KidneyMedic

No differences at all except there are some medications I can't take because they're hard on kidneys. I'm also more mindful of that and don't use anti-persperant.

There's an ingredient in Anti-persperant (or most of them) based on Aluminum and I was told that can be a little hard on your kidneys as well. I never researched it when I got older, but I know my sister has told me she avoids them and was told by her doctor to. I'm sure it's a minor risk, but I just slather on deodorant.

Nope. I really don't need it since you have two normally. I was told if mine failed, since I donated in good faith I would be moved to the front of the list. I would feel bad about doing that though, however, my sister's son (my nephew) has told me if mine ever failed he would donate to me.

Being a paramedic is challenging. I often hear a lot of people say that anyone can do it, but i disagree. You need to be able to make quick decisions that can have big consequences and something people struggle with is there isn't always a right choice. Sometimes you have to pick the best choice and there is no victory. I did my original first responder/EMT training which was about 9 months, i was a volunteer firefighter for about 3 years and I worked as an emt for 5 years. I decided it was time to be a medic when I was handling about 1000 calls a year with my service and doing almost everything for my medics except the ALS stuff. I even wrote their tripsheets for the most part. It was a long, hard year. Classes 2 nights a week, 1000s of hours of clinical including in the operating room, emergency department, Cath labs, and running with other ambulance services. I then took a hands on skills test and a written test.

I still feel the same for the most part. Occasionally I remember it happened and it's like 'oh wow, it's like another life.' But I don't hurt or really miss it. Just a little more conscious and protective of my remaining one.

Aleve, ibuprofen, and aspirin are the three major ones. There are others, but those are the NSAIDs mostly used.