19 years!
As a child, it was normal for me to take about 10 medications a day. I was on a strict diet....no pizza or french fries. There were times I wanted to give up.... literally, 10 years old and wanting to die. But many prayed for me.
It wasn't all bad. I got to miss school for a road trip every 3 months. Mom and I would head out early, usually I had a new book in hand for the ride. We'd go to our appointment at Arkansas Children's hospital where if I was really still when they took my blood, I got a coupon for a free personal pan pizza from pizza hut. Afterwards, we'd almost always go to Bennigan's.
We always knew that kidney transplant was going to happen. Our goal was to skip dialysis. The day of that appointment was like any other until the doctor said,"it's time for a transplant." A heaviness settled on me. I was terrified. I had been so young when I was diagnosed with Esrd so it had always been my life. But at 15 years old, I knew my life was going to change.
The morning of the transplant, I was beyond nervous but was holding it together until they took my mom away. We couldn't do this! What if something happened to her? Let's just do dialysis.
Everything went well. There's new struggles. The average living donor kidney lasts 15 to 20 years. I'm at 19. ...but I plan to be the longest ever transplant....I mean my kidney is from the strongest woman I know. I joke that I asked Adam MacDaniels what blood type he is before I married him. Yep, we're the same.
No one knows how long they have. It's just more real for our family. Life is fragile and you only get one.
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