Light In The Dark: The Joel Trevino Story

In the story, "Hemodialysis," I stated that, "None of this new information would shock me."  My big brother, Joel, would be the one who showed me the many faces of kidney disease, kidney failure, and kidney transplant.  Through his eyes, I would be able to see what my possible future could be; and because of him, I would learn how to get back up, every time I was knocked down.  

Joel was a great, big brother when we were kids.  He always looked out for me and our middle sister, Ruthie, when we were away from home, or our parents.  Joel was short, muscular, and quite a charmer with the girls.  I learned a lot from him, as I grew up, following him all over God's creation.  I learned how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich on the stove, that mannequin wigs at the department stores weren't always glued down, and I learned how to play soccer.  We used to spend hours, from morning to night, kicking a soccer ball to each other.  I always prayed that I would be able to tell soccer stories like his.  Joel was very intelligent, very popular, and heavily recruited by the U.S. Marines by the end of his junior year in high school.  

By the end of his senior year, Joel had decided to make a career with the Marines, and was excited about serving our country.  God had other plans, and Joel was diagnosed with a kidney disease, called Focal Glomerulosclerosis with Nephrotic Syndrome, in November of 1986.  Simply stated, this disease is caused by a build-up of scar tissue in the filters of the kidneys, causing them to cease the production of urine.  By the end of 1987, the disease progressed aggressively, and Joel was faced with the choice of dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Through tons of prayers and research, Joel decided to have a kidney transplant, and was put on the Texas kidney recipient waiting list.  While waiting to be called for a kidney transplant, he started Hemodialysis with a temporary venous catheter.  The catheter is one tube with dual directional flow, that is placed into a vein, in the chest, for dialysis treatments.  The treatments started, and Joel's body did not respond well.  Several times, he returned from dialysis treatments with severe muscle cramping, nausea, vomiting, headache, and fatigue.  More than once we had to carry him into the house from the car.  All of our family and friends stayed in constant prayer on behalf of Joel, that he would receive "the call" for a transplant; and that prayer was answered.
On November 26, 1988 (the morning after Thanksgiving), we received a call from the transplant team at Houston's medical center, saying that a kidney became available, and that Joel was a match. We would discover, later, that the donor was a teenage girl named Kimberly, which is now the name of his beautiful daughter.  Joel was taken into surgical prep as soon as he arrived at the hospital, and the transplant was in progress.  The next month was spent in acute rejection, which meant that his immune system was aware that the body was being invaded by a foreign object (the kidney), and one month after the surgery, Joel completely rejected the kidney.  On December 26th (the day after Christmas), a nephrectomy was performed, and the young kidney was removed from Joel's body.  
My brother never let any of these hard times stop him from being the happy, energetic, hilarious person that we all loved and admired.  From the beginning of 1989 until June 12, 1990, Joel would use a different type of dialysis, called Peritoneal Dialysis.  This was different from the Hemodialysis because it didn't require needles; and it allowed Joel to be as normal as he wanted to be.  During that time, Joel, Ruthie (our sister), and I took a trip to Las Vegas and California, to visit family.  When we weren't traveling, we spent much time swimming in a swimming hole, which we were sure was home to some kind of huge sea creature.  One time, we were floating in our raft, when the middle of our raft raised several feet out of the water.  It was obvious that one of us was trying to be funny, until we realized that we were all accounted for, inside of the raft.  We never went back to that swimming hole; but found out that it was completely filled in, soon after our near-death experience.  Toward the end of that time, our dad (we call him Benit) was tested as a donor for a second kidney transplant.  Well, Benit was a match and Joel's second transplant was set for June 12, 1990.  

Benit gave Joel his kidney, and was out of the hospital in six days.  He never needed, nor liked the pain medicine.  He never had any complications, and he never had any complaints.  We all hoped and prayed that Joel's recovery would follow suit; however, his stay would be much more complicated.
Joel would spend the next 35 days in the hospital in a state of chronic rejection.  That means that although the body was aware that something was different, it could be tricked through the use of high levels of anti-rejection drugs.  Doctors said that his body would most likely reject his second kidney, but that it would be some time before that day.  During that 35 days, Joel would go through hell and back, in a story that will be told in a book of his own.  There would be laughter, crying, a World Cup, horrible pain, bad reactions to medications, angels, death, and Gary Coleman.
Everything sounds very intriguing; however, I only have enough time to tell one of these stories.  Joel was moved closer to the transplant floor nurses' station, because he was having so many problems.  In that time, my Aunt Elizabeth, from California, called Joel's room to check on him.  The conversation went like this:  Aunt Liz: "Hi, Mijo.  How are you?"  Patient: "What?  Who is this?"  Aunt Liz: "What do you mean, 'Who is this?'"  Patient: "Who do you want to talk to?"  Aunt Liz: "I want to talk to you!"  Patient: "Who are you, Lady?"  Aunt Liz: "I'm going to come over there and slap you, Mister!"  Patient: " This is Gary Coleman, and I think you have the wrong number.  I just moved into this room, today!"  Aunt Liz: "OH!  I'm so sorry, Gary Coleman!  I must have called the wrong room!"  She soon found out that Joel truly was moved, and that she prank called the wrong patient.  I only wish he would have responded with a, "Whatchoo talkin 'bout, Lady?" 

After 35 days of some ups, but mostly downs, Joel was released from the hospital where he would go back to college, and finish his general studies close to home.  In 1993, Joel would transfer to Texas A&M, where he would pursue a degree in Psychology, all the while still holding on to the kidney that Benit gave him; but he was still in rejection.  I was at Sam Houston, then, and my roommate (Darren) and I would spend a lot of time prank calling Joel in the middle of the night.  He was only 45 minutes away, and we kept in touch, everyday.  One day, Joel called me and said that I should go to the school library and set up a student account, so that we could type back and forth to each other, and save money on our telephone bill.  He said this "new thing" was called email; and it would be awesome.  We never did chat back and forth via email, and I was sure it would never replace any of my old ways of correspondence; but I was wrong.
In 1994, Benit's kidney lost the war to Joel's immune system; and another nephrectomy was performed, removing Benit's kidney.  Being away from home, and only a year from graduating from A&M, Joel decided to give Hemodialysis another attempt, and had an Arteriovenous graft put in his left arm.  He had many reservations, because of all the bad experiences he had; but hemo(dialysis) agreed with him, and his life was, again, back on track! 
Dialysis was actually a great experience for Joel.  He had previously gained a lot of steroid weight from the transplant, that hemo would remove from his body.  The weight loss made him look like himself, again.  He would meet some really cool patients, and even make friends with the employees that worked at the dialysis unit, where he had his treatments.  He started playing golf, and was feeling so well, that he started running his own treatments at the unit, including sticking his own needles in his arm, and filling out his own chart. 
 One day, I was dialyzing at my unit, in Huntsville, which was owned by the same people as Joel's unit.  Mary Jo, my nurse, walked up to me and stated that insurance could no longer allow me to fill out my own chart, because another patient at another unit was writing things like, "Patient Rocks!  Patient Looks Good!  Patient Feels Good!"  All I could do was glare at Miss Jo and ask if this "other patient" was Joel.  She just grinned and walked away.  I was a little put out, but I was overjoyed at the fact that my brother was feeling like his jovial, prankster self.  I'd pay that price, anytime.

In May of 1995, Joel graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology.  In the Fall of '95, he transfered to Stephen F. Austin (SFA), to work on a Master's degree in Sports Psychology, with an emphasis in Statistics.  Throughout his two-year stay at SFA, Joel would have countless thrombectomy's (declotting procedures) on his dialysis access, located in his left arm.  None of these surgeries would slow him down; but, due to the fact that he missed so many days of school, Joel dropped out to recover, and went back home to Friendswood, Texas.
Back in Friendswood, Joel would be married, have a beautiful daughter, named Kimberly, and become an ordained youth minister for the Baptist Church.  Now, still on hemodialysis, Joel teaches about God's plans for his kids; never forgetting the lessons that he has been taught.  He is always happy to see you, and loves to sit and tell his story.  
Personally, Joel has always been there for me.  He drops everything that he's doing to talk to me; and I adore him with every inch of my being.  I thank God that he was there when I was down, ready to step in, if he could.  He's my brother, my mentor, my best friend, and my Light In The Dark.