by Bert Williams

Carl Thompson of Marin County, California has been a diabetic for 25 years and has been on kidney dialysis for nearly five years. Doctors have slated him for a double organ transplant. Connected magazine introduced Carl to readers two weeks ago (see “Developing Stories” posted June 14 and 21). This week, the story continues. 

Carl Thompson will spend most of his time next week doing two things: recreation at Lake Tahoe and kidney dialysis in Placerville, California. Carl usually takes a weeklong summer vacation with family and friends at Tahoe. This year it’s a little more challenging because the nearby kidney dialysis centers are fully booked with appointments. As a result, Carl’s dad will drive him the nearly two hours up US Highway 50 over Echo Summit to the dialysis center in Placerville. With four hours on the machine and another two-hour drive back to the lake, that’ll take a major chunk out of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

But Carl is undaunted. He’s delighted to be heading to Tahoe again. The group will be there on July 4, and they look forward to an extravagant Lake Tahoe fireworks display—seen in both the dark Sierra sky and in the lake’s reflection. They also expect to go white-water rafting—depending on the water level in the Truckee River—and the highlight of the week will be parasailing on the lake.

“It is 10 minutes of totally chaotic crazy air time,” Carl told me, remembering the experience last year, and looking forward to his ride next week. “The first year I was out on 600 feet of line. This year I’m going up 1,200 feet. It’s totally amazing. The tow boat just looks like a little ant boat down there and the wind rushing by is all you hear. The 360-degree view of Tahoe is amazing.”

Meanwhile, as I am writing this on Wednesday morning, June 28, Carl is probably asleep at the dialysis center in Petaluma, California (the dialysis machine cleanses his blood whether he’s awake or not).

“I just pop an anxiety pill, take a shot of Benadryl, and go to sleep,” Carl said.

It’s a routine he has been following three days a week for nearly five years. The nurse sticks his right arm with two needles. The needles go into an artery where the doctor has inserted an “arteriovenous shunt,” a piece of tubing to expand the artery and keep it from closing down during the procedure.

“Some days they actually show me the garbage that has been filtered out of my system,” Carl said. “It looks like little fibers caught in a sponge.”

Carl said he could probably go on with the dialysis for another five years; some people do. But he hopes to receive a donated kidney and pancreas soon. If a donor is found and the surgery goes as planned, Carl’s quality of life will take a major leap forward. If a donor is found while he’s at Lake Tahoe, Carl will be on a medivac helicopter heading back over the Sierras to the Bay Area for surgery.

Bert Williams is the editor of Connected magazine.