My Kidney Transplant

I shared before about how my kidneys failed, and that was hard for me. I'm usually quite shy at sharing my health issues, but this is something I'm trying to conquer, so here I go.

In December 1992 I received a kidney from a cadaveric donor after being on the transplant list since October 1992. I was 13 years old and luckily for me, the average waiting time for children in my country at the time was approximately three to six months.

Up until that point, my kidneys had been slowly failing me all my life, until I started to reach puberty. When that happened, my kidneys started failing at a rapid pace. I was extremely tired all the time, I would miss school on average of about 2 times per week. I was on multiple medications to control blood pressure, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. I woke up most mornings dry heaving and had a very poor appetite. I was severely under weight and was on a restricted diet. I was just weeks away from dialysis if I hadn't got the call.

I remember the night my parents got the call like it was yesterday. It was a regular Tuesday evening. My Dad had gone to bed around 9 and I crept downstairs to sneak a peanut butter and jelly sandwich This was common practice for me. I found that I had very little appetite during the day, but at night I would be hungry so I would make myself a sandwich.

After my snack I crawled into bed and waited for sleep, which never came. So I listened to the radio and tried not to disturb my twin who shared a room with me. Then at around 11:15 pm the phone rang and I froze and I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. I could hear my Dad getting out of bed to answer it and then my older sister's footsteps followed.

The doctor had asked my Dad if I had had any colds or flus and asked about my health in general. Then he told my dad to get me ready and drive to the city, there was a kidney available for me. I remember closing my eyes tight when my sister came in my room to get me. I don't know why, but for some reason I thought I would get in trouble for being up and pretended to be asleep. That all seems so silly to me now.

We had had a huge snowstorm the day previous, but the roads were all plowed and we made it to the hospital by the time it was 1 am. Upon admission I had blood drawn and was told to wait in a hospital room with my Dad. I was on one bed, my Dad was told he could nap on the other since there wasn't another patient coming.

After a few more hours, hours in which I didn't sleep a wink I might add, we saw the surgeon who was to perform the transplant. He said the blood they had drawn showed that the kidney they had was a good match and that the transplant would take place in a few hours at 9 am. He also said that the kidney was donated by a family who lost their son in a toboganning accident the previous day, but nothing else could be said about him to protect the anonymity of the family.

To say I was scared would be an understatement. I didn't want to have surgery. I didn't understand at the time how much this was going to help me. I just remember bawling my eyes out all the way up until they wheeled me into the operating room.

Me, about two years after my transplant. Sorry for the bad quality

I was also scared of the side effects of all the medications. Above is a picture of me about 2 or 3 years after my transplant. You can see my cheeks were still a bit puffy due to the anti-rejection drugs. Side effects aside, I am so grateful for that transplant. Because of it, I didn't have to experience dialysis until a much later age. I was able to get through high school and my teen years relatively healthy, and it actually helped me grow (literally) to my full height potential.

If you're interested in organ donation, please be sure to discuss your wishes with your family. In a lot of countries, a signed organ card is not enough and the family has the final say. So make your wishes known!

Links to become an organ and tissue donor:

United States
https://organdonor.gov/index.html

Canada
https://www.beadonor.ca/

United Kingdom
https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/

L.