by Georgianna

I was very small when I was born, and that caused a lot of problems, I'm told. Problems like TMJ (that's temporal- mandibular-joint syndrome...a royal pain in the jaw, and on top of that, it often makes my face all swollen).

I also have very serious and very puzzling kidney problems. My kidneys make these awful stones that try to come out. Do they ever hurt on their trip from my body?! Right now I am a ‘mystery’ to doctors and nothing seems to help except surgery. I've had lots of operations, and as you might imagine, they aren't a great deal of fun!

The things I love

I love to collect post cards and have fun with my family...to draw and to take pics...to babysit and to collect girlie stuff like dolls and beanies, even though I just graduated from high school and am looking forward to college. I love to read and write and particularly enjoy e-mailing friends. I love all of those things. In fact, I'm a pretty loving person all around.

Last year at school was really tough because kids would make fun of me since I had to go to the bathroom a lot. I used to be able to ignore them but this year was very hard. I guess it was because I felt sick more often than I had in the past. What a pain! It was also really embarrassing to have to let all my teachers know that I was different from my classmates. It made me a teacher's pet for the wrong reasons...I just hated being treated differently. If I were in charge I would make sure nobody was teased. In fact, I think that I would kick out all the kids who made fun of others.

A problem shared…

I love my friends. My friend Ben also has kidney problems and he supports me a lot. In fact, we are like brother and sister now.... I can trust him that he won't tell all, if you know what I mean. When I can talk to a friend about kidney stones and how many problems they cause, it helps so much!

I do tell people what sorts of problems I have...I really don't mind. I do not like it when people feel sorry for me, though. I just don't like being treated special and things like that. For instance, I can't eat things that everyone else can eat, so they always have to fix me something special. I am so embarrassed about it. Everybody tells me to ‘enjoy it’...this being treated special, like it was cool or something. I don't think it is.

This story may have been edited by Children First for Health for editorial and confidentiality reasons only.

For more help and information:

• The British Kidney Patient Association is a national association concerned with the welfare of kidney patients. They can be reached via their website or by calling 01420 472021/22
• The National Kidney Federation provides information and support for people with kidney problems. It runs a group for young people, which includes an online message board. Visit www.kidney.org.uk

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