My Kidney Transplant:
Psychological Things I Wish I’d Known

There’s a reason I waited and published this section second; it was much harder to write than the post about practical aspects, and part of me worries it might be harder to read too. I know both from personal experience and from the work I’m involved in, that there are so many misconceptions about what going through a kidney transplant is like, and how recipients “should” feel before, during and after this completely life-changing experience. 

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My Kidney Transplant:
Practical Things I Wish I’d Known

The kidney transplant assessment process involves a lot of information. A LOT of information. Written notes and leaflets, referrals to websites and external organisations, numerous conversations with health professionals, all of which are intended to go as far as possible towards preparing potential transplant recipients for what they’re about to experience. But what about the things that aren’t in the booklets, or that never come up in clinic; the kinds of things you only get

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Eight years, balance, & whether I’d go back.

I was diagnosed eight years ago this week. I remember sitting in the clinic with my parents and having loads of information thrown at us. At that stage there were far more questions than answers. I had absolutely no idea what most of it meant then, let alone what it would continue to mean eight years later. It’s been both so much worse and so much better than I ever expected. I remember leaving the

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Two Years

“It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s.” – Lupita Nyong’o

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Four days. 723 transplant recipients. One amazing experience.

If I had to think of a list of words to describe myself, “sporty” or “athletic” would absolutely not feature. I don’t really even like to watch sport, and I not-so-secretly pride myself on being the least rugby-knowledgeable Kiwi most people will ever meet. Attending an event like the British Transplant Games wasn’t something that really ever registered in my mind. I knew friends of mine had been in the past, but I never considered going

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