Anna's Story

About Anna (from Nicole's perspective because Anna doesn't like to do this stuff)

Anna “Kats” was born in the quaint little town of Astoria, Oregon (only because the hick suburb of Warrenton isn't big enough to have its own hospital). Her hip parents, Diane and Robert O'Bryant were overcome with happiness at the birth of their first child. Anna quickly became the delight and desire of her parents and extended family. A local tale in Astoria is that Anna’s mother didn’t even know if Anna could walk on her first birthday because Diane never put Anna down long enough to see if she could walk or even crawl!

Anna grew up in Warrenton living the life of a typical child participating in school sports (excelling in basketball because she was so darn tall for her age), riding around town on her banana-seated bicycle, and participating in social groups like Camp Fire and 4-H because my mother and grandmother were the local leaders. Then junior high school hit and Anna moved away from the coastal town to the “big” Seattle suburb of Renton. During this time Anna grew from an adorable and likable young lady into an incredibly mature and centered woman. No 18-year-old should have the level of stability and calmness that Anna possessed at such a young age. And while I was fretting away money and studying fraternity anatomy in college, Anna was becoming a mother to perhaps the most dynamic and comical child in the country. Drew was the first newborn baby I ever held. That goes to show how trustworthy of a person Anna is – nobody else would ever consider letting me hold a newborn.

Not long after Anna met and married her soul mate in LAS VEGAS BABY, she also became aware of a condition that had likely been haunting her for years before the diagnosis formally presented itself. Anna lived graciously with Lupus for nearly a decade - taking pauses for chemotherapy and other treatment over the years. In February 2007 Anna's life changed direction. I can't (and don't want to) remember all the details, but I know we faced weeks of chaos. Anna’s blood tests revealed concern from her MD and he immediately ordered her a kidney biopsy. Anna has had several biopsies in the past, but this time was very very different. She didn't heal well from the procedure and she had a difficult time recovering from what should have been a very simple "in and out" procedure. In the next few months, Anna was literally in and out of the hospital in varying states of health. The biopsy results revealed her kidney function had dropped to a mere 2% of functioning power. Anna's kidneys were shutting down. Her life was changing.

I had the ability to visit Anna during these critical months and to be honest; I wonder if she knew I was there. It was so devastating to see my best friend in such a fragile state. This was the woman that single-handedly got me through ...well…my entire life. To see Anna’s face, so sunken broke my heart. And to look into her drawn eyes was debilitating. On one visit I stayed through the weekend in order to watch the yearly Oscar Awards with Anna and her lovely mother Diane. We usually spent the Oscars on the phone to one another because of the distance between our homes. This year, we were sitting inches apart yet I felt that Anna was farther away than ever. Honestly, I don't know if Anna remembers a single award presented, or any of the fashion blunders on the red carpet that night. She probably doesn't remember that Diane and I made our own little celebration in hopes of getting Anna engaged. Diane bought us all "Oscar jammies" and we had our own dollar store jewelry that rivaled the celeb's Harry Winston jewels and Oscar worthy snacks and drinks. We had an entire evening of Oscar-filled distractions and my dear friend sat on the couch in a near coma.

I remember being worried about her because she wasn't able to eat. She was taking these awful pills that we called "liquid chemo" and they literally burned her throat. I remember how excited Diane and I became when she said she would eat a taco. A bland taco with no seasoning or hot sauce (which if you know Anna you know that just doesn't fly with her hot tamale taste buds). I think she might have only eaten four tacos (and literally nothing else) all weekend and that made Diane and me so incredibly happy. I had to leave first thing Monday morning to go back to Portland as I had some deadline that seemed to vital at the time. Anna was paler than before and she was shockingly becoming even more lethargic as the morning passed. I left only to find out she was readmitted to the hospital before I even made it to Tacoma. If I recall, this hospital stay resulted in a longer and more complicated stay than the times before and even involved a blood transfusion.

I won't go into each day or even each week’s details because they were day by day - and some days they were difficult and some days they were virtually uneventful. On one visit I was so proud of Anna. She had started dialysis because it was obvious her body could not survive without outside assistance. I think I arrived on the third day of her long-term dialysis treatment. I really wanted to know what it was like for her to go through treatment.

I picked her up on Friday afternoon and we drove 25 minutes or so to the dialysis center. I think we passed two or three other dialysis clinics on our way that are actually closer to her house. Did you know that there are so many patients on dialysis right now that some clinics have waiting lists? Amazing. We actually missed the exit to her dialysis clinic because we were talking so much. It really was wonderful to have Anna talking again. The last time I visited, she was so lethargic and non-communicative. It was great to hear her voice again. Eventually we made it to the clinic.

After only a week, she had a system for treatment. She brought a pillow; she brought slipper socks because cleaning her blood made her feet cold. She brought a blanket and she brought the current issue of People and InStyle. She also brought a foldable camp chair for me to sit in because the plastic chairs were similar to the ones we sat in at Warrenton Grade School. Meaning they were very hard, very rigid chairs. Don’t forget she sits in dialysis three days a week for four hours each time. First Anna washes her hands. Then she weighs herself. Then she takes her temperature. Then she walks past the same exact people she walks past every day and nods hello and smiles at the medical staff. She sits in the same exact chair three times every week, 12 hours a week. Anna has a catheter right above her chest and right at the edge of her neck. It’s 3 or 4 inches wide and it has many needles and tubes coming out of it. It is taped to her chest and this is how she receives her dialysis treatment. This catheter connects directly into her heart. If just one of the needles or tubes were to be pulled from her heart, she would die. On many occasions, her catheter tubes have become clogged. This is one of the many reasons she needs a new kidney. She cannot continue long term with this catheter. At some point she must either receive a new kidney or she must have a permanent catheter placed in her arm or thigh. It will be a surgical procedure and it will take months to heal. Anna doesn’t want to get to that place. The entire dialysis session was sterile.

I could tell that I was a new face for the dialysis center residents. I am a people watcher and I could see the patients pass by Anna’s station and take note that I was new. It’s not surprising since these people see each other many times every week. They may not know each other’s name. But they know the situation. They know what it’s like to have kidney failure. They know the exhaustion. They know the diagnosis. They know their own reflection, even if they aren’t looking in the mirror. Months have passed since Anna started dialysis and she has become stronger and healthier with every passing day. She has lost some weight (and I’m a little jealous) but she is strong and she is back to being Anna again. Anna is hopeful and shows the same kind, compassionate and embracing nature we all know and love. We are patiently waiting for the kidney donor selection process to move along. We are all anxious for Anna to move past this challenge in her life and welcome any and all support you can offer to her right now.