Hello from Kansas I'm new...

Wilda

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Never give up...

Hello from Kansas I'm new...

« on: June 22, 2009, 02:43:23 PM »

Hi my name is Wilda and this is my story.

When I was born I was born with only half an esophagus so when I was three days old I had to have an operation to connect my stomach to my esophagus. Because of that, the doctors told my parents that I would be prone to get bronchitis all my life. So, whenever I got sick as a child, I was usually treated for bronchitis. When I was 16 I started going blind. I was taken to get my eyes checked and the eye doctor said, it’s not her eyes there is something else going on. I was put in the hospital for a lot of test. Come to find out, it was kidney disease caused by yet another birth defect. I was born with one kidney smaller than the other one which made me eventually have high blood pressure which made both kidneys go bad. They found all this out because my blood pressure was through the roof and causing me to go blind. The kidney doctor that I had at that time was a joke. He told my parents that I did not have a hope or a prayer and to start making arrangements for my funeral. My father wanted to punch him out. He told the doctor that he no longer wanted him as my doctor, and did some research and found another kidney specialist to take my case. (Dr. Sidney G. Marcum – retired now) He told my parents after a full exam that I was in very bad condition but that no doctor should ever say there is never hope or someone doesn’t even have a prayer. I was put on dialysis until I was 18 and my eyesight improved. I hated dialysis and started to give up on living. My parents said to my doctor, okay, what else can we do? He suggested looking into a kidney transplant. You have to understand, in 1978 there were not a lot of kidney transplants done yet, so it was a pretty new thing to even consider. Back then only your immediate family, your mother, father, sister or brother could only donate a kidney and they had to be 18 years or older. It was either that or be put on a waiting list for a cadaver kidney, which could take years. My health was rapidly deteriorating and I didn’t have years to wait. I had 6 brothers and sisters but only 3 sisters that were 18 or older. All my brothers are all younger than I am. No one was a match except my sister Jerri. Jerri was a (4) match which is the best you can get without being a twin. Jerri is 2 years older than I am. So on her birthday, I celebrate it like its mine too, kind of. I don’t get a cake and presents or anything, but I remind my husband that it is partly my birthday and ask him, so what are you buying me? Ha Ha… He just looks at me usually and rolls his eyes. Jerri was out of the hospital after the transplant in 2 weeks and has never had any problems. She has a beautiful healthy daughter and is very healthy. In case any of you wonder if the donor will have any problems having children or anything after donating a kidney. The answer is NO. I made some kind of a record of getting out of the hospital the fastest of anyone after a kidney transplant. I am in some kind of medical journal, so I was told. I got out of the hospital in only 1 month. I know that now-a-days you get out in a few days, I think. But remember, that was in 1978. A lot has changed. I still have to take medicine for rejection. I will have to take it the rest of my life. The way it was explained to me was that, the kidney is and always will be foreign to my body. My body will always see it as my sisters’ kidney. So that is why I have to take rejection medicine the rest of my life. No big deal. I can deal with taking a couple of pills a day instead of dialysis, believe me… I just had a 6 month check up with my nephrologists (kidney doctor) and my creatinine level was still at (.07) which it has been for several years now. She told me that was near perfect. I can live with that.
I had two beautiful healthy daughters after my transplant. In case any of you are wondering if you can have children after a kidney transplant. The first time I became pregnant and told my doctor, he kinda freaked out. He suggested that maybe I shouldn’t have the baby. Remember, kidney transplants were still new and the doctors didn’t know what to expect back then. I only had my transplant for three years after I became pregnant with her. I told him I would take my chances. I had absolutely no problems with the pregnancy or the delivery. With my second daughter I got a completely different reaction from my doctor. (Same Doctor) It was 13 years later and I went and told my doctor, the same one as before, that I was pregnant again. He was excited for me and said congratulations. No freaking out at all. Isn’t it funny how much medicine can change and the way doctors see things can change in 13 years. My second daughter was perfect in everyway also and I had no problems with the pregnancy or the delivery with her. I did have a problem with my OBGYN doctor though. My regular OBGYN doctor had retired and she took his place. She had never had a kidney transplant patient before so she took every precaution. Which is good in a way. But, jeez I was so sick of test. My husband and I started calling her Dr. Test. As a precaution, when I was about 6 months pregnant and because I was already 35 years old, she put me on complete bed rest. I gained a house. I thought it was so ridiculous. Anyway, everything turned out fine. Next month I will be 50 years old I don’t care. I look forward to every birthday. My husband that I am married to now, is my best friend. And I am so blessed to be alive and to be married to him and to have both of my beautiful daughters. I just want to tell all of you to never give up. There is always a hope and a prayer.


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I received a kidney from my sister on March 16, 1978.

Never ever give up.
Live life to its fullest...

willieandwinnie

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