Last week I told you about Matching Hope: A Kidney for Lois, my new Facebook group which I hope will help me find a kidney donor. I’ve been thrilled by the response to the group and am grateful to be part of such a caring community of people. It reinforces my belief in the goodness of humanity.
Since starting the group, I’ve been asked by a few people why I’m even considering a transplant as my next step. They ask because I repeatedly comment on how fortunate I am to not currently be experiencing many of the negative symptoms that dialysis warriors do. If it’s so easy, they ask, why am I contemplating an alternative?
For me, the answer is simple. While I maintain that I’m not suffering overly much during my treatments so far, my quality of life will be hugely improved if I can gain a second chance at a normal life.
Today I’d like to share the main reasons that a kidney transplant will make a difference in my life. I’ll simply state the reason and a brief summary of why I feel the way that I do here and will then expand on each item in the coming weeks.
So, here they are the main reasons I’m considering a kidney transplant.
- Time: currently dialysis takes up about 18 hours each week. During my treatment it’s unrealistic for me to try and do more than read or listen to podcasts. And that’s a whole lot of time I could be spending doing something more productive, especially considering the length of my To Do List.
- Travel: While travel is certainly possible for a person on dialysis, I find myself feeling anxious just thinking about the complexity of it all. Besides, think about the impact that my 18-hour treatments would have on any travel plans. Again it’s a huge amount of time to plan sightseeing and other vacation activities around.
- Soup, well liquid generally: There are times I find myself feeling resentful about how easy it is for the people around me to simply drink whatever they choose. Especially when I have to calculate every single drop of liquid that passes my lips, to ensure I have sufficient left in my daily allowance. As winter progresses, my craving for warm, hearty vegetable soup grows harder and harder to deny.
- Diet: Yes, I know I’ve said that I’m coping okay with the changes to my diet recommended by the renal dietitian. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still crave avocado, tomato and cheese every now and then. It would be such a treat not having to watch what I eat to the extent that I currently do.
- Comfort and pain relief – no, I don’t experience huge amounts of pain and discomfort when I have dialysis, but I do experience some. It’s bearable and, from what I’ve learned speaking to other dialysis warriors, what I experience seems to be less than some. At the same time, I’m learning that pain and discomfort is just part of the process and the thought of being able to avoid it is enticing, to say the least.
Perhaps those may seem relatively trivial when taken in isolation, but think about the overall impact on my life…
I’m not kidding myself that a kidney transplant would come with its own challenges and inconveniences. That would be naïve. However, at this stage, I believe that a kidney transplant will give me the best chance at going back to the life I used to live, or at least something resembling it. That’s why I’m following the path of trying to find a potential donor who is willing to gift me with that second chance.
