Our Story (So Far)

We have known for a long time that my husband, has PKD. That is a genetic disorder that causes cysts to grow all over the kidneys and liver. He has had high blood pressure for a long time. He also says he has "thirsty" kidneys. They cannot get enough fluids.
As of 2009, we were living in Central California in a beautiful house in the hills of Patterson. It's a small community with wonderful people. My husband was commuting to San Jose everyday for his job. I was also working part-time for the Patterson Post Office as a carrier. We had a beautiful baby boy that year and our two girls, 6 and 5, were in school and thriving. I was enjoying just living day to day and taking care of my family.

In September of that year, James had his first hospitalization. He was at work and his kidneys were bleeding so much that his urine was black.  He called me on the way to the hospital so I could meet him there. One of his cysts had burst, which is something that can happen with cystic kidneys. It also caused an infection in his body. They were able to get the infection under control and he was released after a week. Unfortunately the infection came back and he was in the hospital a week later.  After another week, he was released.

I guess you could say that that was the beginning of the end because he was never the same. He had been commuting for two years, but his kidneys were now so enlarged that he started having pain. Driving for 3 hours a day started taking a toll on him. He was exhausted at work and his work performance started going down. The problem became that his lab work didn't show any decline in kidney function, but his overall general health continued to spiral downward, and his pain started to increase.

I will continue my story later. I have a baby to take care of.  Thank you for taking an interest in us.