March 9th, 2019
Saturday
On this day, back in 2009, I got the phone call everyone on dialysis wants and never expects to get. Lizzie and I spent hours of fretting about whether or not to accept a cadaver kidney coming in from San Antonio (see post # 337*). What a day! We ended up at the Transplant Center that afternoon getting me prepped and prompted for a transplant. It was in no way a normal day... so at the end, I went to sleep.
While I was asleep, a miracle occurred: I didn't know the miracle occurred because I was asleep. And the miracle was that "Mordecai the Miracle Kidney" came to live inside me right beside my other kidneys. When I awoke in the morning, the first thing I noticed was that I was still on the planet and boy was I groggy! It took hours and hours for me to fully awaken to the situation.
Now it's ten years after that day, and this song comes to mind from "Ten Years After" of course: https://youtu.be/wggg74Eieas
*Link to Post #337:
http://jakidney.blogspot.com/2009/03/336-in-which-jack-gets-kidney-call.html
*Link to Post #1:
https://jakidney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-first-time.html
January 25th, 2019
Friday
I heard through the web-vine in the last few days, that Bill Peckham is no longer on the planet. His name is sprinkled throughout this blog. You could say we were "blogger buddies" although I think I only talked to him once or twice (see Post 454).
Mark Neumann, writing for Nephrology News & Issues, said of Bill:
"He started a blog on his own website called The Sharp End of the Needle,
that included stories about his travels, debates about policy issues
and the ESRD Program and interviews with kidney care staff and fellow
patients about ways to get the most out of dialysis.
“Nobody signs up
for (dialysis) as a lifestyle,” Peckham said in a talk he presented
after his Grand Canyon rafting trip, but “being on dialysis really
didn’t impact my vision of the future” in carrying on with life. He
worked full time for 22 years in the event production industry building
conference exhibits before retiring in March 2017."
When I was first wondering if and how I could work full time while being on dialysis, Bill's example of dializing all over the world encouraged me to continue to do trainings in other cities and travel to Washington D.C. to advocate ESRD patients. As an advocate, Bill encouraged people to accept dialysis as a way to enable us to live life fully, "the way we are meant to live". He supported that belief by living fully, including rafting down the Colorado River while use "home" dialysis throughout the trip.
Bill Peckham will be missed by the kidney dialysis community: RIP my blogger friend.
