Kidney Matters - Issue 14 - 2021

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“Seeing patients brought a new
understanding. I could appreciate
their fears and worries, lack of
sleep from the noise, their need for
information and reassurance and the
desire, in the majority, to get back
to their own homes“
a drop of urine and deciding to die off despite a good
blood supply and all the anti-rejection medicines
possible.
A second live-donor kidney came unexpectedly from
an amazing friend. Sadly, this went the same way as the
first, with the experts uncertain of the cause. Ten years
later came ‘the call’ that all transplant candidates hope
for. Yet I was nervous and unsure whether to go ahead.
Two good kidneys had failed before without reason, but
now I had a family and a young six-year-old son. It was
third time lucky, but not without complications. The
connection of the urine drainage pipe to the bladder
had fallen apart. An externalised drainage pipe was
necessary (a nephrostomy) which lead to a number
of infections. When I finally underwent my sixteenth
procedure related to this transplant in order to be rid of
the nephrostomy, my creatinine started rising soon after.
HD became necessary, then the acceptance that my
time with this kidney would soon be ending. My family
and I had experienced 20 months free of dialysis.
Despite the numerous hospital visits and stays, we are
forever grateful for the donor’s gift.
Coming home to dialyse
Home HD has allowed me greater freedom to do my
dialysis sessions at times to suit me. I can fit it around
my job, on calls, training days, and my family. No longer
do I need to disappear on Christmas Eve or Boxing
Day. I can dialyse in front of my family and friends. My
machine comes away with me on holiday as if it is part
of the family.
A functioning transplant would have been my and my
family’s greatest wish, but with my medical hat on, it
is an unlikely future prospect for me. Home HD is a
wonderful second best, a situation I gratefully accept.
Issue 14 | Autumn 2021