Poly cystic kidney disease (PKD)
Clusters of fluid-filled sacs develop in the kidneys and interfere with their ability to filter waste. That is the short answer. This does not really describe what it does to you. Yes your kidneys fail. What really happens is your life changes completely.
Frequent complications You can go online anywhere and get the list of complications, things like high blood pressure, kidney stones, heart valve abnormalities and an increased risk of an aneurysm in the blood vessels at the base of the brain.
The complications you will not find in an online list of symptoms is the friends who abondon you, alternatively the friends who offer you a kidney. You will find people in your business relationships who take advantage of your weakness and partners who stand by you through thick and thin.
You will discover the best and worst of human nature. For your sanity my advice is focus on the good and accept the bad for what it is.
While the disease is a fairly common genetic disorder and it is easy to get depressed with the diagnosis I prefer to see the glass half full. I am in my 70th year (2026) and at this young age many of my peers have gone on before me.
-Wendy, my cousin and best friend when I was a child died in her 30’s leaving 3 small children.
-Blair my best friend from high school recently passed from prostate cancer that spread to his bones.
-Paul a business partner who died of pancreatic cancer and John another business partner who died of a stroke, both within 6 months of each other.
I think of those people often and others and think all of them would if they were given a choice choose PKD over the cancers or strokes. While my problems are not trivial, they are manageable and for that I am grateful.
Updated Sept 2026 Judy on the phone with dialysis technologists about a cleaning cycle on the machine getting ready for another session of dialysis.
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