Exit Bubbles, the dialysis machine

It has been 6 weeks now and every time I go past the dialysis room she is still there.  Bubbles, the dialysis machine, makes me feel uneasy as I don't think I will feel that I am quite free until she is gone.

Joe the Tech has tried several times to come out and take her away but there hasn't been a convenient time for both of us but today is the day.

It is mid afternoon and my mobile rings, they are on the way.

Bubbles, the dialysis machine is in the garage waiting to be taken away
[Photo: Og Bear]

15 minutes later Joe and Malcolm back the ute into the garage and proceed into the house and the dialysis room, quickly going to work to disconnect her and the associated RO (Reverse Osmosis) machine.

Malcolm and Joe the technicians, are loading Bubbles into the back of the ute
[Photo: Og Bear]

There is no dignity, grace or ceremony as Bubbles is lain down in the back of the ute
[Photo: Og Bear]

Almost unceremoniously, she is wheeled out to the garage and lain in the back of the ute followed by the RO. A bit of stock (boxes of fluid use in the dialysing process) are packed around her to stop her from moving and they are away, gone!

Bubbles is leaving for ever; now it up to Eric to do the job
[Photo: Og Bear]

Over the last 5 years I basically had 3 machines.

First there was Diana. She had had a rough life and was very naughty and eventually had to be taken away. Then I had Wanda who was quiet and really behaved herself, but one day just gave up the ghost.

Diana came back, all rebuilt, re-educated, almost submissive, she was faithful for a long time.

Bubbles replaced her when at long last she was due for a service. Bubbles was almost a non-event, never misbehaved or had any quirks of her own. Very unususal for a dialysis machine.

There is still hospital lino on the floor and up the walls. The plumbing doesn't come out for another 3 months in this room that has technically been a ward of the Geelong Hospital.

Regards Og Bear

Eric the Kidney has arrived! [Eric]

My name is Eric the Kidney. I live in a co-dependency relationship with Og the Bear man.

Og relaxing while waiting to be taken home after his kidney transplant
[Photograph: Toosh]

In my last body I supported was a 64 year old male. His family donated me on his demise and because Og was a good match and had been waiting for 7 whole years, he was where I was heading so he and I, together, could live on and have a good life together.

Og got the phone call and accepted me. I was packed in ice and headed for the airport to get to St Vincent's in Melbourne. I am not sure where from as that was my old body's brain and eye's job. In the upstairs downstairs I was downstairs and simply did my job and minded my business.

I was on the way while Og made his own journey, both of us to make our destiny together. (see Og's experience).

The operation took about 4½ hours and we woke up together at about 11:40pm Wed 12 Mar 2008.

I felt like I had hit for a 6! Taken from my old body, packed in ice, and shipped to a new position in a new location. I wasn't ready to cooperate at all. Also, I was heavily doped up and feeling very drowsy.

Wake me up in a few days. I will worry about it then.

The few days passed and I started to think, I only know how to one thing so if I am to survive in this hard world I better get back to it or I might be out of here. I was a big effort but for the next few days I managed to push out a few teaspoons of fluid and clean my new host's blood.

I still felt like a Mack truck had hit me and all I wanted to do was sleep again, but the drugs were uppers, not downers, and I started to get hoppy.

Another 2 days and it was getting to be like it was before in my previous body. It seemed like I was being given the hint to pull the finger out and get back to performing my duties as I had always down.

I am Eric the Kidney and I live in Og the Bear man!
[Image: St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne]

So, much for the new body. It's the same old drudgery, but I have a feeling that there will be a bit of adventure and variety with this one.

---

OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! Stop sticking needles in me, I am doing the best I can, give me a break! I thought I had 3 months to settle into this new job.

"No worries Eric, just checking you are OK because you are taking some time to settle in and do all the work you are supposed to. You seem to be perfectly OK in there, but we are keeping an eye on you" Doctor Sweet One.

---

Og has been able to get away a bit now he is not tied to the dialysis machine:

• Og felt the need to return to his own country
  
• Og catches up with Lady Bear and Maldon
  
• Exit Bubbles, the dialysis machine
  
• Og took me to the Apollo Bay Music Festival 2008
  

He forgot that I am blind, deaf and dumb, but he was happy, so I was happy!
I was content just to take in the great vibe!

As you may have sensed, I haven't been able to the job for Og that I would have hoped.

It's got harder and harder as the journey went on.

It seems that my original body had a virus that had done me a lot of damage, and when transplated to Og, the immunosuppressant drugs allowed that virus to do even more damage to me. So Og and I ended up in hosptial or much of the end of 2008.

Og resuming dialysis"
[Photo: Rosie]

By early 2009 we were struggling even more and Og had to resume dialysis. I guess at this point the writing was on the wall.

Og was not well and my presence was not helping.

So early June 2009 time for came for us to part our ways.

Eric the Kidney

---

POST SCRIPT ADDED BY OG:

What happend with Eric was simply bad luck. 1 in 20 kidney transplants don't survive the first 12 months. But, that means that 19 out of 20 do!

So what I suppose I am saying is that I took a chance, and lost. But if I was well enough and that phone rang, I would right back there as soon as I could to do it again, have another transplant.

I would not think twice about it.

Thankyou Eric from Og.

June 2009

---

Eric the Kidney has arrived! [Og]

Hi Everybody

Thanks very much for your best wishes and concerns.

I am starting to feel fighting fit, but the body is still dragging along a little.

Og relaxing while waiting to be taken home after his kidney transplant
[Photograph: Toosh]

I had the transplant on Wed 12 Mar 2008 and came home on Fri (Good) 21 Mar 2008.

Og out side his room at St Vincent’s
[Photograph: Toosh]

I got the phone call while out on a job. It was one of the most daunting experiences and saying yes wasn’t easy; "Could I have a few days to think about it?" No, I had to make a decision right then and there.

It took one hour to get home in which I finally managed to contact Somerled. Why does the mobile phone fail just when you really need it?

SMS and keep driving. Finally the message comes back from Somerled that he will meet me at home and drive me to St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Quickly grab the bare necessities, a quick email to friends and family then back on the road to Melbourne.

Heavy traffic is slowing us down all the way and we receive a phone call half way wondering where we are and that everything is ready at St Vincent’s.

Heavy traffic through the city, we are running really late.

At the hospital we even get lost trying to find the right ward, but we finally arrive and they start prepping up around 7pm, 5 hours after the first phone call.

11:40pm, coming to in Intensive Care, I am surprised it is over already, but I feel good with very little pain.

The kidney I had just received had come from a 64 year old male, that’s all I would know. Who was this person who’s generous family had given me this gift? The names John and Eric kept coming into my head. The latter was more significant as I was to find out.

It all gets a bit blurry but it was good to see Somerled come in with Merlin around midnight. Doctors are hovering around, but seem quite relaxed and confident.

Over the next few days I caused a bit of anxiety as my heart condition makes them hesitant to throw me in at the deep end with loading on fluid to get the kidney going.

So, it’s steady as we go Mr Christian.

Some dialysis the next day to take off excess fluid and allow my body to adjust to the surgery and another night in Intensive Care.

Stand and walk, amazingly painless despite the horror stories I have had from other kidney recipients about the pain of stretching the wound.

Then, it’s up to the ward so the real business of activating the kidney can continue. Still a bit of anxiety from doctors but over the next 2 days a trickle of urine starts to flow through the catheter and confidence is rising.

Now remember I have not really had a real sleep so the brain is somewhere else. I am starting to realize there is a place between being awake and asleep. During the day my eyes are open but I am not there. During the night my eye’s are closed, but I am not asleep. It’s almost as though I am tripping. Add boredom and throw in some Morphine and a few other drugs into the cocktail and I am in a another land. Quite scary at times. The nurses on the night shift were like guides; they had seen it all before, they understood.

Finally on the morning of day 4 the brain is back in my head. I feel safe; I know I am safe; it’s going to be OK, fluid (urine) is starting to come from the kidney at a regular rate which means I am over the danger period.

The transplant is looking like it will be a success.

Not immediately though. The process of bringing the kidney back to life, fully functioning will take many weeks yet, and the drugs and monitoring will vary.

Each day I get more comfortable and get more sleep.

I am moved from the single room with restricted access to a general ward.

The tests are now coming hard and fast. A hot meal arrives only for me to be thrown into a wheel chair for a scan and return 2½ hours later to a still waiting now cold dinner. The catheter is out and while waiting for the scan I am rushed to a private bathroom for my first solo pee. After 7 years on dialysis and passing no urine my bladder just couldn’t hold out!

I am now showering myself etc and getting more comfortable and confident. There is even talk about me "going home".

I find I am in a room with Jason, another transplantee, who has been there for 6 weeks with minor complications.

He is truly an amazing guy. There is something special about him and I notice an article from The Age on the wall. It seems to be written by a journo/researcher about her brother Jason’s journey through renal failure and dialysis. Could this be our Jason, the one in the next bed?

But the real thrust behind the article is the suffering caused by the fact that even though we are world leaders in recycling with our rubbish, we are still have the lowest organ donor rate in the world! The concept of "presumed consent", already being practiced in Spain and being introduced after much campaigning in Britain is explained and that we need to introduce it here and try and change some of our attitudes. It is not taking away a family’s right to say no, but about making it less complicated to say yes. Anyway, I have put a link into the article and will send a copy of it separately so please read it and support it.

Creatinine is still high so it becomes a waiting game for it to come down so I can go home. This starts to happen but the urea is still up. It’s around day 8 or 9.

Finally things settle and I am going home tomorrow, Good Friday evening, 9 full days after the transplant.

Merlin arrives to come home to stay with me for a week
[Photograph: Toosh]

I was amazed, even though I didn’t know I was going to get the call, how many things were settled in the days leading up to it and who I made my peace with, including Toosh.

Thanks to the transplant and renal team at St Vincent’s, especially surgeons David Francis and Mark Westcott, anaesthetist Greg & Alex, Doctors Karen Dwyer, Dash & David Goodman, and nurses Mary, Kim, Nessy and too many others to name.

Thanks also goes to the crew at Geelong who keep me going for 7 years on dialysis and got me ready for the day I got the call, and who have been monitoring me since I got home.

Toosh picking me up from St Vincent’s after the transplant
[Photograph: Merlin]

Ultra Sound of Eric the Kidney 2008
[Image: St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne]

Regards Og Bear

---

POSTSCRIPT:

..Unfortunately Eric is not longer with me.

It was hard journey which I am still recovering from.

June 2009

---