I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Introduction => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: stuman413 on December 03, 2010, 09:11:42 PM
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Hello everyone! My name is Stuart, I live in Richmond, California. I'm a divorced 35 y/o male. I've been on dialysis for a little under two years now. This is my second time on dialysis. The first was from 1999 through 2003. I received a kidney transplant in January 2003. In June 2009 I lost the transplanted kidney and have been on dialysis ever since. I go four times a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
I was born with a blockage on my bladder, which caused urine to back up into my kidneys and eventually my blood causing serious infection. When the doctors finally figured out what was wrong with me, the damage had been done. The scarring on my kidneys eventually led to their failure when I was 23. The kidney I received was from my cousin. I lived for six years with a transplant, probably the greatest six years of my adult life.
Anyways thats my story so far. I'm really glad to have found this forum. Just knowing that there are people out there like myself who are willing to express themselves online so openly is refreshing. I look forward to getting to know you all.
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G'day Stuart and :welcomesign;.
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Hello Stewart,
Hope you dont mind my asking, but what happened that caused you to lose your transplant? My story is similar to yours, but you are a bit farther along. I was diagnosed when I was 24, and have now had a transplant for 3 years and hoping it keeps going for much longer.
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Hi Stuart and welcome to IHD. I'm so glad you found us. My kidneys failed when I was 24 but I'm now almost 50 but I can relate to being so young and living with dialysis or transplant whatever. It remains; we were robbed of a normal young adult life. Anyway, onward..... right?
I hope you come here to vent and learn and teach.
Rerun, Moderator :welcomesign;
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Hi Stuman and I also want to welcome you to our little corner of the web. It's a great site with a lot of members who can relate to each other. Please come back often to read, post or just have a little fun with us. :welcomesign;
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:waving; Hello
EDITED: Corrected Icon Error - Bajanne, Moderator
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I think you'll like it here!! :yahoo;
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Hi there Stuart and :welcomesign; to IHD. Glad you joined us, this is a great place for support and information.
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:welcomesign;
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Hello and welcome D comrade!!
xo,
R
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Thanks for all the welcomes from everyone. I believe there was a question about how I lost my transplanted kidney. The simple answer to that is that I lost my insurance (primarily Medicare) and was unable to get my medicine. Without the medicine, a transplanted kidney will fail, maybe not immediately as was in my case, but it will always fail. If there is any advice I can give, it is this:
Medicare provides insurance to us for 36 months after our transplant. They do this so that we can get on our feet. It is our responsibility to make sure that we have some sort of insurance outside of Medicare setup so that when Medicare coverage does end, the secondary insurance will kick in and take over our care. This is something that I did not fully understand until it was too late, and I lost my kidney.
I have a lot of experience dealing with Social Security, Department of Rehabilitation, doctors, nurses, and staff from the dialysis units and I know the right questions to ask. If anyone needs help with anything, please ask me. I might just be able to help. I have lots of experience with the different things that can happen to you during treatment, after treatment, with depression, and other things that I am willing to discuss with anyone. I love to help people and I think that this is a way I can be helpful.
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thats exactly what caused my kidney failure stuart :D but consider yourself lucky, they found mine when i was 3 weeks old and the damage had been done, failed transplant when i was 6 and got on dialysis at 8, now im 24 and been on dialysis ever since
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Hi Stuart,
:beer1; welcome to IHD!!! :beer1;
We're almost neighbors, well not exactly but I'm just across the bay from you.
Sorry to hear you lost your kidney.
Are you currently on the list, or are you eligible to get on the list???
Where did you have your TX?
I'm 10 months out, I had mine at California pacific (CPMC).
Take care!! :)
Marina
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:welcomesign; Stuart! Glad you found us!
I was born in SF and lived in Moss Beach. My grandparents were in Fremont. So good to hear from someone from my neck of the woods!
Marina, what part of the Bay Area are you from?
I am in Illinois now. (Not by choice, my husband got transferred)
Anyway, :beer1; glad to meet you!
:welcomesign;
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Hi Marina, congratulations on your transplant! I hope you're doing well. To answer your question, I am currently awaiting the doctors at UCSF (where I got my first transplant) to finish all the tests for a pre-transplant evaluation. I should be getting the letter in the mail any time now. Then the waiting game begins, lol. I hate dialysis, but it's keeping me alive so I am making the best of the situation.
How are you doing with the meds? I had a hard time with the meds at first, but as hard a time as I had with them, I enjoyed the ability to eat anything I wanted without having to down a buncha pills every meal. Have fun with your diet (as much as you can being diabetic, I'm diabetic too).
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Welcome, Stuart! :welcomesign;
lmunchkin :flower;
:kickstart;
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Hi Marina, congratulations on your transplant! I hope you're doing well. To answer your question, I am currently awaiting the doctors at UCSF (where I got my first transplant) to finish all the tests for a pre-transplant evaluation. I should be getting the letter in the mail any time now. Then the waiting game begins, lol. I hate dialysis, but it's keeping me alive so I am making the best of the situation.
How are you doing with the meds? I had a hard time with the meds at first, but as hard a time as I had with them, I enjoyed the ability to eat anything I wanted without having to down a buncha pills every meal. Have fun with your diet (as much as you can being diabetic, I'm diabetic too).
Stuart,
I hope you can get your GIFT OF LIFE very soon!!!
Have you looked into the waiting time @ UCDavies? It’s a shorter wait time there. I was tempted to see if my insurance would pay for my TX there. But, then I thought how it’s almost 4hrs away, and having to live there for a month Post-TX and all the follow-up visits.
I decided to stay local . Besides my estimated wait time here wasn’t so bad. For a kidney-Pancreas it was 6months-2yrs.
Oh by the way, since I now have a pancreas, I can eat sweets again. But, as my coordinator said at discharge “Your medical records will always say Type 1 diabetic, but now, you have a pancreas as a treatment option instead of insulin.”
I’m doing good with the meds. Even with Prednisone. I was so afraid it was going to put me on a emotional rollercoaster like it did in the past, but so far so good ***knocks on wood***
Good luck, and keep on with those dialysis treatments so they can keep you as healthy as possible for when Kidney #2 becomes available. We look forward to reading you got THE CALL!!
Marina
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Marina, what part of the Bay Area are you from?
I'm about 20 miles south of San Francisco.
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:welcomesign;