After Mt. Sinai sucked my blood dry like a vampire falling off the wagon, my brother-in-law flew me home in his Piper. Autumn had settled over the Adirondacks and the land below me danced in orange and red and green. Dying, in the natural world, is beautiful. Neil picked me up at the airport and …[ read more ]

Mt. Sinai Hospital is renowned for making clients wait. Lugging my gallon jug of urine, my mother and I arrived for my 8:30 appointment. That’s a.m., as in having to leave the house by 6:30. Other patients already filled the seats in the reception area. We approached the desk, gave our names and were told, …[ read more ]

A container suitable for the 24 hour urine test! One of the tests needed to determine the viability of a donor is the twenty-four hour urine test. You can see all the details in the previous blog–just scroll down. This came with several undoable stipulations: all urine had to go directly into the prescribed bottle …[ read more ]

Not a big enough bottle for the 24 hour urine test Sunday, October 12, 2003, the day before the barrage of testing, I began the dreaded twenty-four hour urine collection. Why must we collect a full day’s worth? This test is a more accurate measure of creatinine levels. Since creatinine is a muscle by-product, the more …[ read more ]

A hemodialysis machine, used to physiologically aid or replace the kidneys in renal failure (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Unfortunately, Alan’s kidney function deteriorated to about twelve percent–the point where dialysis is indicated. Transplant results improve if no dialysis occurs, so our five year wait shrunk to a matter of weeks. My brother roofs. That means he spent …[ read more ]