dialysis and a donor

Okay, I've known I'd had a failing kidney for years and years. And I'd secretly hoped I'd be in my eighties before hearing of end-stage kidney failure. But in May of this year I was told I'd need to go on dialysis.

They wait until you're at about 10% kidney function for this. So I imagine all these years of having compromised function.

There are 2 types of dialysis: hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. One is done at the hospital, the other at home. I chose to do home dialysis. It enables you to have somewhat more freedom; you are in charge of your own care to a large extent. The drawback was having a catheter placed in my abdomen, travelling down through my organs to sit down at a low point inside me to enable a daily system of removing the toxins from my body and inserting new, clean fluid to do its work.

So since July, I've done home dialysis, first during the day, 5 x per day...(not leaving room for anything else, really) and then, after 2 months, with a night machine.

In August my mum sent out a huge email that went around the world to all kinds of contacts. There was an article in a little local paper in an area of the UK where I grew up: East Anglia. A stranger contacted me: we were the same (rare) blood type, type O-. He came to the Netherlands and had all the tests and we were told a month ago...we're a match!

Now the transplant is going to happen on Wednesday. The donor flies from the UK today..I'm actually excited!