The last dialysis of the week, so it's time to put my new strategy into place one more time. I've had my breakfast, so now it's time to write and keep my hands off the bad food!
Today was a pretty routine dialysis day today. No problems and no blood spilled. I read an interesting article about five kidney transplants in Des Moines, IA. Here's the link to the article.
Five Transplants in Des Moines
I turned in four days of food logging into Jan this morning, so she'll have that to review as we track my progress. I'm excited about getting this excess weight off of me, especially since I know this is the year I get transplanted.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
New Strategies
With the new year comes a renewed attempt to get my weight down and get healthy. In talking with Jan, the DCI dietician, I've put together some goals and some new strategies for getting my weight down.
I'm about 20-25 pounds overweight, but sometimes these amounts can be the hardest to take off. The first strategy change is how I handle the times on my own. It's not often, but it seems like when I'm by myself, I eat like I'm going to the chair!
The time after dialysis is also a danger time. Since I don't eat breakfast before dialysis, I'm tempted to eat breakfast and lunch in one setting. This week I limited my breakfast to breakfast. Later in the day I had half of a meal, something bigger than a snack, but smaller than a full meal.
The new strategy says that once I'm done eating my breakfast on dialysis days, I need to move on to something else. Today that something else is writing.
So, once this post is finished, it will be time to get my half meal ready and get ready for work.
I'm about 20-25 pounds overweight, but sometimes these amounts can be the hardest to take off. The first strategy change is how I handle the times on my own. It's not often, but it seems like when I'm by myself, I eat like I'm going to the chair!
The time after dialysis is also a danger time. Since I don't eat breakfast before dialysis, I'm tempted to eat breakfast and lunch in one setting. This week I limited my breakfast to breakfast. Later in the day I had half of a meal, something bigger than a snack, but smaller than a full meal.
The new strategy says that once I'm done eating my breakfast on dialysis days, I need to move on to something else. Today that something else is writing.
So, once this post is finished, it will be time to get my half meal ready and get ready for work.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy New Year!
With the new year comes the reset button we all push on December 31. Maybe we only need to make a few changes, maybe we view this as an opportunity to make sweeping changes, and maybe we just continue wishing for a kidney.
For me, it's the latter, although there are some other little changes I need to make in 2013. One of those little changes is to resume regular writing on this blog. I don't know that there was reason for not writing. It certainly wasn't for lack of things to write about!
Anyone who has, or is, going through dialysis knows that each day at the clinic is interesting. In addition to the daily dose of dialysis, I got great news about my CLL. It is in remission, gone, cleared out, however you want to describe it. It felt great to get that pronouncement, especially since six years ago I was sure the CLL diagnosis meant an early end to my plans.
Good as being in remission felt, I couldn't celebrate the news, knowing that I would be headed back to dialysis the next day. That's a flaw of mine that needs improving in 2013. Being cancer-free is a tremendous feeling! I'm grateful for Dr. Tarantolo and the awesome nurses at the Midwest Cancer Center.
So, for the most part things are going well. Jeannie continues to make me feel like the luckiest guy in the world, and despite the grind of dialysis, she keeps a positive attitude about finding a donor.
On the donor front, there is a candidate who has gone through the first set of blood tests to determine if we are a potential match. Based on the first set of tests, we know we match five of eight markers. That's a good start.
The wheels fell of our wagon a bit once my donor shared their decision to get tested further with family members. The reception was less than positive and supportive. I understand their concern. Giving a kidney to someone that is not family is probably hard for people to get their head around. It's a tremendous act of kindness, but good feelings aside, it is still something that is hard for people to understand and accept.
Just the same, we remain confident that wagon wheels will return to roll us through to a transplant in 2013.
Armed with the optimism that a kidney is just around the corner, I'm excited about all the great things that will come our way in 2013! I hope everyone gets what they want in the new year too.
For me, it's the latter, although there are some other little changes I need to make in 2013. One of those little changes is to resume regular writing on this blog. I don't know that there was reason for not writing. It certainly wasn't for lack of things to write about!
Anyone who has, or is, going through dialysis knows that each day at the clinic is interesting. In addition to the daily dose of dialysis, I got great news about my CLL. It is in remission, gone, cleared out, however you want to describe it. It felt great to get that pronouncement, especially since six years ago I was sure the CLL diagnosis meant an early end to my plans.
Good as being in remission felt, I couldn't celebrate the news, knowing that I would be headed back to dialysis the next day. That's a flaw of mine that needs improving in 2013. Being cancer-free is a tremendous feeling! I'm grateful for Dr. Tarantolo and the awesome nurses at the Midwest Cancer Center.
So, for the most part things are going well. Jeannie continues to make me feel like the luckiest guy in the world, and despite the grind of dialysis, she keeps a positive attitude about finding a donor.
On the donor front, there is a candidate who has gone through the first set of blood tests to determine if we are a potential match. Based on the first set of tests, we know we match five of eight markers. That's a good start.
The wheels fell of our wagon a bit once my donor shared their decision to get tested further with family members. The reception was less than positive and supportive. I understand their concern. Giving a kidney to someone that is not family is probably hard for people to get their head around. It's a tremendous act of kindness, but good feelings aside, it is still something that is hard for people to understand and accept.
Just the same, we remain confident that wagon wheels will return to roll us through to a transplant in 2013.
Armed with the optimism that a kidney is just around the corner, I'm excited about all the great things that will come our way in 2013! I hope everyone gets what they want in the new year too.
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