What’s Inside
About David
After 7 years of personal, firsthand experience with kidney loss and the long wait for a transplant while on daily dialysis, I decided to dedicate my life to helping other patients with End Stage Renal Disease, to help them take control of their health care and get on with their lives.
Learn more about me and my mission.
Blogs on Kidney Disease and Healthcare
Dialysis from the sharp end of the needle
Writer: David L. Rosenbloom
NxStage Users Blogs
by kidneyhelp
Becoming Me
The memoir of an erudite, music loving, left-handed woodworker
Read my account of perseverance and optimism, from the loss of my kidneys in 2002
to six years on dialysis and ultimately a successful organ transplant in August 2008.
As my story unfolds, often with wit and humor, I share key life experiences and the people
that shaped my character and life philosophy.
Read excerpts of my new book.
Purchase on Amazon now!
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Author David Rosenbloom hands an autographed copy of his book to Karen Chapman, director of Risk Management for USC hospitals.
HSC Weekly 2010-04-09
USC transplant patient pens memoir of kidney disease battle
By Nick Charles
Kidney transplant patient David Rosenbloom has compared his successful transplant to a gift of 20 years of life.
Rosenbloom, 64, was on dialysis for six years before receiving a transplant at USC University Hospital on Aug. 7, 2008. He read from his first book, Becoming Me, at Vromans bookstore in Pasadena on Feb. 24.
"The first inkling I had of writing a memoir came from a very wise psychologist whom I saw when I was dealing with a long term, life-threatening illness," read Rosenbloom from the preface of his book. "Then the gift of renewed life came unexpectedly. The reaction from those I respect was You should write a book about your experiences. I said, 'Who would read it?' And every one of them answered, I would."
In his book, the former corporate public relations manager and self-taught custom furniture designer details the years he spent battling kidney disease and discusses dialysis at length. "Its like having a part-time job that you hate," said Rosenbloom, "and the dialysis diet is awful."
"What's the diet?" asked someone in the audience.
"It's basically, No!" he said, naming everything that patients are instructed not to eat. "Dialysis is not a picnic. I was feeling awful and tired all the time."
Reevah Simon, 71, from Los Angeles, asked, "Whats it like for you now?"
Rosenbloom was upbeat about his current health. He said, "I take very powerful drugs, which lower my immune system. It's a constant balancing act, but I dont think about what could happen. When something happens, I deal with it. There are too many other things that I want to do with my life. After having the transplant, it's like somebody gave me back 20 years."
He credits his surgeon, Maria Stapfer; his transplant coordinator Randall Heyn-Lamb; his nephrologist, Hosameldin H. Madkour; and others on the medical staff at USC for his recovery.
Simon said she came to the reading because she has end-stage renal disease and wanted to hear from another patient. "Until now I've only heard about it from doctors and nurses. It was helpful to hear him speak today."
After the reading, Donald Larsen, medical director of The Doctors of USC and chief medical officer at USC University Hospital and USC Norris Cancer Hospital, said about Rosenbloom, "I thought he had an incredible perspective. He's very intelligent and well connected with his feelings."
Karen Chapman, director of Risk Management for the USC hospitals, also attended the book reading. She added, "He's a wise consumer of health care."
Rosenbloom now lectures second-year medical students and is working as a volunteer kidney patient consultant and mentor at USC to make patients aware of dialysis options and the importance of staying compliant after transplant surgery.
"Being compliant means listening to the doctors and educating yourself about kidney disease, so you can regain control of your life," he said.
"That means taking your medication, staying on the diet and exercising while you're on dialysis," he said "and then after your transplant, its vital that you take the prescribed anti-rejection drugs or you can end up losing the kidney you may have waited years to receive."