Funny thing to find a vital organ you didn't know anything about apart has just packed it in. Kidneys. Umm? They taste gross in my grandmother's pies. Boxers use them and bullies threaten them in playgrounds. They're also vegetables? Beans are named after them. Aren't they meant to be good for you? You put them in chilli con carne. They're oddly linked with cystitis. And cystitis is linked to too much sex. Serge Gainsbourg's definition of sex is that:
'Tu vas et tu viens.
Entre mes reins'..
Beautiful rhyming. Wonderful visual...
All combined, I think my pre-op vision of what kidneys really were about was really rather warped. Who'd blame me.
The learning curve didn't stop there. Doctors and nurses and hospitals and needles and enormously long and odd names of medicines suddenly rolled off your tongue and became second nature within the space of a couple of months. Hell, I'd go as far as to say I've discovered a whole new community-stroke-family out there [sic]. You're not meant to breach the patient-doctor codes, but if someone saves your life, trust me, it takes more than a few months and a blue coat not to feel that you want to give them a hug, say thank you and shower them in gifts and emotional speeches. It gets awkward, but no-one's pretending really, right? Everyone knows this is earth-shattering stuff.
I want to start this blog because, even though the very nature of a transplant means that you're not on your own, I feel alone sometimes in the daily roller coaster of my health and I know that I would benefit from finding a blog by someone like-minded to read. I am a charity campaigner and I can't help but feel this is a campaign I should be rallying behind. Lord knows, maybe I should be packing in my job and campaigning for this? Perhaps, if my health doesn't improve, I will end up campaigning with my life for my life for this. Hmmm. That became complicated...
I want to educate about what transplants mean for recipients, about what it's like for a donor, about the politics behind these operations, about the vast chasms between different countries' policies on the issue and about what each and every person could do to make a difference.
And I want to feel I can speak my mind about days that I sometimes find difficult. Although I have the most supportive, loving husband and family in the world, I still feel I want to tell other people about what I'm going through because sometimes, although it's wrong, I want recognition for the tough times. I hope that's not bad. It probably is and this is no way to start a blog. But there's really no point in going on if I'm not going to be honest about things.
If you're like me and want to get in touch, think I can help with a campaign, want to help me campaign, are worried, hesitant, passionate or angry about anything to do with kidney transplants, or organ donation of any kind, please email me or write a comment or tweet at me or any of those various tweemailable comms and I'll find the time. I think I'm on a mission.
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