Please
don't just scroll on down your facebook because this post is a long
one. This is extremely important and is rarely talked about. In the US
today we have 101,170 people waiting for kidney transplants. There are
roughly 11k transplants performed each year from dead donors and about
5k living kidney donors. I know these are a lot of numbers but hang
with me for a moment and you will see my point and message. 12 people
die every day because a kidney donor was not available. There are
roughly 230 million adults in the US, the majority of which are healthy.
If just one out of every 2273 people that are healthy would become a
living donor, the mass majority of these people would have a 2nd chance
on life. That is less than .0000099 percent who would need to donate to
eliminate the current backlog of people waiting. Sometimes I wonder if
people realize just how sick and weak people can become from ESRD(End
Stage Renal Disease). I was diagnosed in 2012. I hit ESRD in March of
this year. End stage is basically when you start Dialysis, To be kind
of forward about the subject I really don't tell many of you all this
disease has done to my life and the life of my family. Mostly because I
certainly am happy to be alive, and I consider myself to be lucky. I
have one of the most amazing women in this world as a loving wife, I
have 6 awesome kids and I have been lucky to maintain some semblance of a
life thanks to my family and church. But without sounding like I am
complaining, let me take you through a day in my life.
I spend roughly 9 1/2 hours every night hooked to a machine. I have about a 15 foot hose hooked to my abdomen through a dialysis catheter that has been surgically placed. I should mention that I have had 4 surgeries in 2014 to deal with complications with this Catheter. Each time I watch my wife look at me as I'm being wheeled away, and I can see the fear in her eyes that it could be her last time she gets to say goodbye. It is one of the hardest hings about all the surgeries I have undergone in the past 9 months, which is a total of 6. So like I said 9 1/2 hours hooked to a machine, most of which I try and sleep through. Some nights that works pretty well and others not so much. I get to bed about 11PM each night. and I unhook from the machine about 8:30 the next morning. When I unhook I lay back down. Not because I am lazy but because my body isn't ready to function. About 10:30 or 11:00 most morning I finally can get out of bed. But there is something I do almost every morning before I can eat anything. I vomit. Usually it is the reason I am up, because I could not contain it any longer and had to run to the bathroom(I use the term run very lightly). One other problem, since I have not eaten, there is nothing in me to vomit, but my body still goes through the routine for about 10 to 15 minutes. I have tried getting up sooner and eating, I have tried many things to change this, but it just has to be this way with how my body deals with kidney failure.
When the dry heaving finally stops, I head down stairs to the fridge. I eat one slice of toast, nothing on it. I can't have butter or toppings. On a real good day I eat a couple eggs too. Then it is back up the stairs, and back into the bed, because I am so worn out from making this feast of a breakfast, I need to rest my neck and back. I usually fall back asleep until Levi gets home from school after 3PM. I try to get up for a while to spend time with Levi and Rhonda. Some days that works, some days my body just says no. But pretty much every day I am laying back down by 4 or 5 PM. On my best days I make dinner. Nothing fancy, but after that I am back on the bed due to exhaustion. I usually lay in the bed drifting in and out while Rhonda gets ready fr bed. She works early in the AM, so she goes to bed wile I am still watching a little TV. Then by 10:30 or 11:00 I am hooked back up to my machine. The only thing that breaks this routine is medical appointments and Church on Sundays, I go to all 3 hours of church, sitting the whole time, and as soon as I am home I am back to bed because sitting for that long really takes a lot out of me. But I will not skip those 3 hours usually even in I underwent surgery that week.
That is what ESRD has done to my life. It has taken my ability to support my family, it has taken my ability to be the Dad I want to be, it has taken my ability to be the husband I want to be. I want nothing more than to go to work and support my families needs. Those who know me best know I worked very hard and provided my family with a successful financial situation. I used to drive a Mercedes S500 which was paid for in cash. This car was sold long ago to pay medical and family bills. Now I can't drive at all. I have to get shots in my eyes every 6 weeks to continue to see, but it does not allow me to see well enough to drive. And yet I am thankful I can see at all. God has provided me with so much, and I thank him for that.
Back to the reason for this post: You can stop the suffering of a family like mine. You can do something that will change the lives of all who are around you. If you can't donate as a live donor, which some cannot, at the very least sign up for the national donor list. Most people have no idea you can donate a kidney and live the rest of your life normally. Most will be back up and going in 10 days or so, while you have the power to stop the suffering of a family or even just an individual. You can give them that 2nd chance to be what they have the potential to become. And in most cases the insurance of the recipient will pay your hospital costs and medical expenses from donating.
Please know that in me writing this, I am not complaining. Those who know me well know how I deal with the challenges. I thank God everyday for all I have. I just wonder how many people know they can donate and help save a life and still live a normal life themselves. OK this has really worn me out. Back to bed I go. Thank you for listening to my plea. Please share and pass along to anyone who you think would benefit from reading this.
I spend roughly 9 1/2 hours every night hooked to a machine. I have about a 15 foot hose hooked to my abdomen through a dialysis catheter that has been surgically placed. I should mention that I have had 4 surgeries in 2014 to deal with complications with this Catheter. Each time I watch my wife look at me as I'm being wheeled away, and I can see the fear in her eyes that it could be her last time she gets to say goodbye. It is one of the hardest hings about all the surgeries I have undergone in the past 9 months, which is a total of 6. So like I said 9 1/2 hours hooked to a machine, most of which I try and sleep through. Some nights that works pretty well and others not so much. I get to bed about 11PM each night. and I unhook from the machine about 8:30 the next morning. When I unhook I lay back down. Not because I am lazy but because my body isn't ready to function. About 10:30 or 11:00 most morning I finally can get out of bed. But there is something I do almost every morning before I can eat anything. I vomit. Usually it is the reason I am up, because I could not contain it any longer and had to run to the bathroom(I use the term run very lightly). One other problem, since I have not eaten, there is nothing in me to vomit, but my body still goes through the routine for about 10 to 15 minutes. I have tried getting up sooner and eating, I have tried many things to change this, but it just has to be this way with how my body deals with kidney failure.
When the dry heaving finally stops, I head down stairs to the fridge. I eat one slice of toast, nothing on it. I can't have butter or toppings. On a real good day I eat a couple eggs too. Then it is back up the stairs, and back into the bed, because I am so worn out from making this feast of a breakfast, I need to rest my neck and back. I usually fall back asleep until Levi gets home from school after 3PM. I try to get up for a while to spend time with Levi and Rhonda. Some days that works, some days my body just says no. But pretty much every day I am laying back down by 4 or 5 PM. On my best days I make dinner. Nothing fancy, but after that I am back on the bed due to exhaustion. I usually lay in the bed drifting in and out while Rhonda gets ready fr bed. She works early in the AM, so she goes to bed wile I am still watching a little TV. Then by 10:30 or 11:00 I am hooked back up to my machine. The only thing that breaks this routine is medical appointments and Church on Sundays, I go to all 3 hours of church, sitting the whole time, and as soon as I am home I am back to bed because sitting for that long really takes a lot out of me. But I will not skip those 3 hours usually even in I underwent surgery that week.
That is what ESRD has done to my life. It has taken my ability to support my family, it has taken my ability to be the Dad I want to be, it has taken my ability to be the husband I want to be. I want nothing more than to go to work and support my families needs. Those who know me best know I worked very hard and provided my family with a successful financial situation. I used to drive a Mercedes S500 which was paid for in cash. This car was sold long ago to pay medical and family bills. Now I can't drive at all. I have to get shots in my eyes every 6 weeks to continue to see, but it does not allow me to see well enough to drive. And yet I am thankful I can see at all. God has provided me with so much, and I thank him for that.
Back to the reason for this post: You can stop the suffering of a family like mine. You can do something that will change the lives of all who are around you. If you can't donate as a live donor, which some cannot, at the very least sign up for the national donor list. Most people have no idea you can donate a kidney and live the rest of your life normally. Most will be back up and going in 10 days or so, while you have the power to stop the suffering of a family or even just an individual. You can give them that 2nd chance to be what they have the potential to become. And in most cases the insurance of the recipient will pay your hospital costs and medical expenses from donating.
Please know that in me writing this, I am not complaining. Those who know me well know how I deal with the challenges. I thank God everyday for all I have. I just wonder how many people know they can donate and help save a life and still live a normal life themselves. OK this has really worn me out. Back to bed I go. Thank you for listening to my plea. Please share and pass along to anyone who you think would benefit from reading this.
