Kidney Patient Guide

Dont worry too much about what you said to your friends & work colleagues. You havent stopped needing a transplant - only that now is not yet the time to put you on the transplant waiting list. You have been told you are too stable. So many people on the board will know just what you are going t...

It's not the chronological age but the biological age which matters. My Dad went for testing and passed with flying colours at age 73. Apparently our kidneys can outlast us for a pretty long time. There is a strict protocol which is followed to ensure the future health of the live donor. You are nev...

Sorry if you are having problems. I had two different employers while on PD & both were supportive. One was a big Canadian bank and the other was a small start up business. There should be no difficulty in doing PD at work. Employers are duty bound (as far as I know) to make adjustments to help ...

A further consideration is, I imagine, most dialysis patients have a "next of kin", person, numbers to be contacted in case of for example a transplant call. Their mistake was to presume that your mother would know about your situation. If your mother is not the appropriate person then you...

Yes I watched it. Let's hope this type of programme raises awareness. But in a way this is another prog about the difficulty young people (perhaps it's everyone) have in dealing with tough lifestyle choices. There was a programme earlier in the series which covered the STD clinic at Chelsea & We...

It is so individual how one feels/makes a choice about dialysis. Like Mandy I did PD. While the bag change is a chore and I felt like I was living with a permanent hangover - it allowed me to get on with my life and take charge of the treatment. I was classified well in dialysis patient terms. Look ...

I just thought of my brother - and felt a very warm glow. Your appreciation of your life afterwards if it goes ahead will be one way. In their heart they will know they have done a wonderful thing.

If we are now able to sign petitions on line then we must expect an automatic reply and also the same reply once it has been formulated. Getting up the petition will have drawn attention to what is going on in the Scarborough unit. People who matter do notice these things. Getting things changed nee...

The "trouble with cancer" being a popular cause is that eg 40,000 women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer; one in 3 of the population will get a diagnosis of cancer in their lifetime; one in 4 will die from a cancer illness. That means it is so much bigger than our own renal disease ...

Hi angel. I did feel better and felt elated but then one week I did a whole lot of stuff (too much) and lost that "high" feeling. It went and didnt come back. The well I feel now is when I have had lots of sleep and feeling positive but it is not consistent and that's 3 years down the trac...

I'm sorry I know nothing about this subject. Diabetes is not the cause of my kidney illness. But I did hear an intersting talk by one of the consultants (at the West London Renal & Transplant centre, 18 months ago) about how they were able to treat diabetes these days in such a way that it was p...

Yes I understand the feeling. But don't be too hard on yourself. You don't have to beat yourself up. After a longer time you'll most likely grow in confidence that all the drugs are working ok and the kidney is working well and one day decide that the right time to do whatever it is - is at hand. On...

Hi Stevie

WLRTC = West London Renal & Transplant Centre (part of Imperial College nhs healthcare Trust) based at Hammersmith hospital, London.

Helen

I think that is a great letter. The only thing I might take out/tone down is the bit about "disgussting that MP's who probably have no real understanding of organ failure on lives have this vote." That's because MPs have to vote on a lot of things about which they may personally have not e...

There havent always been forms at the reception desk in my GP surgery but there are at the moment. For a time I had an article about me and living kidney donation plus section about signing the organ donor register posted up on the wall next to the posters about organ donation. Need to reposter some...