Amarjeet Kaur Chhabra

Hey friends,

Saying that 2020 has been a year of trying times would be a big understatement. For me, it came with another set of challenges which I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

On the eve of New Year (ha! talk about ringing the New Year with some news), I was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure meaning my kidneys have failed. It all started with a hospital visit where I was found to be severely anemic resulting in blood transfusion to being admitted for a week to discover that my kidneys had given up on me.

There is ultimately no cure for kidney failure (not yet at least). What exists is treatment in the form of life sustaining dialysis and transplant.

I have been on hemodialysis since then. For about 8 months, I was going to the hospital at St. Joe's in Hamilton three times a week (on set days) for a period of three hours each time, get hooked up to a machine which cleans my blood and removes the excess fluid built up in my body (a job that normally well functioning kidneys do on a regular 24/7 basis). For this process, a catheter was placed in my neck surgically.

Since the last couple months, I have switched to doing dialysis at home on a daily basis (called Peritoneal Dialysis) through the lining of my stomach. I have now had stomach surgery twice in order to facilitate the insertion of a catheter in my stomach. I had complications the first time around which resulted in me being admitted to the hospital again during peak COVID time to take the catheter out completely.

My medical team (from my nephrologist to the dialysis nurses) at St. Joe's in Hamilton have been nothing short of phenomenal.

I don't need to tell anyone the stressful times our medical professionals have been and continue to be in during this time.

In order to get off dialysis, I need a new kidney which means transplant.

At the end of the day, a person can survive on only one kidney. While in due time, I will be on the provincial transplant list, the wait to get a kidney from a deceased donor could be anywhere from 4-5 years. In contrast, a kidney from a living donor (living kidney donation) is the most suitable.

If you can, please help spread the word by sharing this.

Those who know me well, know that I am a fighter and as such with the exception of the first few days when it me pretty hard, I have tried to maintain a positive outlook. I have certainly had my share of rough days with a bunch of complications and expect more in the future. But, I firmly believe that I will l