If Only You Had Waited.....

If you had just waited…..

If you had just waited bro, you would not have left me due to renal failure. Not with science progressing at such an amazing rate. If only you had waited for the stem cell transplants to take off in India, I would not be missing you so badly.

According to the Indian Council of Medical research around 5.5 lakh of people are waiting for transplant or dialysis. You too were a number. But the sad part is you were number 3 according to ZCCK [Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation], where you were registered for your organ transplant. We got the call today. Seven days too late. 

He was undergoing dialysis for the past 3 years. I would see him going to dialysis thrice a week and then working in the night in the BPO sector. Three years of pain and loneliness. The first thing that happens to dialysis patients is that the relatives become blessing givers from far. Who would blame them? When he was diagnosed renal failure after having Nephritis from the age of 2, the doctor told us-“he has the problem of a king. Such a disease where even a king would tun pauper. “ We never understood what he meant – then.

Yes, this is Reuben's hand

For a layman to understand the concept of dialysis is  terrifying. I don’t know much of the medical jargon but I do know that you have gone through a lot of emotional and financial upheaval to go through dialysis. The scientific definition would be,’ Dialysis is the artificial process of eliminating waste (diffusion) and unwanted water (ultrafiltration) from the blood.” Our kidneys do this naturally but when your kidneys stop functioning normally, you get hooked up to the dialysis machine.

On one side I saw him doing dialysis with an ease after a few months and on the other hand I saw him undergoing many physical changes which slowly started accelerating to severe pains and turmoils. The veins swelling up, the hand swelling up, bleeding and finally severe osteoporosis. The osteoporosis became so severe, that even picking up a cloth from the floor resulted in a bone cracking. His kidney failed followed by his lungs and lastly his heart. The thing that worked most for him was his IMMENSE will power.

No, the above side effects were not because of dialysis, in case other dialysis patients are getting worried but due to the severe side effects of the strong medicines he had been taking for 20 years. 

With science improving so much, when will the day come when dialysis won’t be needed anymore? Recently Lidnsay Porter took part in a pioneering study at Northwestern University. In this study, the donors gave more than just their kidney, they gave their stem cells. The patient not only recovered fast but was taken off the anti rejection drugs after just one year. You can get all the information by clicking here and I will follow this up in my next post. 

I just hope that one day comes when all dialysis patients know that besides death there is also hope at the end of the road. I hope our government realize the number of people awaiting for organ donation and I hope we all realize that we don’t need to carry all our organs upstairs, we do get a new set, so why not leave our organs behind for someone to benefit from. 

The problem with the patients waiting for transplants is that they cannot pray to God and wish for someone to die, all they can hope for is the light dawning upon all humans to donate - either time or money and definitely organs. Is it too much to ask?

My Suggestions [Please feel free to argue. I won't be offended but enlighted]

o   Teach it in the school level. If you can sex educate them, you can Humane educate them too.

o   If you have to please God and donate money, at least don't make the priests rich only. Find out where the money is most needed. If not for this cause, any cause you believe in. The Rs.2 you put in a hundi can go to a person who really needs it.

o   Do what China does with its prisoners. The amount of rapists we are having can at least do something good. Check what China does here. [It will solve many crimes too]

o   Awareness. This needs to be done not only by the causes but also by the doctors and the medical fraternity. This is such a sensitive issue in India with religion playing major role, at least spread the awareness. If each one of us reading this article does it, then we will save many people.

To check about the The Modern Healthcare click HERE.

Disclaimer: YES I HAVE DONATED.
2nd Disclaimer:  This post is written for Apollo Hospital for the blog http://thejourneyofreubendaryl.blogspot.com/. But since that blog is new many sites are not accepting it. I will shift this post to that blog after Apollo hospital views it.