My husband, Miles, and I met when we were just teenagers and had family members suffering from PKD. We knew quite a bit about the disease. When he was 23, he went to the doctor for allergy issues, and they discovered that he had high blood pressure. At 23, that is uncommon. He knew instantly that he had PKD.
He battled PKD complications for about 15 years, going into the hospital a few times a year from ruptured cysts and infection. Things took a turn for the worse in 2020. His kidney function started dropping rapidly and went from 17% to 4%. Mid-year, they decided to start the transplant process. After many long days of testing, we learned that I was a match! We were super excited as this meant we could start the process and he could skip having to get a fistula put in his arm.
Although we were excited, the kids didn’t take it well. They were so used to dad being sick, but when they realized both of their parents would be having surgery, they bawled. It’s hard to even think about or see the videos popping up with them crying when we came home. We assured them that everything would work out and that we were going to let God take over. The surgery happened in January 2021. He’s doing great, despite recently discovering that he’s a diabetic. The meds he takes unfortunately can cause this to happen. It was quite an adjustment at first but he’s doing well with the many lifestyle changes.
2020 was awful for everyone, but I’m thankful that this is the year surgery happened. Miles was unable to do much that year, but at least I was able to be home extra and our family didn’t miss out on even more. Now he jokes that he married me for my kidney. I joke back and say that I was just “running out of birthday ideas.”