Kidney Disease and My Health

   Kidney disease runs in my family. My ancestors from several different generations have passed away due to kidney disease and eventual kidney failure.

  A family member close to me is suffering from kidney failure. She's about to start dialysis--she had the catheter surgery a couple weeks ago. Yes, it's called a catheter, but it isn't in the usual spot you think of with a catheter. It's in her abdomen.

  I was there for the surgery, sitting in the waiting room to find out how it went. I've been taking her to her flush appointments, where they run fluid into and out of the abdominal cavity where the dialysis fluid will be inserted. I've listened to her nurses, asked questions, and generally tried to keep updated on what's going on.

  The longer this goes on, the more I realize how much it affects me. One day this could be me. That's a selfish thought--not only could it be me, but right now someone I know and love is going through this. The only thing I can do is to offer one of my own kidneys. If I'm a match, she'll have a single working kidney and will have to take anti-rejection pills for the rest of her life. There's still the possibility that even with the pills, her body will reject the kidney. There are a lot of parameters that have to be met before someone "matches" for a kidney. It's not just blood type.

  If I'm not a match, I have a few options. I can choose to give my kidney to a stranger who matches me, and whose kidney donor matches my family member. I can choose to donate my kidney to an anonymous individual, whose donor will donate to another anonymous person, all the way down the line until a kidney match is found for my family member. There are things I can do, but I don't know if my health problems prevent me from being a donor. I don't think they will, but it's something that I worry about. I don't have any control over the situation unless I'm able to donate a kidney. The best scenario is that I'm a match. We can hope.

  The kidney failure means that I don't have as much time to relax as I've had before. I'm running errands constantly--she isn't allowed to lift more than five pounds, so I'm doing all of the lifting, from milk cartons to baking pans. I pop in and out of games and read books in my downtime. As I said, recently my game of choice has been SWTOR. I have no obligations to anyone in that game, so I can hop on and off without any worries. I'll be back in EQ2 eventually, but right now real life supersedes any games where I have obligations. Bejeweled in Zen mode has also been a distraction from life for me, as I sit around at various appointments.

  Then there's me. I have a lot of doctor's appointments coming up. From the psychiatrist, who's trying to balance my medications, to the migraine specialist, who's running out of medications for me to try. The optometrist, because my eyes keep slowly getting worse--it's not that my eyes are much worse than they used to be, but I'm very sensitive to any change in my vision. A single difference in prescription, and it bothers me that things aren't as clear. I already did the dentist, thank goodness. But I'm due for a physical. And I'm trying to lose weight, because there are a lot of upcoming events where it would be nice to look my best. Whew! Life. It's busy, man.