In the first of several entries I thought  should give some context and history to how I came about with kidney failure and why I now, at this point in my life, am waiting for a kidney transplant (which when it happens will be my third). 

At birth, I was found immediately to have serious and life threatening health concerns and was placed into intensive care due to being labeled a "blue baby". Not being aware of the underlying causes for my oxygen deficiencies and other outward signs of physical stress, the medical care was not adequate and unsuccessful in full treatment of my problems. After being sent home with my parents, they, and my extended family, after returning my an extended trip in Europe, realized that I had serious health problems, but were unable to discover the underlying, and real cause for my issues. My parents were distraught as I was unable to sleep through the night, constantly crying, not able to nurse without fuss and sickness. My mother and father, being a first time parents, and young, were at a loss, but knew something was not right, so they continued to go to the pediatrician for answers that were not there. Emergency room visits were also short term patches due to no one pinpointing, until a few months into my life, that they felt the only answers would come if I taken immediately to the Cleveland Clinic for an evaluation. 

A look over by the medical staff discovered the problem as acute failure due to an infection caused by a birth defect in the urethra which was blocked thus causing a backup of urine into the kidneys while I was developing in my mother's womb. This diagnosis was just the very beginning. The path and treatments of my lifetime were to be set, and forthcoming, in the early decisions made at that first time spent at the Cleveland Clinic in 1971.