Well, almost a year has gone by and I haven’t updated this blog. It’s been that sort of year. 2007: the year of health and hospitals. I always thought I would write a lot about my health problems but when it came down to it, it was too close, too hard. But in retrospect I might be able to write something.
In summary, I was diagnosed with the kidney disease, IgA nephropathy in 1997 and over the following ten years my kidney function has slowly deteriorated. In March this year my results showed I was heading into the steep part of the exponential curve that kidney deterioration generally follows and my specialist expected I’d need dialysis before the end of the year, possibly even by June. We lived from month to month after that, watching the numbers go up, down and bounce around. I had a fistula operation in late April that failed because my veins were just too small, and then in June my mother suggested she be tested to see if she could be a donor. By July I was trying to mentally prepare myself for PD dialysis (I’d attended information sessions at the hospital and at the home dialysis service) or a transplant not knowing which would come first. Then in August it was confirmed that my Mum was a suitable donor and the operation was arranged. Six weeks ago we both underwent our operations at the Royal Melbourne Private Hospital and the transplant was successful. Everything is going extremely well. After ten years of wondering and certainly six months of preparing, I skipped needing dialysis completely. I have a new kidney, a renewed energy and a new perspective. So much for excuses, I hereby promise to post more.