When the Smile Disguises the Truth

One morning, two and a half years ago, I woke up to a sight I had never seen before. It was one of those sights that people don’t tell you about. It never gets mentioned in movies or even on popular television shows. I’m not sure if it doesn’t get mentioned because it’s such an isolated situation, or becauses it has little possibility of gaining anyone’s attention. But I discovered it happens, so it must be important to some people.

Anyway, one morning, my feet were ridiculously bloated, kind of like something you see in a comedy about some crazy scientist who has enlarged his limbs at comedic proportions.

Rushing to the ER, I soon discovered that what I was experiencing was complete kidney failure. Considering the fact that humans have two kidneys, this meant that both of my kidneys had failed.

In the hospital for a week, I discovered the treatment was something called dialysis, where you spend a large time in a hospital bed as a huge machine sucks your blood through it and then filters it back into your body. This procedure can take quite a while.

During this first time with dialysis, I sat in this bed, not being told how long I was going to be here, staring at a young Asian nurse who made every effort to not make eye contact with me while she read her book. Keep in mind that I had nothing to read myself…