Hi Margaret: I thank-you for your help. Are you a nurse or a DR at the Mayo Clinic? I had Dr Leibovich do a complete Radical Nephrectomy on my left side 13 years ago. I see he is still practicing at Mayo. I will look up all the info that I can, yours included. I am still in shock and its still hard to take. I feel for the 1st time in my life that I am not in control of anything and I feel like a kid in 1st grade waiting to be told what to do next. I see right now that I will need a support group to get me thru this. I am hoping that I can get a transplant without doing the dialysis thing 1st as it can create some problems from what I have read. Thanks again for taking an interest guiding me to the right material. Rick