that had Meningitis have died within 10 days of their surgery. So needless to say, I didn't get a transplant. Of course I'm bummed. But at the same time, it seemed too fast. Too good to be true. There are people who have waited YEARS on the transplant list, and I'd been on it for less than a week, it almost didn't seem fair. It was a good trial run for us. Next time I'll know to be even more cautious with my excitement. But I think I'll keep my hopefulness going strong. They called me once, they'll call me again. One day I'll get some fresh, healthy organs. That day is going to be so amazing!