My Three Kidneys

Okay, I have told many of you this story, but people keep asking me about it so I’m going to explain. And then I can just send people here when they ask!

I’d always had bad stomach pains, sickness and been sickly - for years I’d been to and fro the doctors but they tried to fob me off with reasons I was so ill; from stomach bugs to depression! They were very wrong…

A couple of years ago, just as we were going through the process of buying a house I became really, REALLY ill. I was working at The Merchant Chandler as Assistant Manager at the time, and I’ll remember it well because we were short staffed that week so I went in even though I was feeling really unwell. It started on a Monday, when I woke to really bad pains in my back and stomach. Weeing was also a real issue – it felt like bits of glass trying to break out, and there was lots of blood, so we went to the hospital where they proceeded to pump me full of antibiotics and send me on my way…

By the time the Friday came along, I thought I may actually be dying. I was in so much pain and all of my body felt… ‘wrong’. We went back to the hospital, but, of course, it was Friday and doctors take the weekend off so I had to wait until the next Monday before tests were done to find out what was wrong… The waiting was the worst part – they did test after test but couldn’t find the problem, and I was getting worse. At the end of the week I was given an ultrasound and they picked up a huge lump which they told me was a tumour. I was devastated.

The next lots of tests were run more quickly, and I was full-body scanned which was then they discovered that I had three kidneys! They transferred me to another hospital who had a surgeon who was equipped to deal with extra kidneys; apparently only about 1 in every 2000 people have the condition, which is actually known as a ‘Duplex Kidney’, and even some of those don’t know they have it. Basically, before I was born one of my kidneys split in two and grew a separate tube and made itself into a third kidney. In my case, my extra tube had become infected where it wasn’t formed properly and this resulted in me becoming very ill, with extremely high levels of bacteria in my blood making me feel terribly sick.

The solution was to have the extra ‘bit’ of kidney taken out, but they had to operate on me whilst I was awake first to insert a tube into my kidney to drain it of the infection before they could operate fully. It wasn’t a nice experience – they were playing U2 in the operating theatre, and the surgeon had got the work experience kid to do it so all I could hear was the lead surgeon telling the kid what he was doing wrong – whilst he was poking around inside my body. Lovely. I had to wait two weeks with a tube in me before they could operate to actually remove the infected kidney, but finally after a month of being in hospital they took it out – I felt terrible after the op; I had as much morphine as I needed but it didn’t seem to do anything. It took me another six weeks to recover but I’ve never felt better!  I still have one and a half kidneys, and the tube that was attached to my third kidney is still inside me floating about – the surgeon wouldn’t take it out because it’s behind my womb, but it shouldn’t cause me any problems now. I’m glad it’s all over – people had been saying for years that I was a freak… it appears they were right

So that’s my kidney story!  Slightly edited, but you get the jist… 

Paul and I now take part in the London Bridges Walk for Kidney Research UK every year – last year we raised £300 but we’re hoping to raise £500 or more this year. You can sponsor us at our Kidney Research Page: https://www.kidneyresearchukevents.org/thekraftylady/ and the money will go straight to the charity – if you’re a UK taxpayer then you can Gift Aid your contribution so the charity can get more money thanks to government contribution

Thanks to everyone who helped me out whilst I was ill and those who came to visit. Big thanks to Paul for being a star and believing in me through what was a stressful and upsetting time Time to look forward to a healthy future!