John Fry can’t afford to take a holiday from his routine during the Christmas-New Year break when much of society takes a break from work and puts their feet up.
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It’s not that he can’t afford it financially, but he can’t afford to break the routine of the strict medical regime that keeps him healthy.
Mr Fry, and dozens of other Ballarat residents, rely on Ballarat Health Services dialysis unit to operate year round so they can be hooked up to the dialysis machines that take over from their failing kidneys and clean their blood.
Mr Fry will be putting his feet up between Christmas and New Year – three times a week for four hours at a time – as he does year round while undergoing dialysis as he waits for a kidney transplant.
The dialysis unit has 48 patients who come in three times a week for treatment, and supports a further 20 patients who connect themselves up to dialysis machines at home overnight.
“We are full to capacity and talking about setting up nocturnal dialysis in the unit here in hospital where people will come in at 10pm and go home the next morning,” said BHS nephrologist Dr John Richmond.
Mr Fry, 60, was diagnosed with kidney disease about six years ago and has been on dialysis for a little over a year. The condition, and treatment, forced him to retire from nursing but on the plus side it has given him more time to spend with family including his grandson.
The dialysis machine he is hooked up to takes over from his failing kidneys to filter and purify the blood, remove excess water and help control blood pressure.
“I have dialysis in the morning and in the afternoon feel a bit washed out, but the next day I feel fantastic and people have noticed the difference in my physical appearance and I notice the change in how I’m functioning,” he said.
”When you first start dialysis you wonder how you are going to fill in four hours, but now I kind of look forward to coming and I know how much better I can function after.”
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During the year he made the decision to go on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, and after extensive testing he is now on the “active” transplant list and waiting for a call that a donor kidney is available – a call that could come tomorrow, in six months or in two years.
“Because I’m 60 I’m still young enough to qualify for a transplant and I’ve still got a lot of living to do. I lost my wife 10 years ago to breast cancer and it was hard for the kids to lose one parent, so I don’t want them to lose a second.”
You can register your decision to become an organ donor to help people like Mr Fry at donatelife.gov.au
