Today I am sitting in a pretty comfortable chair here on dialysis. My entire blood stream circulates through the machine about twenty times during the four hours of treatment. My blood flows out the bottom of two needles (Arterial) , makes its way through a plastic tube, then passes along through a specially-designed artificial kidney...then through a series of pumps comes back into my bloodstream via a second tube which is needled back into the Venus site.
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Just another day on dialysis...
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The treatment goes on for four hours, three times a week. I'm not saying anything here at all that the hundreds of thousands of dialysis patients are not fully aware of. It is our weekly reality. We are pretty much all praying for a solution that will allow us to return to a "normal" life. That would be...the blessing of a living kidney donor. As many of you reading this will already know, my dear brother Steven donated one of his kidneys to me in 1979. This selfless act resulted in over 34 years of amazing health for me. He still enjoys perfect health after all these years, so it can be said that his "Gift of Life" in no way compromised his health, thank God.
However, it can also be said that his donation was not a cure for me and that it is time for another "Earth Angel" to step up...as dialysis is fraught with hidden dangers. I pray every day that there is another savior out there who will eventually step up to offer that precious gift so that I can have my complete, unhindered life back.
Do you hear me, do you hear my prayers?
