March is National Kidney Month and World Kidney Day is being observed on March 10.
Kidney recipient Hameeda Ali shares her journey of survival on being diagnosed with end-stage renal failure to having a successful kidney transplant at Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mount Hope.
At age15, I was diagnosed in January 2014 with end-stage renal failure; that is where a person's kidneys stop functioning.
Prior to diagnosis, I was a normal, healthy child with no health-related issues, until I became suddenly ill. It still did not occur to me that it could have snowballed into the fatal conditions that I was soon to suffer from.
I went to school and lessons and a few days later it kept getting worse, and then I thought to myself that this was not normal, nothing I did made it better, even visiting a private doctor did not give any ease.
My feet became extremely swollen, walking a few feet felt as if I ran a mile, (I had) no appetite and constant vomiting. My parents rushed me to Mt Hope hospital where I underwent extensive testing and eventually, they us that my both kidneys stopped functioning and I needed to start dialysis treatment immediately.
No doctor found the cause of my diagnosis, the mere fact that I was in the early stages of kidney disease for months, but showed no signs until it was too late, was heart-breaking. My parents were distraught, but they kept it together for me. It was a very emotional time, but all the lovely doctors and nurses guided us according. I did a small procedure for my permanent catheter for dialysis and began treatment. I stayed in the hospital for three weeks and then I finally got to go home.
It was only at this point the reality of the changes that renal failure had on my life showed. I needed to adapt and learn to balance treatment and school. I was very restricted in terms of my diet, many of my favourite foods I had to stay away from, and food without salt isn't great. I was only allowed to have 500ml of fluid a day, the thought of only having such small quantity of water during an entire day baffled me. Or going to the beach, and all you're able to do is sit in the shade and watch everyone else have fun because you can't get your permanent catheter wet. In addition, I was on a large quantity of medication which I had to take daily.
It was a very hard process, for me, it took a great toll on my mental health and overall psychological well-being. I was often very sad and depressed, unmotivated to do anything, keeping up with school was difficult since I had dialysis three days a week for three-and-a-half hours every time. I basically felt like giving up. No one really understands the negative effects sickness has on a person both mentally and physically, especially someone my age, but I tried my best not to show it.
I was lucky enough to have an amazing support system, my incredible family, as well as my amazing friends, teachers at San Juan South Secondary School and my dialysis nurses and doctors at Mt Hope were wonderful. They all surrou
