perfect match

[keefer51]

After my kidney failed i was on dialysis for a year. My brother greg gave me one of his. For whatever reason they waited a year to do the transplant. My wife was pregnant with our son. In order to have my son i had to be operated on. That is how my kidney failed. It was January 22, 1993. I remember getting my last dialysis. I watched as my brother rode on the gurney to get his kidney out. After some time they came and got me. The next thing i new i woke up and i wanted to move. I wanted to jump and run. I had tubes everywhere. I didn't care. One by one they came out. I became whole again. The first thing i did was eat a cheese steak and shake the dialysis nurses bought me. When i got out of the hospital i wanted to go back to work but had to wait. The first meal i had at home was manacotti. I ate like a pig! After about a year my wife decided to move with her job to Nashville Tennessee. So we all moved to Tennessee. I was lucky i was under her medical insurance. It took about a year to settle in. My wife tired of all the crap with dialysis and the transplant. So she met her new husband. After she divorced me i lost my medical insurance. I went without the antirejection meds for four years. The kidney lasted around 10 years. I moved back to Pennsylvania 4 years ago. My first year back my kidney went. I have been on dialysis again for three years. I am now on the list. No regrets. Keith.

[Amanda From OZ]

Good to hear your story, you have been through a lot.

Can someone please explain to me how the American government allows people who can not afford life needed "medication" to go without it for 4 years???  What a joke.... 

Glad to hear you are doing ok. And have no regrets. 

Amanda
xxoo

[goofynina]

Thank you for explaining Keith,  You sure have gone through alot, and even still, you seem to have a very positive attitude,  Good for you my friend,  Keep on keepin on... 

[Sluff]

Good to hear your story, you have been through a lot.

Can someone please explain to me how the American government allows people who can not afford life needed "medication" to go without it for 4 years???  What a joke.... 

Glad to hear you are doing ok. And have no regrets. 

Amanda
xxoo

A lot of us do it Amanda and i don't know why either.

[Rerun]

Keith.  You don't need a positive attitude.  You don't have to have a POSITIVE attitude.  Life doesn't always turn out good and you can be mad about your wife leaving you.  GEEZ LOUISE!   Go a head and VENT that is what this site was made for.  Not some Positive Party!

[Ohio Buckeye]

Wow, Keith, wishsing all the best to you.

[okarol]

Thanks for sharing your story.
I hope you can get another transplant someday.

[keefer51]

I wanted to elaborate on the time i couldn't get insurance. Once i was taken off my ex wife insurance. i had just started my work at the newspaper. I was able to receive my last pack of anti rejection medicine. I started to slowly take myself off the meds by taken Less and less of a dosage. I remember thinking, "Well this it." for a week or so i was checking my urine. Any time i was in a store with a blood pressure machine i checked it. Because of things i have no control over my pressure rose. You know stress, diet, etc... I was so used to a renal diet i went back to it. I had asked my company about insurance and they said that i would be considered a "High Risk" I was then instructed to check with the state insurance. I called and they told the forms to fill out. I was rejected. They said i made too much money. I said if you use the "gross" amount i guess i can see your point. But i said 32% of my gross is child support. They said thats nice. I tried for four years. Every year i would send a letter pouring out my heart to these people begging for help. In the years i tried i was able to meet some people in my postion. One was a transplant patient. We had the paper i worked for write a article about the problem we were having getting our life saving medication. Nothing we did worked. I don't know what ever happened to the transplant patient. With me after the four years without insurance i was able to go on the company insurance and received the medication i needed. I really hate to say this old cliche "You can't fight city hall" ain't that the truth!

[Romona]

I'm from PA too! The other side of the state from you. I often think what am I going to do if I lose insurance for some reason. There is no way I could afford to pay for any of it out of pocket. I'd be 600 bucks short, just for 1 med. Forget the other ones I take. I heard a story similar to yours recently when I picked up my prescriptions. Here we are one of the richest countries in the world and people can't afford the care they need. 

[keefer51]

Sorry Ramona i didn't see your post. Yes we are a very rich country. I tried with all of my power when i lived down south to get the insurance i needed. I remember standing in my kitchen in my new apartment and taking my last cyclosporin. I lasted four years without them. When i finally got the insurance i needed my kidney wasn't too bad. It made it for another 8 years or more. Since i have been on this site i have found a wealth of information. Karol knows so much and can lead me in the right direction if there is ever a problem. She is always one with a web site or info on whatever the problem is. Thanks Okarol.

[okarol]

keeffer   

Taking the anti-rejection meds is crucial to the survival of the transplant. Hopefully a bill will pass (mentioned here http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=4514.0) to extend coverage for the immunosuppressants.