My 15 Year Struggle With Kidney Disease
I had thought of calling this blog, "My 15 year survival of kidney disease", but I
have not actually survived the IgA nephropathy which has destroyed my two original
kidneys plus the transplanted one I received in 1999 from my wife's sister. They tell
me it is not completely ruined yet, as evidenced by the fact that I am still producing
some urine. But most of my fluid waste is eliminated by Peritoneal Dialysis, which I
have started again for the second time in my life.
I suppose that I ought to begin in 1989 when I volunteered to help our local Boy
Scout troop with their annual summer camp. I had enjoyed Scouting activities with
my two older sons while living and working in Montana and Wyoming. Now I had a
position with enough vacation and free time to go to camp with my third son.
As part of a new requirement in Scouting for volunteers over age 40, I would have
to pass a physical exam. I was not worried about my physical condition in the least.
I had spent the last ten years in one of the more physically demanding jobs a
person could have. I had worked as a blaster for both underground and open-pit
mines in Wyoming, Montana and Utah. I had spent long hours unloading semi-
trailers of 50 pound bags of blasting agents, and 60 pound cases of dynamite and
TNT priming charges, in all kinds of weather and conditions. I was not worried about
keeping up with a bunch of Scouts, on any hike, with any pack.
When I went to pickup my physical exam slip at my Doctor's ofice, he told me to
come back after the summer camp and have another test done because one of the
tests showed a slight trace of blood in my urine. He told me not to worry about it
because it was probably just an anomaly but it needed to be re-checked.
