What Was Your First Call Story Like?

[MonicaJade]

I was wondering how everyone’s First Call went? Was it your first and only? I thought mine was an interesting story.

It was in the middle of Hanukkah last year. (I love Jesus, and have been saved by His death and ressurection on the cross. I’m not religiously Jewish but I have always believed in the Bible and God’s holidays rather then the holidays that aren’t in the Bible although my family always did the American ones, and I took an ancestery DNA test and found out I have some Jewish DNA, and Jesus went to Hannukah at the Dedication in the New Testament. That was my family’s first time trying Hannukah. I’m just letting y’all know this part in case there are Jewish members.)

We were planning to do a scavenger hunt for my 3-year-old nephew when I got off of dialysis at 3. The treatment went by okay until around 1:30 when I started getting hot and sick like I had the flu. Then I was having a hard time breathing. That had never happened to me before, but I had been having low blood pressure when I stood up. That time it had bottomed out, and when they took me off I was fine, like nothing happened. They raised my dryweight after that.

Anyway, I got out and had fun with my sister and mom and nephew right after that. Mom filmed while nephew found clues and Sis and I took turns reading them for him until he found the treasure which were his Hannukah presents. I was so glad I was able to be there with them and had recovered from that low blood pressure!

Later that night, the cellphone just cut off, and wouldn’t come back on. We NEEDED it on because of a kidney, so we went to Best Buy hoping to find a battery. They directed us to a battery store, but it was 8:30 and it closed at 9! Luckily, we just made it and bought a $35 battery, that worked.

And at 11:30 at night, the call came! I was in complete surprise! If that battery hadn’t been replaced...

She said I wasn’t a perfect match, but I was the backup. They were waiting for the kidney to get there and she would call back at 6AM or later with an update. I was incredibly excited that night, and it felt like Christmas.  Somehow I was able to get to sleep and woke up at 6 and got ready to go. It was a Thursday, a non-dialysis day. But she never called back. Aww well, I guess the kidney went to the person it fit best, so that’s good. When I told the staff at dialysis, they said it will probably be very soon, since I got that call. That happened in December. I hope it is soon like they say.

Anyone else want to share First Call experiences?

[Geiser100]

February 8th 2005. I was 13 years old. Not on dialysis. I hated school and on that particular day I "faked" being sick. I didn't throw up, but just begged my mother to let me stay home because I wasn't feeling well. After an hour long argument she finally had some harsh words, but let me stay home.

Later that evening we were cooking dinner. My mom was making spaghetti. My dad was on the computer (the days of dial up). Just before we started eating we got a knock at the door. It was the police (my dad was still working as a police officer at the time so it was a coworker). He told us the hospital had been trying to call for an hour but couldn't get through. So my dad got off the internet and a minute later the phone rang. They told us a kidney had become available and we had about 4 hours to get there. Nobody was hungry after that! So all went well! 13 years later I need another kidney.

[iolaire]

Here are all my calls starting about 1.5 years after my first call:
http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=32523.0

My first call was a thanksgiving a few weeks before I started dialysis.  We were in Mexico for vacation and received the call voice mail via email late a night.  I called back and it looked like I would have a good chance at it as its harder to get recipients over the holiday.  I looked at flights and figured I could get home in a reasonable time.  Then it was waiting for the cross match to be ran.  Sometime late at night I was called back to be told the cross match didn't look good.  In early December I experienced internal bleeding from a stomach bug I picked up in Mexico and well in the hospital my doctor decided it was time for dialysis...  Had I received that kidney I would have skipped the whole dialysis process, received a kidney after 2.5 years versus about 6 etc...

[MonicaJade]

Here are all my calls starting about 1.5 years after my first call:
http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=32523.0

My first call was a thanksgiving a few weeks before I started dialysis.  We were in Mexico for vacation and received the call voice mail via email late a night.  I called back and it looked like I would have a good chance at it as its harder to get recipients over the holiday.  I looked at flights and figured I could get home in a reasonable time.  Then it was waiting for the cross match to be ran.  Sometime late at night I was called back to be told the cross match didn't look good.  In early December I experienced internal bleeding from a stomach bug I picked up in Mexico and well in the hospital my doctor decided it was time for dialysis...  Had I received that kidney I would have skipped the whole dialysis process, received a kidney after 2.5 years versus about 6 etc...

Wow, iolaire, I read all of your thread, and the post where you got your kidney. I’m so glad you got it after all that!