My Story
In 2002 I had lower back pain. After waiting a while to see if it would go away on its own, I eventually went to the doctor. He did a CAT scan of my lower back region.
Everything ended up being fine - in the end we chalked it up to a sore muscle that I must have just strained somehow.
But one thing we didn’t expect to discover that day was to find out that I only have one kidney. A question I get often is, “Were you born with only one?”. My answer is: “Well, I don’t remember ever waking up in a bathtub full of ice and a scar… so I assume so.”
After finding out about my one kidney I was given a nephrologist (kidney doctor), a standing appointment to see him every 6 months, and blood pressure medicine. I was also told that I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease, where Stage 5 is kidney failure. I asked if my one kidney had disease in it. He said no, but that it was starting to get tired from working double duty for all those years.
The doctor said that he would watch my kidney function (GFR) every 6 months to make sure it stayed at a relatively consistent “bad”, and didn’t suddenly get worse.
After 22 years, last year (2024) during one of my doctor visits, he said that my kidney disease was now at a Stage 4, and that my kidney function was low enough (along with some other markers) to start talking to a dialysis team about what type of dialysis I would like to go with if it comes to it. Yes, we have the technology nowadays to select different types of dialysis. And now I get to see my kidney doctor every three months instead of six.
He also said that it was time for me to meet with a team of doctors at a Transplant Center. So I gained a team of 5 additional doctors that deal specifically with kidney transplant. I met with the team and they ran a lot of tests to see if I was a candidate to be put on the Deceased Donor Kidney List.
As of October 7, 2024 I am on the donor list and accruing time. However, I’m told that the average wait time for my blood type is approximately 5 to 7 years.
The team of doctors said that it was very important for me to get the word out to as many people as I could, so that’s what I created this site for. (See Honey, I am listening to my doctors, lol.)
While receiving a kidney from a deceased donor in 5 to 7 years will be life saving, the doctors highly recommend that a living donor would be even better. I’ve listed some of the reasons and also frequently asked questions on the page ‘Learn about Kidney Donation’. If anyone is interested in learning more, please click on the button.