Unfortunately, I relapsed in October 2013, and quickly became well acquainted with the nephrology department of my local hospital, which, fortunately, is a large teaching centre. Back onto steroids I went, and more Rituximab was scheduled for April 2014, our thinking being that it slowed things down last time, and we might get equally lucky again.
This time it only partially worked. My kidneys continued to deteriorate, and I was placed on the transplant list in August 2014, and I think that’s when I realised “how sick” I really was. For almost a year, I was in the suspended category due to being either “too healthy” or “too sick”, but in August this year I was activated. I could now get “The Call” at any time.
While I waited, I was fortunate to still not be on dialysis, and I worked, travelled a bit, spent time with my parents who visited from New Zealand, and just tried to pretend I was as normal as possible. There were several occasions where I just felt “off”, or my blood tests weren’t great, or something else happened and I was sure that this was it, my streak of good luck had ended and I was going to have to start dialysis, but it just never seemed to. For a whole further 12 months, I was a bit like the Duracell Bunny, I just kept going and going…
