After my morning routine, I drop off my son at school…
… I’ll usually stop by Bladium Sports & Fitness Club for a quick workout. (This is not me, but maybe in six months I’ll have that waist.)
At lunchtime I take my first set of meds, along with my Renvela pills, which removes excess phosphorous…
… and Sodium Polystyrene Sulfonate to help remove excess potassium…
… and LiquaCel which is liquid protein. It replaces some of the protein lost during dialysis.
Every two days I clean and dress and change the bandage on my exit site (where catheter is surgically inserted.)
Every two weeks I inject myself with Epogen, which treats anemia (a lack of red blood cells in the body.) This helps keep my energy level up.
The dosage depends on my lab readings taken at the dialysis center.
Once a month, I place my order for dialysis supplies. Two weeks later I receive my shipment. My great delivery guy Carl sets it all up in my bedroom and even rotates my old supply.
At dinnertime, more pills with my meal. Then I warm up my dialysis solution bag with an electric heating pad. If I forget then it feels a little like eating ice cream when that solution first goes into my belly area later.
Another dose of Sodium Polystyrene (very chalky!)
I put a Clif Bar by my bed. I often wake up famished in the middle of the night. Even though I no longer have nausea, my appetite isn’t back to normal, and I’m struggling to eat enough during the day.
Finally around 9:30 pm I start setting up for my dialysis. By 10:15pm I’m in bed. Lights out!
In a future blog I’ll show you what dialysis entails and what happens at my appointments.
Hello Kidney! 