As I mentioned on this site earlier, one of my doctors has called me “the Golden Child” for kidney donation. Not your everyday complement, but I will definitely take that designation and wear it proudly.
Basically, what the doc was saying is that my transplant should go extremely well and really have few if any complications or roadblocks (fingers crossed). There are several reasons for this:
1) People with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) as a reason for transplant generally do well because of the nature of their illness. PKD is a genetic illness confined to the kidneys. Otherwise the person is healthy. Once a new kidney is transplanted into a person with PKD (the new kidney will not contract PKD) they are “cured” of the disease and, since there is not other associated disease in their body that the new kidney has to deal with or acclimate to – clear kidney sailing! Of course there are immunosuppressant medications that the recipient needs to take for the rest of their life so their body does not reject the new kidney, but that is generally not an issue these days.
2) Furthermore, what my doctor meant by golden child was that I have some excellent physical benefits on my side. I am relatively young (I swear that’s what he said) and I am in good physical shape having exercised my whole life while living pretty clean when it comes to alcohol, drugs and unhealthy food.
If I truly am, as my doctor has stated, a golden child for transplant, that status may come from lifetime decisions about how to treat a human body and what a body needs to thrive.
Does this mean I am a 25 year old athlete — certainly not. What it does mean is that I have worked out at least moderately my entire adult life so my other body functions and organs are, as far as we know, in good working order.
I’m not the guy who is at the gym 6 days a week at 5:30am. I am not the guy who eats only vegan (God bless those who do, but I just can’t bring myself to do it). I am not the guy who is downing 8 supplements a day – no tree bark or essence of whatever for me (more power to those who do).
So who am I?
I am the guy who has been to the gym for the most part three times a week for the last three and a half decades. I am the guy who used to swim 100 laps in my dad’s pool (it was just 20′ by 40′, but still, -100 laps – c’mon that deserves a little pool cred). I am the guy who bikes all summer, not in cross state or country bike-a-thons, but on the East Bay Bike path or Blackstone Boulevard. I am the guy who wakes up earlier than need be to juice kale and spinach, and who poops a surprisingly attractive red occasionally from too much beet juice. I am the guy who will down way more pizza than I should one night, but follow it up the next day with salmon and black bean salad. I am the guy who is Mr. Moderation.
In my ongoing efforts to ingest as much “clean” substance into my body as I can, I also cut my use of alcohol a while back. I was never a heavy drinker by any means, but I could occasionally tip a few back. No doctor has told me to give up alcohol, but my feeling is that the more pure things I ingest, the better off my kidneys will be and the better I will be when facing surgery. So, yes I will toast your new child or job with a bit of the bubbly, but for the most part, I’d rather just take a dive into Poland Spring.