I mentioned this in passing a week or so ago, but I don't think it had really sunk in for me then.
My kidney disease is in remission. I've been fighting IGA Nephropathy for a little over two years now, but apparently had been dealing with it without knowing it for God knows how long. The biopsy that caused a panic attack. (You see a needle that looks like it belongs on heavy industrial equipment coming for you and see how you react. Plus, I felt it punch my right kidney. The numbness didn't quite spread far enough.) The loooong year on heavy doses of steroids that commonly caused nightmares so vivid and intense I woke up swinging fists. I beat down and wrecked a mattress due to thrashing in my sleep and heavy sweating. The infusions of prednisone that caused days of hiccups and near constant indigestion. The half-week stay in the hospital at Christmas just down the hall from the dialysis unit, very nearly turning into a transplant patient there and then. Weaning off the steroids. The immense dietary changes to keep the blood pressure under control. The nervous wait to see if everything my family and I went through did anything.
After nearly a year of good, consistent numbers, I've come out in front of this thing. Remission is literally the best I could hope for, since there is no cure for this. I've lost 25% of my actual kidneys to atrophy, and most of what's left is pretty scarred, but it's finally, FINALLY under control. It's a cautious declaration by my doctor, but damn, I'm happy to take it.