There are times in your life you can really make a diference
My oldest brother in-law has kidney failure since he was 18. He has had one transplant but he ended up rejecting the kidney and is back on daily haemodialysis.
In Portugal very few organs are collected because transplant teams don’t get to accident victims on time. Basically the only organs collected are from healthy individuals who die at the hospital (not to many as you can imagine). So, we might be facing a very long wait before they find another kidney for him… maybe longer than we can afford to wait.
The alternative, of course, is a living-donor. Portuguese law only allows parents and siblings to donate organs, to prevent that people sell their organs to others.
My BIL has 8 siblings, which highly improves his chances of finding a match. So far he has always refused to even talk about the possibility of one of his brothers or sisters donating a kidney but the situation is getting desperate and 3 of my sisters in-law are now doctors so they are taking matters in the own hands. On Thursday my husband and his 5 sisters are going to draw blood and start the compatibility tests (my younger BIL is under-age and the other one has kidney stones so they are out).
I love my BIL, I wish I could do something for him and I am proud of my husband and his sisters for what they are doing. I am praying that they find a match and I know that it is the best solution and that the donor will have a perfectly normal life.
But I am having a hard time with the idea that it might be my husband. I am ashamed to admit it but I am secretly hoping one of my SILs is a match. Oh God I am such a horrible person for even thinking like this but I am absolutely terrified that something might happen to him. This would be a major surgery and he would forever have to be extra careful about infections, hard exercise, food poisonings, etc.
He would do it without a second thought about it and I love him for it.
And I will feel so guilty if they don’t find a match.
In Portugal very few organs are collected because transplant teams don’t get to accident victims on time. Basically the only organs collected are from healthy individuals who die at the hospital (not to many as you can imagine). So, we might be facing a very long wait before they find another kidney for him… maybe longer than we can afford to wait.
The alternative, of course, is a living-donor. Portuguese law only allows parents and siblings to donate organs, to prevent that people sell their organs to others.
My BIL has 8 siblings, which highly improves his chances of finding a match. So far he has always refused to even talk about the possibility of one of his brothers or sisters donating a kidney but the situation is getting desperate and 3 of my sisters in-law are now doctors so they are taking matters in the own hands. On Thursday my husband and his 5 sisters are going to draw blood and start the compatibility tests (my younger BIL is under-age and the other one has kidney stones so they are out).
I love my BIL, I wish I could do something for him and I am proud of my husband and his sisters for what they are doing. I am praying that they find a match and I know that it is the best solution and that the donor will have a perfectly normal life.
But I am having a hard time with the idea that it might be my husband. I am ashamed to admit it but I am secretly hoping one of my SILs is a match. Oh God I am such a horrible person for even thinking like this but I am absolutely terrified that something might happen to him. This would be a major surgery and he would forever have to be extra careful about infections, hard exercise, food poisonings, etc.
He would do it without a second thought about it and I love him for it.
And I will feel so guilty if they don’t find a match.
posted by Ana @ 11:11 AM
3 Comments:
At 6:46 PM,
Lioness said…
I hope they do find a match bcs the alternative is too horrible to contemplate. Thinking that way is not horrible, it's simply normal. You want them all to be safe but you married your husband, not someone else. On the other hand, healthy organs will compensate for loss. If he is a match, there's no reason why he shouldn't lead an active healthy life (see, I know all this bcs I'm... in vet school! ;D). As for being careful and somewhat restricted, well dahling, think of it this way: he turned 40 a bit earlier than most. ;)
(Remember what I said abt certain links? I'm saying it again, more so now. It's not worth the grief if...)
At 6:50 PM,
Ana said…
Thanks for the reassurement, that's what my SILs keep telling me, that there is no reason the donor shouldn't have a normal life.
As for the link you are right, I have deleted it. I had actually forgotten that.
At 11:30 PM,
Lioness said…
THAT's a relief, i've been worrying a bit abt that. Everyone should have a sanctuary where they can rant and scream and curse and hope ad lib. If a blog won't give you that, what will? Hope the retreat worked wonders and you're both revigorated - and that R. survided all the estrafeganços without any major anatomical rearrangement.
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