透析的日子

The usual struggles of college注 life are exam pressure and keeping up with friends. For me, it was trying to 1)juggle classes with trips to the hospital for 2)dialysis, which left me feeling exhausted and sick, with horrible headaches also. I couldn’t even eat a banana because the 3)potassium could have caused 4)cardiac arrest. I just knew that I’d be stuck this way until a complete stranger 5)donated a kidney. There was nothing I could do but wait.

I was 13 when the doctors told me I had a problem with my kidneys, and I started regular dialysis when I was 16. They made it very clear that until a suitable donor came along, there was little else they could do about it. Dialysis gave me all kinds of nasty side effects. There were physical effects, like feeling 6)dizzy and 7)nauseous, and 8)psychological problems, like feeling anxious and depressed about the high risk of 9)infection. You can’t imagine the restriction dialysis puts on your life. I couldn’t really travel because I needed to be near a hospital and had to be really careful about what I ate and drank.

I started college to study IT but found it very difficult to keep up with my workload. I was going to the hospital three afternoons a week and was always exhausted. On the days between treatments, my kidneys would fill with waste. It was impossible to enjoy college as I was never given a moment of rest.

I managed to complete the course but was too weak to continue studying. My dreams of university seemed so out of reach. I was growing impatient with the donor waiting game and started to lose hope one would ever come along. Time passed by and I didn’t think I was ever going to get better. People told me to stay positive, but it was so hard.

It all changed in January 2009, when I received a phone call from the hospital, asking me if I’d eaten anything that day—They’d found a suitable donor. Having been on the waiting list for so long, it was quite a shock at first. So many thoughts rushed through my head; I was scared of the operation, yet excited at the possibility that this might all be over. That evening I had the operation.

I woke up seeing my family standing around my bed. The first few days are kind of a 10)blur; I was 11)pumped full of 12)morphine, so it’s hard to 13)piece together what happened. Despite this, I remember I had a real sense that the worst was over. The first clear memory I have, is of getting out of bed for the first time and feeling really uncomfortable. What a lot of people don’t realise about kidney 14)transplants is that they don’t remove the old kidney; they just put the new one in front of it.

I was in a lot of pain in those first few weeks; I had to be careful how much I walked, and every time I sat up I could feel the new kidney. But there were also so many positives. My diet was no longer restricted. I went on a massive banana 15)binge, and it was so wonderful to eat the foods that I wanted.

My life has changed so much since the operation. In 2010, I finally fulfilled my dream of going to university, and I’m now in my second year of studying psychology. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s just amazing to be here as there was a time when I never thought I’d be able to. I can also travel more now and have visited Wales, and even Egypt.

大多数预科生的烦恼来自考试压力以及如何与朋友保持联系。对于我来说，预科生活却是在去医院做透析和上课之间奔波。每次做完透析，我都会精疲力竭，很不舒服，还伴有严重的头痛。我甚至不能吃香蕉，因为钾有可能造成心搏停止。我只知道在某个陌生人捐给我一个肾之前，这就是我的生活。我什么也做不了，只能等下去。

13岁那年，医生说我的肾脏有问题。从16岁起，我就开始定期接受透析。他们明确告诉我，除非出现适合的捐赠者，否则他们也无能为力。透析带来了很多痛苦的副作用：有身体上的反应，如头晕恶心；也有心理上的问题，如害怕感染风险而感到紧张压抑。你无法想象透析会给生活带来多少限制。我不可以去旅行，因为我要在医院附近，还要特别注意饮食。

我升读预科学习IT，却发现自己难以应付学业。我每周要花三个下午去医院，经常疲惫不堪。在治疗间隔的那几天，我的肾脏装满了垃圾。我得不到片刻休息，根本无法享受预科生活。

我艰难地完成了课程，却因为太过虚弱无法继续学习。我的大学梦显得那么遥不可及。我对“等待捐献者”这个游戏逐渐失去耐心，已经不指望这个人会出现了。时间流逝，我想自己永远不会好起来了。人们叫我保持乐观，谈何容易呢。

2009年1月，一切都改变了。我接到医院打来的电话，问我当天有没有吃东西——他们找到了一个合适的捐赠者。在等候名单里等了这么久，我起初感到很惊讶。我的脑海里涌现了无数想法；我害怕手术，但想到这一切也许熬到头了，我也非常兴奋。我在那天晚上做了手术。

醒来的时候，我看见家人站在我的床边。头几天我迷迷糊糊的；他们给我打了很多吗啡，因此很难将记忆拼凑起来。尽管如此，我记得我真切地感觉到最坏的已经过去了。我记得清的第一件事就是第一次下床时觉得很不舒服。很多人不知道的是，肾脏移植不是移去原来的肾脏，而是将新的那个放在旧的前面。

最初那几个星期我非常痛；我要注意走了多久，每次坐起来都会感觉到那个新的肾脏。但也有很多好处——我的饮食不再受限制，我狂吃了一轮香蕉。可以吃自己想吃的食物，真是太棒了。

做了手术，我的生活大大不同了。2010年，我终于实现了上大学的梦想。我现在读了两年心理学。学业繁重，但能够在这里就够好的了，因为有段时间我根本不敢奢望自己能够上大学呢。我现在还可以多去旅行，我去过威尔士甚至埃及了。

Since my 16)ordeal, I’ve been 17)campaigning to raise awareness about 18)organ donation. I’ve left 19)leaflets in my local library, put posters up at my doctor’s 20)practice, and set up 21)stalls at various events to talk to people and get them to sign up to donate organs. At a recent event, I was able to speak to a crowd of around 400 people and tell them my story. My speech ended up getting 200 people to 22)register as organ donors.

Organ donation is not something most young people would consider. Yet, for people who are in my situation, it can make all the difference in the world. When I think about my donor, and how my life was completely transformed by them, I am so grateful. It inspires me to continue my work and to promote organ donation to the best of my ability. I hope that my story might inspire others to change the life of a stranger, just as a stranger changed mine.

经历过这样的痛苦，我开始参加各种活动，以唤起人们对器官捐赠的关注。我在图书馆派发传单，在我医生的诊所里张贴海报，还在不同场合设立摊位和其他人交流，让他们登记器官捐赠。在最近的一次活动上，我有机会向四百多人讲述我的经历。我的演讲最终令两百多人登记成为器官捐赠者。

大多数年轻人不太在意器官捐赠。然而，对于和我处境相同的人来说，它可以改变一切。每当我想到我的捐赠者，还有他/她为我的生活带来的转变，我总是满怀感激。这件事鼓舞我继续我的工作，不遗余力地宣传器官捐赠。我希望我的故事可以鼓励其他人去改变别人的生活，就像别人改变我的一样。