Introducing myself.

ILOVEFLUID

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Introducing myself.

« on: March 20, 2007, 08:41:45 PM »

I have avoided introducing myself because I do not know how to make this a short story. So I guess I will do it in installments. My first health problems started when I was 20 (back in 1991) I was diagnosed with diabetes (Type II). This was controlled by diet and exercise until 1999. In August of 1998 I got pneumonia and started to notice blood in my urine. I was sent to a kidney doc who thought I had IGA nephritis. I got pneumonia once a month for the next 4 months, always had blood in my urine and started to cough up blood. , By this time I was seeing a nephrologist and a respirologist. But neither of them was making a connection between the lung and kidney symptoms. I was gaining a lot of fluid in my legs and therefore, had a hard time sleeping. I spent my nights on the internet searching for lung and kidney diseases.
I always came up with the same disease, Goodpastures Syndrome. The reports were frightening, people were posting stories about relatives who had died very quickly with this disease. I mentioned it to my nephrologist and he said, "No one gets that disease, Lisa, it is very rare." I finally told him I didn't want to take the chance and asked for my scheduled biopsy to be moved forward. Three days later, I had the biospy (2 days before Christmas). They let me go home for Christmas with the promise of receiving the results on Boxing Day. Sure enough, I had GoodPastures. I was taken to the hospital and started on Solumedrol and Immuran. It was believed that I was not in need of plasmatheresis yet. Boy, were they wrong. My symptoms escalated and I was moved to the renal floor at Toronto General Hospital. I was on a waiting list for plasmathereisis and had my first treatment in 4 days. I spent a Month in the hospital and gained 80 lbs of fluid. I was not put on dialysis because they were hoping my kidneys would bounce back. After 2 months of waiting, I finally started dialysis on my 29th birthday. I lost 90 lbs of fluid in the upcoming months. I also started taking insulin because the prednisone was doing a number on my blood sugar.
My life as I knew it came to a halt. I no longer could take care of the children with special needs that I worked with. I now had special needs. My friends didn't know how to talk to me. I didn't know what to do with myself. I spent the next two years on dialysis. 23 lines, 2 fistulas and a graft later I received the call at 3 AM. They had a kidney for me, a perfect match. I rushed to the hospital and had my transplant the next Morning . The kidney didn't work at first and I got many infections when in the hospital. I spent a Month and a half there and finally got to go home. I had a long recovery ahead of me. I had spent 2 years in bed. I had to learn to walk again, I had to rekindle old friendships and most of all, I had to get my self-esteem back. Pretty hard when the prednisone, made my face the size of a moose's behind. I was also riddled with stretch marks from the quick fluid gain. I threw myself back into work as soon as I could and the next year, went to Teachers college. I graduated and worked partime, while waiting for a position to pop up. During this time I also met the man of my dreams, who I am marrying this year. While I had the transplant, my diabetes got worse and worse. The prednisone and anti-rejection drugs were making it harder to control.

I will continue this at a later date.

ILOVEFLUID


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Sluff

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