It Hurts

My brother was tested Thursday for PKD. He wanted to donate to my dad and had to be tested to go forward. My mom, grandma and me went with him, even though he wouldn't know right away we wanted to be there for support. I would want people with me. I was nervous while driving to the hospital. I was nervous for him. I was nervous for our family. I was nervous for what would happen if he did or didn't have PKD. If my brother didn't have PKD he could donate! It would mean a kidney for my dad! It would mean my big brother would have surgery to give my dad a kidney. That's HUGE. If my brother had PKD he couldn't donate to my dad...and he would be diagnosed with PKD, like my grandfather, like my dad and uncle. A five minute sonogram would determine alot.

We found out Saturday that my brother has PKD.

I am so pissed my brother has this. He is so optimistic and was so ready to doante. He said "when we find out and I'm clear let's get the hacksaw out and do the transplant now." And here is how it happened. The nephrologist called my dad! They didn't even tell my brother. They told my dad. My dad had to call my brother and tell him!

Donor backout

I have some bad news, our donor backed out. I think it's for the best. The donor for my dad was an ex-boyfriend of mine. Yeah, you can imagine the situation..
We have been broken up for five years. He kept intouch with my mom more so than with me. We knew he was a blood and antigen match and he only had to go thru a few more tests. I hope it wasn't my fault he backed out. He said it was because his family wasn't giving him the proper support (maybe because we used to date and his family didn't like the idea) and he hadn't accrued enough vacation days at work. Besides, I wouldn't want someone donating, who's family didn't support him. I understand. It's for the better. Some people thought my ex-boyfriend was doing it for the wrong reasons, maybe he was. I'll never know, but it doesn't matter now. Our family has to focus on finding the right donor.
My dad's has someone who is willing to look into paired donation.

Puppies and Kitties!

I decided to volunteer at the local animal shelter. Recently my boyfriend and I recued a baby kitty stuck in a metal joist. I wanted to keep baby kitty so badly but I already have two cats in our household and my boyfriend can't keep animals in his apartment. I think he liked baby kitty too. We had to take baby kitty to the league for animal welfare. They post pictures of which animals are for adoption so I can see him whenever I want and now that I volunteer I can visit him as well (I think it's a him.)

Do I have it?

Sometimes I wonder if I have inherited PKD. There is a 50% chance that I have it. I also have a brother, there is a 50% chance he has it. We haven't been tested yet. We are both in our twenties. We both did volunteer to donate to our dad but they decided to go forward with a third donor, because of our family history of the disease. We show no symptoms now. I guess for insurance purposes you don't want to know if you have it or not until you are settled in a stable job and have life/health insurances. Or maybe they charge more? I don't know. Sometimes if I have a weird pain in my back, I think it could be a cyst growing. Then I think I am obsessing. I try to eat healty and drink lots of water. I already ready watch my sodium and protein intake, just in case. I also read about any pkd material I can get my hands on.

First Blog

This blog is about my family's experience with PKD. My grandpa had PKD. My dad and uncle have inherited it. PKD is Polycystic kidney disease. Which means many cysts on your kidneys, it causes the kidneys to slowly decrease their filtering function and eventually they fail. A person with PKD would then start dialysis or get a kidney transplant.