Hi all. I am very excited to find this site. I did not know anything like this was around. I think it will help a lot to talk to all of you.Well, my story is kind of long but I will do my best to keep it short and (bitter)sweat. In March of 2007 I became ill. I was only 21 years old, going to school full time and working two part time jobs plus keeping up a socail life. I just figured I got the flu from one of the kids at my job. It had been 5 days and I was only getting worse, becoming jaundice and extreme stomach pain. My mom finally talked me into going to the ER. I went to Anderson ER ( a local hospital) and before I really knew what was going on I heard the doctor saying someone get Barnes Hospital on the phone and see if they will admit her. Even though Barnes is only about 45 min away(in St Louis) I thought wow that's a big name hospital what is going on? Come to find out after about a million doctors and test I had Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome(HUS). Because of this blood disorder my kidneys shut down. The doctors are still not sure what caused it but are continually researching to find out why. I was in the hospital for 6 weeks receiving blood and platelets and dialysis. I recently found out that because of this blood disorder and a deficiency in a gene I can not receive a transplant. Well, being 23 that is a total bummer to be looking at dialysis for the rest of my life. Most days I can deal with it and carry on like normal but everyone has their bad days, so when I found this site where I can talk to people who understand I was TOTALLY excited.That's my "kidney issue" story. As, for just about me. I am recently engaged and thrilled. Still going to school to be a special education teacher and trying to work at Dairy Queen. I love being outdoors and playing sports, but I HATE the restriction dialysis puts on life. Talk to you all soon
Hi! I was just 21 when I found out I had ESRD. Now, I'm going to be 22 tomorrow. This is a great site!!