ken's health update

At 60, I've lived with a form of kidney disease for over a decade now. I studied nutrition and have been devoted to a vegetarian diet that has helped keep my kidneys as healthy as possible all this time. But I always knew that some day the inevitable would happen - and now it has. I've started dialysis about two months ago.

With a small retirement from my days as a high school teacher, I've been investing as much time and money as I can on the Internet in the hope that my life as a teacher and music lover would inspire a stranger for a kidney donation. I even had some organ donation information added to this website, where I share my love for the music and singers of the twenties. With a collection of over 10,000 rare 78 rpm records, I've been sharing his music with students, friends and audiences for many years. But if I have to stay trapped in a dialysis chair most of the time, many of these activities will suffer. Sharing my music with people is my life.

As a dialysis patient, you experience many "not-so-good days." These are days that are filled with lengthy doctor appointments, multiple needle sticks, and/or chronic pain. But for me, I just try to take one day at a time, and cling to the glimmer of hope that some day a friend, or even a stranger, will become a compatible donor. Looking forward to something rather than focusing on the unpleasantness makes each day go a little easier. And, of course, I still enjoy my music - perhaps more than ever. Listening to BIng Crosby sing "Blue Skies" can take me to another place enitrely.