Dialysis day comes round yet again. Some weeks seem to pass quicker than others and this week has flown by. The passage of time has weighed heavily on my mind this week. My eldest nephew was 17 on Friday and it shocked me to think how much has changed in my life during these intervening years.
I was already living with renal failure when Michael was born but I had not yet started undergoing dialysis. I don't think I appreciated then how much my life would change when I began dialysis; or that a transplant is not a cure - just another form of treatment. Some people I have talked to believe that a transplant is like a magic wand that will solve all my problems. Life with a working transplant is wonderful! Your life doesn't revolve around a machine and you can go away from home without having to plan for weeks ahead. After my first failed transplant; I was in hospital for 6 months, lost count of the number of biopsies and underwent 6 operations attempting to save the kidney. So I knew that there were no guarantees with a transplant and so when my second kidney worked so well I was grateful for each day it gave me.
Now I am back on dialysis waiting for my third transplant and attempting to live as normal a life as possible. So in the last 17 years there have been some major changes in my life, great highs and drastic lows.
I wonder what the next 17 years has in store?