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Hostess Rise'
Forum Leader
Username: Risa
Post Number: 10516
Registered: 05-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, October 11, 2009 - 08:55 am: | 
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I am now 37, but my problems started at age 19 when I was diagnosed with lupus. I had serious ups and downs, many infections, aches and pains during my 20s. But I also had two healthy children, a daughter, Julia, who is 13, and a son, Coby, who is 9˝.
My kidney disease began in 1997, not long after a devastating fire that destroyed our home. I started a 10-month regimen of IV cytoxan (chemo) to stop the kidney damage. For a while it worked; then in 2001 the creatinine started to rise and protein showed up in the urine. I was determined not to go on cytoxan again as it had horrible side effects for me. I even traveled from Texas to Phoenix (Mayo Clinic) to see if there were any alternatives. They tried a newer medication (CellCept) but my kidney function decreased from 33% to 9% in a few months. I was very anemic, cold all the time, and had no energy. In January 2002, we knew it was dialysis and/or transplant. I still tried to avoid dialysis and go straight to transplant. Once again I called Mayo, who could evaluate me, and also my donor brother, and do surgery in about 6 weeks. But it was not meant to be. In March we went out to Phoenix expecting to get the transplant, but instead received the devastating new that because of my lupus activity, I would have to go on dialysis for 3 months. Dialysis was 3 times/week for four hours. It was the most miserable time of my life. I felt like I was barely holding on by a thin thread. I just didn't tolerate it well, and was still freezing cold all the time.
We made it to June 2002 and discovered that my brother (age 32) was a perfect, 6-antigen match! What a blessing. Surgery was June 6, 2002 at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, and the big (14 cm) kidney began to function well, but other problems developed. I kept showing signs of infection: high white blood cell counts in both blood and urine. Ultrasound and CT scans showed the kidney working fine. I was in and out of the hospital 4 times in the next 6 weeks. I was about to give up hope. I spent 12 days on IV antibiotics, suffered serious bouts of dehydration, and still the white cell count remained elevated. Rejection remained on everyone's mind as the doctors searched for the answer. Finally a second surgery was performed on July 15, 2002. They immediately discovered that a 2" section of the tube connecting my new kidney and the bladder had failed. They were able to repair it quickly and from then on it was smooth sailing.
My brother is my hero. He was so willing to go through with the surgery to save my life, and I will never be able to thank him enough. He actually thanked me for letting him give me a kidney, saying it was an awesome experience and a great story for him to share with the teens at his church. I no longer live on dialysis, with fluid and food restrictions, and with a constant chill. The anemia is gone, I have more energy and my kidney function tests are perfect now.
After being off work for over a year, I am now back at work part-time at the local newspaper office. It is barely 4 months since transplant, and I want to make sure I am fully recovered before going full-time. My career dream has been to work in the media business, particularly for a newspaper. Hopefully this job will lead to a permanent, full-time job down the road.
I feel so blessed to have such loving, giving, and supportive family and friends. They picked me up from dialysis and cheered me up when I was down, which was sometimes rather often! They brought us meals, cleaned our house, and prayed unceasingly for us. In the end, the challenge was worth it because the benefits of having a new kidney far outweigh the struggle to get there!
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nikki
Member
Username: Ialcorn
Post Number: 3
Registered: 05-2011
| | Posted on Monday, May 23, 2011 - 10:27 pm: |
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Hi I am 38 years old. I have had an on going problem with my BP for a long time- that I can remember, I would say right after my first child @ 23 years old. I was sent to a kidney specialist for protein in my urine and elevated BP. This continued for 7 more years until I had my 2nd child. I was informed by my doctor that I should not have had a baby because of my low kidney function (@ 23yrs old it was 50/60%). That my kidneys where even weaker now that I have had another child. Laid off from my job, I decided to attend some fast classes to be a CNA; We began the chapter of BP and how you take them and what is high and what is low. For experience we, the students were to take our fellow students pressure for practice. Well, when it was my turn to have my pressure taken, the young lady that was taking it said "I must be doing this wrong because I am reading your pressure @ 210/120- so another student did it and received the same results. They went to get our instructor to see what they were doing "wrong". She returned and took my BP herself; indeed it was that of 210/120. As a nurse she advised me that I should leave there and go to my primary dr to see what was wrong. He discovered the same; He called my nephrologist and I was sent to the hospital immediately for what was the begining of what would be the most difficult, trying, depressing and upset time of my life. I was diagnosis with Kidney/Renal failure; But because I had no other illnesses they were troubled by just how my BP alone could close every last artery in my kidneys. I was tested for every disease know to my race, to women and to humans for that matter. It all came back to Hypertension. I was immediately placed on dialysis; I under went soooooo many surgeries that my family began to drop me off at the hospital and return when the procedure was over. No one in my family took my illness seriously; they looked at me going to dialysis as just another thing; not for what it really was, Life Changing Experience. My depression grew stronger, along with the lack of concern and support at home i was the youngest person in my dialysis clinic. I began my 2nd year of dialysis and I had become determined to get what ever life i could, back. So I asked my dr what I had to do to get on the transplant list; he explained and I listened. By the end of the year my dr was wondering why the transplant clinic had not called for me yet  . On January 29, 2008 (my best friends birthday), after having a rough treatment that morning, I was called and asked if I could get to the hospital by 4pm. Went in for prep @ 4pm, only to be told that they bring in 2 people for 1 kidney and who ever is the best match gets the kidney. Now everyone says that they get on their knees and pray, but on this day, at that hour I did not raise from my knees praying until my dr returned to tell me that the kidney was mine. I went into surgery @ 10pm got out around 1am or 2am. I was sore when I awoke, but I was smiling. My family and friends said that they could see the change that the new kidney had made already.(in some african-americans our skin turns really dark while on dialysis treatments) So, having a new, working kidney I was replenished and received my original color of my skin back. I can go on and on with my story; but know this, I am proud and feel very fortunate and bless to have had a my kidney transplant. I am an advocate to my community to inform others my age and younger not to ignore their health and to take care of themselves. |
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