Stu in da house

[Stu]

Hi, my Name is Stu, hailing from Adelaide, Australia.

I am a husband to a loving and supportive wife, a father to the two most gorgeous boys in the world (aged four and two), a web developer, a blogger, and a recent kidney transplant (Feb' 07) recipient.

I was originally diagnosed with Goodpastures Syndrome in February 1996, and went from being a disgustingly healthy 25 year old to having no renal function in the space of 48 hours. Fortunately my lungs survived the ordeal, but I was left with no renal function, hence began dialysis (haemo) immediately.

I received a transplant from my mother in August 1997, which lasted approximately five years, and went back onto haemodialysis in March 2002.

I received the call that there was a kidney available for me at 1:30am on the 7th of February 2007, and shot straight to the hospital for what turned out (so far!) to be a successful transplant.

I am a stay at home dad to my two boys, and fit in some part time web development and blogging in between changing nappies, breaking up fights, and watching eternal reruns of Wiggles DVD's.

I've been blogging on and off for the last few years at The Renal Unit Blog, about my experiences as an ESRD patient, and issues which affect renal patients and organ donation issues.

I've been lurking here for quite some time, so I thought I'd better register and throw my opinions into the mix.

You'll probably see a lot of posts from me in the next few days, as I've been reading for a while, but been unable to post, and have lots of opinions and thoughts on the threads within these forums.

Cheers

Stu

[aharris2]

  stu to da house, glad you decided to join us.... cheers mate

Rolando

[lola]

 

[Chicken Little]

Hiya Stu!

 

[okarol]

  Hi Stu,
I have read your blog before, and the news stories too. Glad to see you joined IHD!
You've got lots of experience to share and hope to hear more from you!
Best,
Karol


okarol/moderator

[Wattle]

   Wooohoo Another Aussie!  

I am glad you decided to join us Stu.  

Welcome.

[Stu]

Thanks all for your kind words!

I look forward to being an active member of the IHD community!

[Laurie]

 

[kitkatz]

Put another shrimp on the barbiee! Welcome to another person from down under.  It sounds like you have a lot of experiences to share with us.






kitkatz,moderator

[charee]

 welcome stu great to see another Aussie on this fabulous site


cheers  charee

[Sluff]

Welcome to IHD Stu,

Glad the transplant is working fine. Here's to a lifetime of success 

It's good to hear your story and have you here. Please continue to read and post as much as you like.

Sluff/ Admin

[Joe Paul]

Welcome Stu, good to have you aboard.

[Falkenbach]

Two South Aussies on board now! 

[Bajanne]

Welcome to our community!  And welcome to another member of the Commonwealth!  I loved your intro - it is the kind that Epoman loved.  I am just looking forward to your input on our site.  One question, what took you so long, mate?  Your spot has been here empty for a while.  Now you have a lot to do to fill it up quickly!
Since you have been lurking, there isn't much I can tell you about the site.  Just keep reading and keep posting.  Looking foward to hearing lots from you.


Bajanne, Moderator

[MyssAnne]

Welcome, Stu!!!!  Glad to have you aboard!! PLEASE do show off your two adorable babies, we LOVE babies here!! 

[KT0930]

Welcome! Glad you finally decided to join us, and so glad to hear your transplant is going well so far.

A word of encouragement, outside the renal area for a second, the infatuation with the wiggles does not last long, I promise!! I was so happy when mine outgrew that!

[paris]

Welcome! Sounds like you will have much to share with us. Nice to meet you

[Hawkeye]

Hello and 

[bolta72]

  



EDITED:  Fixed  icon error - Goofynina/Admin.

[Falkenbach]

I'm presuming you had your tx locally, so you would have gone to the QEH?

I was pretty pleased with my treatment at the QEH over all. Had some minor problems and a couple of things that annoyed me, but I guess public hospitals are very busy places and not everything can run 100% smoothly.

I was disappointed to be discharged from QEH outpatient clinics and returned to the RAH, actually! I'd have preferred to keep going to clinic at the QEH. I was very sad to hear they are closing down the renal ward there.

[Stu]

Yes Cycobully, I had my transplant at the QEH.

The care was amazing, and as I'm an outpatient there, I haven't had to go anywhere else.

I actually left the RAH about three years ago, as the level of care I was getting left something (a lot, actually) to be desired.

You don't want to get me started about the closing down of the renal unit at the QEH! 

What this means for me is that I come back under the (indirect) care of the director of the unit, the person I left the RAH to get away from in the first place. I know for a fact that the staff at the QEH are royally pissed at the move as well.

What I don't understand is the fact that they're re-tooling the QEH based on the demographics living in the western suburbs of Adelaide (mostly elderly migrants). The stupidity of this is patently obvious to anyone who has any basic understanding of demography. One of the first rules is that location based demographics change. Soon (within 20 years) that area will be full of 20-somethings, and a palliative care hospital will be of absolutely no use to them.

I've wanted to write a long diatribe in my blog for some time on this issue, but fear that it will affect my treatment and outcomes as a patient at the RAH, as my blog is well known within the South Australian renal medical fraternity.

[Falkenbach]

Before I went into QEH for my transplant, I wasn't aware of the difference between the hospitals. Now that I've been to QEH, I am VERY aware.

I know how royally pissed the staff are, too, and don't blame them. I was actually still there when they received the news. There were no ifs, buts or whatevers. They were told in their meeting one morning - this is what is happening, you've got 6 or so months, that's all there is to it. It's insane! Why close down a state of the art ward and move it to another hospital that doesn't have the facilities or same quality of staff?

I had no idea the decision was based on demographics, I didn't know what their crazy logic was. Idiots.

I can't help wondering what will happen to all of the QEH staff - surely they won't ALL have new positions at the RAH. And yet, most of the QEH staff are of such a high standard, I can't bear the thought that we're basically forcing them out of SA! Adelaide is going to go from a world-leader in this area to somewhat of a joke. Thank god I got my transplant when I did.

[tamara]

Just caught onto this intro

Hey Stu !

Welcome, great to see another Aussie invade the site.

See you around the forum or maybe in the chatroom !

Tamara xxx ooo   

[Stu]

Just caught onto this intro

Hey Stu !

Welcome, great to see another Aussie invade the site.

Watch out Tamara - we're taking over the world, one forum at a time.

Aussie flag in one hand, beer in the other, corked hat on our heads and noses covered in zinc, singing "Waltzing Matilda" as we do it!

 

[poohkari]

Stuuu!

I've read your blog a bunch - small world that you've got FGP (we're in love with that term for it! and were stealing it!) too!

Thank you for giving us hope.

Kari