Recuperation journey: Raising awareness on 5-week birthday of new kidney

Five weeks ago today I received a kidney transplant, for which I will always be grateful. I have Polycystic Kidney Disease. 

I hope to meet the wonderful person who generously donated his or her healthy kidney to a stranger (i.e. me).

March is National Kidney Month, and in March, 2016 I posted 31 days of a PKD challenge to raise awareness of the disease that may not be that well known.

I want to continue raising awareness of the genetic disease that causes cysts to grow in the kidney, eventually leading to renal failure.

There are two types of PKD: autosomal dominant (ADPKD) and autosomal recessive (ARPKD). 

According to the PKD Foundation website, ADPKD is the more common type and affects more than 600,000 Americans and 12.4 million people worldwide. 
ARPKD is a rare form of the disease that occurs in 1 in 20,000 children worldwide.

The website says a typical kidney is the size of a human fist and weighs about a third of a pound. PKD kidneys can be much larger and weigh up to 30 pounds.

The disease is prevalent on my late father's side of the family. 
He suffered with PKD as did four of his five siblings. My two oldest cousins have passed from complications of the disease. 
After having an ultrasound in my 20s I learned I had cysts on my kidneys. 
My maiden name is McDonald, and I've dubbed PKD "the curse of the McDonalds," and I'll always think of it as that.

An older cousin had a transplant in 2001 and thankfully he is doing well, and we recently learned that a first cousin once removed had a successful transplant about 13 years ago. 
So that makes me the third recipient in our extended family. 

All I can say is organ donors are awesome.