Diary Of A New Life

Diary Of A New Life

Mar 19 2008 By Lisa Adams

Jen Dickinson Hopes More People Will Become Organ Donors After Transplant Saved Her Life

SHE has just survived the toughest month of her life, but now Jen Dickinson has something to smile about. Today, the 29-year-old reveals the joy and pain behind her recent kidney transplant.

Jen, who is a geography tutor at the University of St Andrews, relied on dialysis four times a day after being diagnosed with kidney failure.

But Jen refused to let that stop her successfully studying for a Ph.D. She was among more than 8000 people in the UK who need a transplant.

But sadly, due to a shortage of donors, around 450 die each year waiting. That's why Jen is a campaigner for the Live Life Then Give Life charity, which with new backing from British Telecom, aims to encourage people to join the National Donor Register.

Here she talks about her incredible experience...

THE CALL

I didn't know when "the call" would come. I had always imagined it would be in some kind of extraordinary circumstances.

The person waiting for a transplant is a dying but brave individual, cut short in the prime of their life to do nothing but wait beside a ticking clock for that all important phone call to say that an organ has been found.

In the old days, right after I had just gone "live on the list" my bedtime thoughts consisted of wondering if tomorrow would be the day. I used to lie thinking through the emergency plan I had all worked out.

It finally happened on Valentine's Day. Maybe not that ordinary to some, but I had gone to bed the night before thinking about nothing more exciting or life-changing than giving my lecture the next day and starting to write the next. It was really just another Thursday.

I was woken at 6.30am by my mobile phone. Wondering who the heck was calling me at that ridiculous hour, I picked it up and grumbled "hello" in a rather annoyed way.

"Hi Jen, this is Alison, the transplant co-ordinator at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary".

The problem with waiting for a transplant is that you don't even know what will happen until you wake up after the operation with it plumbed in, as any number of things can go wrong along the way.

There could be something wrong with me, with the kidney, my reaction to the new organ, anything.

So my way of cushioning myself from the potentially crushing void between the excitement and possibility of the transplant call and the devastating disappointment of not actually getting the kidney, was to remain emotionless...I burst into tears after about three seconds.

THE TRANSPLANT

I had been waiting for two and half years for this call to arrive. I always imagined the next few hours would consist of a mad rush to hospital, spurred on by the greatest adrenaline rush of my life.

I would then be given the transplant by good-looking, heroic and brilliant surgeons. I had probably been watching far too much ER, because the reality was quite different.

The transplant co-ordinator told me that my potential kidney was from a heart-beating donor.

There are two types of organs. There are non-heart beating, where cardiac death has occurred. These organs are generally in worse condition because blood clots have begun to form.

Heart-beating donors are where organs are removed when the person is brain-stem dead but still on life support.

Organs are removed before life-support is finally switched off, and are generally in better condition because there is no clotting.

The journey from ward to theatre was possibly the most terrifying five minutes of my life. I lay flat on myback, shaking with nerves and wearing little more than a thin gown, as the panels of the ceiling flashed above and the trolley wheels hummed below.

The anaesthetist gently placed a mask over my face, telling me to breathe deeply, and it was barely five seconds before I was out for the count.

The operation took five hours. My first memory was opening my eyes and seeing a bright green ceiling and feeling quite calm, before people rushed over to me shouting "she's awake".

The doctor reassured me that 40 per cent of kidneys don't work straight away, and that 95 per cent of all kidney transplants do work eventually.

Although this was slightly comforting, I was tired of being quoted statistics, because in the end the only thing that mattered was what was happening to my kidney.

THE FANTA ICY LEMON MOMENT IT ALL WORKED

I can pinpoint almost the exact moment that my new kidney finally kicked into action.

It was six days after the transplant, a Wednesday around three o'clock in the afternoon. The day before had probably been the worst day of my entire life, even worse than the day I was told that my kidneys were barely functioning.

A complicated mixture of emotions bubbled to the surface I was in pain, felt it was my fault the kidney wasn't working and had the intense feelings of guilt that I really should be happy.

After all, I'd had the transplant I had been dreaming of, so wasn't this supposed to be the happiest time of my life?

To encourage the new kidney to work and flush out toxins from the body, you have to drink lots.

It was either a bottle of Fanta Icy Lemon, or the threat of dialysis from the consultant five hours earlier that finally persuaded my new kidney to kick into action.

Finding the bubbles reassuringly interesting and the sweet but tangy taste pleasing, I drank the whole thing over the course of the next hour.

I am sure it was just a coincidence that I'd just drunk the Fanta Icy Lemon but then my kidney started to work.

GOING HOME

Mr Kidney - and it is definitely a male kidney, I am sure of it - whom I decided to christen Billy, has turned into a hard working little individual and is busily cleaning the toxins out of my system like a good kidney should.

The next few weeks were a bit dicey as the doctors played around with my medications, trying to keep a very fine balance between not giving me too many drugs, but giving me enough so that the new kidney wouldn't suddenly decide it didn't like me any more.

My mum came over from New Zealand to look after me when I got out of hospital. She and dad moved over there shortly after I was diagnosed with kidney failure, so it was lovely to see her again.

A NEW LIFE

When I first found out about my kidney failure and went on to four times daily dialysis sessions, so I was desperate to have a transplant.

I had convinced myself that having a transplant would cure me totally, and I could go back to my old carefree life, jet-setting all over the globe and working towards some kind of career. However I was shocked to discover the average length of time a kidney transplant lasts is only eight years, but some people still have transplants 25 or more years later.

I hope my new kidney behaves and that I never have to go back on dialysis.

There are so many things about life today that I didn't appreciate before. I know there is a family out there who are grieving for a loved one. Someone has died and I have a second chance. How do you thank someone for that?

All I can do is stay positive, keep taking my drugs, drink four litres of water a day, stay healthy and relish every moment I spend with my amazing new gift of life.

To become an organ donor, call 0845 60 60 400 or log on to www.uktransplant.org.uk

'There are so many things about life that I didn't appreciate before. I hope I never have to go back on dialysis'

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/newsfeed/2008/03/19/diary-of-a-new-life-86908-20355500/