Friday, November 16, 2018

Transplant Tales: An Organ Recital

Years ago, when our youngest was in grade school, we were invited to the spring concert. I wrote about that awful experience in a newspaper article later posted as a blog titled, The Banned Concert.

Much like an elderly man, when asked, “How are you doing,” responded with an organ recital about his heart and his lungs and his bowels, and most of his other organs; I am about to give you an organ recital about my kidneys. I am reminded of that concert when I think of my health. Just as all those instruments at my daughter’s band concert went so wrong, the same is true of my aging body.

About 20 years ago I was diagnosed with both kidney disease and diabetes. Some doctors believe both were caused by a bout with lead poisoning I was exposed to a decade and a half before. At the time of kidney testing, I was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, better known as FSGS. Not that you care, here is the description. FSGS is a rare disease that attacks the kidney’s filtering units (glomeruli) causing serious scarring which leads to permanent kidney damage and even failure. FSGS is one of the causes of a serious condition known as Nephrotic Syndrome. Focal = some, Segmental = sections, Glomerulo = of kidney filters, Sclerosis = are scarred. That was easy, wasn’t it?

Surprisingly, my kidneys lasted about 15 years after diagnoses. My nephrologist (kidney doctor) was surprised they lasted more than a year and believed their longevity could be attributed to prayer. For years and years my kidneys got less and less productive. Finally, on April 1, 2014, (Happy April Fool’s Day), while living in Memphis, I went on dialysis. Most commonly dialysis is a procedure that involves having two large (When I say large, I mean LARGE.) needles inserted in your arm and then you are hooked to the dialyzer and one’s blood is circulated through the machine that filters the blood for around four hours. The entire procedure lasts around five hours. Many have compared it to having an uncomfortable part-time job.
The average patient leaves dialysis feeling like 15 pounds of homemade sin on a popsicle stick. Usually a nap is in order and little else than couch time happens for the rest of the day.

When I first started dialysis, I would go in around 5:30 am and then go straight to the office and worked the rest of the day. I could pull that off for the first couple of years and then it became more and more challenging. As I approached my fourth year on dialysis I was drained. Every day. I stumbled around, couldn’t concentrate and fell asleep at every opportunity. Having seen this progression in many of my dialysis friends as they deteriorated toward death, I realized my time on this earth was short.

So, I finally began to consider a kidney transplant. Most people thought it would not happen. I was 71 years old (They probably wouldn’t waste a kidney on an old man.) and I was 50 pounds over their limit. I figured I couldn’t get any younger but I could lose 50 pounds, so I did. And thus, began the transplant journey.

Copyright © 2018, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved

Bill McConnell is the Interim Minister at Norwood Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a Church Transformation consultant and a Christian Leadership Coach. He is a frequent speaker at Church Transformation events. His latest book on church transformation is DEVELOPING A SIGNIFICANT CHURCH and is available at Westbow Press.
He can be contacted @ bill45053@gmail.com. Connect with him on Facebook @ William T. McConnell or on Twitter @billmc45053 or visit his Amazon Author Page @ Amazon



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