Let’s get Michael a kidney!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my fundraiser!

 In June of 2014, I wasn’t feeling myself after having taught a boot camp class.  This is me prior to renal failure.   
My body before;

My Dr wanted to see my right away, and he took blood that very afternoon.  Just as I got home from my appointment, my phone rang, it was my Doctors direct line.  With every urgency he told me I was in complete renal failure and I needed to get to the Emergency Room immediately.  My room mate at the time drove me to Holy Cross in Ft Lauderdale (where I was living at the time).  The next few days seem surreal looking back at them now.  I had 3 surgeries that night and woke up almost 24 hours later with a dialysis port in my groin, a fistula build in my right forearm and two catheter tubes in my chest.  I was told that the fistula would take 3 months to mature, so that it could be strong enough to withstand dialysis. (I’ll post pics, it’s REALLY ugly).  What was supposed to be 3 months turned into 13 months as multiple fistulas failed and I had to start over.  With the catheters in my chest, I was unable to shower, and for a year, the best I could manage was a sponge bath.  Once the catheter was finally removed and my fistula was functional, the slow slag of dialysis 3 times a week began.  Chest catheters are no where near as much fun as you may have heard. 

I didn’t react well to dialysis the first few months, it was literally torture for me.  I was so drained after a 3&1/2 hour treatment 3 times a week, I considered stopping treatment all together as I had noquality of life the entire first year.  I felt like just as I was starting torecover from a dialysis treatment, it was already time for another.  I was sleeping 16-18 hours a day.  After discussion with my Doctor,we reduced the 3&1/2 hours to 3 hours.  It was no help, I was still so drained simple daily tasks were virtually impossible.  I had lost 40 pounds the first month on dialysis and couldn’t put any weight back on no matter how much I ate.  This pic was pretty much when I was at my worst.  I honestly thought it was my last summer with T.

 The pic below is my arm!  If you seen Steel Magnolias, this is what Shelbys arm looked like when Truvy asked if she was driving nails into her arm.  And, yes, it feels as bad as it looks,  Bottom pic is two weeks into healing up.

This was a crossroads sitch for me.  As desperately as I wanted to be here to see my beautiful son grow up, I had to weight the benefit to him of seeing his Papi in the condition i was in.  I was useless tohim, I couldn’t even take care of myself.  With my Doctors permission, I cut dialysis back to 2 days for 3 hours.  My reasoning was that if it was still effective, I could continue with treatment.  If not, I was fully prepared to end treatment. I went as far as buying cards for all the holidays and life events I would miss in my sons life, HS graduation, College graduation, birthday cards up till his 21st, and one for his wedding.  If I couldn’t physically be here with him, I wanted him to know that my love will always be with him.  I wanted him to really know that his Papi will always love him.  This is my T, my entire reason for everything.  I had a really shitty dad, I’m determined that my son will never know anything from me but pride and love for him.  

With my new dialysis schedule, it was tolerable and I was able to settle into a routine that worked for me.  I was gaining strength, and even started going to the gym again.  The happiest day I’ve had on dialysis was when I was strong enough to have my son with me for summers.  I didn’t know how long my new dialysis regiment would “hold”, and I wanted to pack in as many good memories with Tristan as I could before the inevitable.

My first attempt at getting a transplant was a year and a half long fiasco with a transplant hospital in Miami.  I’m not going to name the hospital, I don’t want to get sued, but suffice to say it was an awful experience top to bottom.  In my mind, I thought my HIV status would exclude me anyway, so I decided to just let things play out.  

Ft Lauderdale, which had been home for 20 years was rapidly getting too expensive for me, so, just like 20 years prior when I fled NYC as an economic refugee, I once again had to look for a more economically friendly place to live.  After a pretty exhaustive search, Las Vegas was the winner!  I’ve been here in Vegas for a year now, and I’m beginning the process of seeking a kidney transplant, this time with the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.

OK, now that you’ve made it this far, why am I raising money?  Well, Medicare only pays 80% of the total transplant cost, which can be $275,000 -$350,000, which makes my portion upwards of $60,000.  In addition to the surgical cost, there is transportation back and forth to Phoenix, and following surgery, I will have to stay in a hotel with a companion for 6 weeks following surgery.  These numbers are not factoring in any complications along the way.

Im hoping to have the surgery within the next year to 18 months.  Ihave to change my HIV medications, as some of them interfere with the rejection drugs I will have to be on for life, well, at least the life of my new kidney.  In order to have the surgery, I will have to be stable on the new meds for 6 months, so, I’ve got a minute to try and get this schmoney! I’ll be posting updates at the very least weekly, i obviously have no trouble chit chatting about myself endlessly!

If you can find it in your heart to help, I’ll be extremely grateful.  I want to see my son graduate HS, and with any luck, this surgery will get me there.  There is no amount too small, if you can’t donate, please keep me in your thoughts, and send me some healing vibes.  Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Thank you for taking time to share my “real”.  Anything you like to know, feel free to ask.  This is my gorgeous family, I couldn’t love them more if I tried.