Was yesterday, 14th of July 2011.

What the hell is a dialyversary? Well, my anniversary of getting onto dialysis!

Exactly fourteen years back, I was hit with kidney disease. 14th of July, 1997. What a ride it has been! And no, I am not depressed at all. Would I have liked it some other way? You bet! But am I going to sit and cry that my life has been snatched away from me? No way!

It is true that kidney disease changed the course of my life in unimaginable ways. When I was diagnosed, I had no clue about what kidneys did or what happened when they failed. I had never heard of the word 'dialysis' that was going to rule a large part of the rest of my life.

A lot of people commend me on how brave I am. I honestly don't understand that at all. What makes me brave? They conjure up these fancy images of me fighting this disease and all that. For me, giving up is never an option. Yes, once in a way, the thought of ending it all does cross my mind - much rarer these days though - but the thought never lasts too long.

One very important factor in my positive attitude has been work. I have, for the most part, been doing some very interesting work. Even though I never put in long hours at work, it kept me busy enough not to have time to think about the disease itself. Dealing with the disease was one of many things I had to do. A typical to-do list during my Effigent days would read something like this:

- Call meeting of VCA developers about Sync issue
- Talk to Testing team about last build
- Follow up with Religare about PTH report and then meet Dr. Girish Narayen about it
- Discuss with HR about status of new hiring

You get the picture! It is that simple.

The secret to dealing with this disease is work. Keep yourself busy. Yes, that is my mantra!

Earlier it was Effigent. Then Grene. Now NephroPlus. I work full time and that is all there is to my bravery/positive attitude/whatever.

... http://www.kamaldshah.com/2011/07/my-14th-dialyversary.html