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Can't believe it's been a decade.
Ten years ago today about right now I was having one of my internal organs scooped out and and put into my sister. 2004 ended up being an incredible year in my life, and a lot of it was run off from my perspectives changing due to this event.
For those that weren't around back then, my sister has been very sick since she was a teenager. She was diagnosed on the verge of death with Wegener's Granulomatosis. At the time, there were only about 250 cases in the WORLD, and they had been bringing every doctor that came into the hospital into her room to try and figure out what was going on. She was literally on her death bed when a doctor came in and recognized it right away. This was around 1983, long before the internet brought information to our finger tips.
Her kidney function began to diminish, and she was soon on dialysis. In 1990, when I was 13, my mother donated her kidney to her. It rejected almost immediately. I told her that if she ever needed mine, I would give it to her. Due to my mother being such a close match, they didn't want to risk another living donor, so she went back on dialysis.
In April of 2004, around the time I was celebrating the purchase of my 2001 Cobra, I got a phone call. Things were getting dire, and rejection meds had come a long way since 1990. They were willing to try a living donor again as a last ditch effort. I was on deck. Turned out I was an even better match than my mom due to being a sibling, and within a few months, I was in a cold, quiet hospital at 3 in the morning, being wheeled into surgery on a gurney.
Everything went great, despite me "having the biggest kidney they'd ever seen" and having to cut me open more than they planned to get it out, despite it all being done laparoscopically. I guess that's something to brag about, right? LOL. Mine didn't reject. And a decade later, she is doing great, and has since gotten married.
This site played a big role in my life during this time. Often when I piss someone off, they make the accusation that I spend too much time on here, yadda yadda yadda. Well, this site does mean a lot to me, because it has given me so much, be that for better or worse. Rob and Lyn threw me a huge party the weekend before the transplant, and many of you stopped by the hospital, or my condo afterwards, sometimes bringing food, a movie, something to keep me occupied during the recovery, which was more painful than I was anticipating. haha And that all meant a lot to me. 2004 was a great year in my life, certainly one of the tops, and a lot of it had to do with this place, so for those of you who are still around, I say thank you again.
Also, my mom is still doing fine since giving up her kidney; she is now in her 70's, and just celebrated with my father their 53rd Anniversary last week.
The red velvet kidney cake Rob and Lyn had made for the kidney party:
For those that weren't around back then, my sister has been very sick since she was a teenager. She was diagnosed on the verge of death with Wegener's Granulomatosis. At the time, there were only about 250 cases in the WORLD, and they had been bringing every doctor that came into the hospital into her room to try and figure out what was going on. She was literally on her death bed when a doctor came in and recognized it right away. This was around 1983, long before the internet brought information to our finger tips.
Her kidney function began to diminish, and she was soon on dialysis. In 1990, when I was 13, my mother donated her kidney to her. It rejected almost immediately. I told her that if she ever needed mine, I would give it to her. Due to my mother being such a close match, they didn't want to risk another living donor, so she went back on dialysis.
In April of 2004, around the time I was celebrating the purchase of my 2001 Cobra, I got a phone call. Things were getting dire, and rejection meds had come a long way since 1990. They were willing to try a living donor again as a last ditch effort. I was on deck. Turned out I was an even better match than my mom due to being a sibling, and within a few months, I was in a cold, quiet hospital at 3 in the morning, being wheeled into surgery on a gurney.
Everything went great, despite me "having the biggest kidney they'd ever seen" and having to cut me open more than they planned to get it out, despite it all being done laparoscopically. I guess that's something to brag about, right? LOL. Mine didn't reject. And a decade later, she is doing great, and has since gotten married.
This site played a big role in my life during this time. Often when I piss someone off, they make the accusation that I spend too much time on here, yadda yadda yadda. Well, this site does mean a lot to me, because it has given me so much, be that for better or worse. Rob and Lyn threw me a huge party the weekend before the transplant, and many of you stopped by the hospital, or my condo afterwards, sometimes bringing food, a movie, something to keep me occupied during the recovery, which was more painful than I was anticipating. haha And that all meant a lot to me. 2004 was a great year in my life, certainly one of the tops, and a lot of it had to do with this place, so for those of you who are still around, I say thank you again.
Also, my mom is still doing fine since giving up her kidney; she is now in her 70's, and just celebrated with my father their 53rd Anniversary last week.
The red velvet kidney cake Rob and Lyn had made for the kidney party:
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