"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." ~Randy Pausch



Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Dialysis day 10

Diet? Screw it!

From day one the doctors told me "Low Sodium, Low Potassium, Low Phosphorus." And so I tried my best to stick to it. And then the labs returned...guess what! My potassium levels are low. And, hey, my phosphorus is low. Both are so low that they are now having a hard time getting them up to the normal level. I was told to "Go home and eat some cheese! Lots of cheese!" Yes, sir! Cheese, milk and ice cream for me. They check all of these levels every week, so if I'm overdoing it then we'll adjust again...but diets are stupid. I'm eating what I want!

The good thing is that I want to eat everything. Finally, after months of puking after (and sometimes before) every meal, my appetite is back with a vengeance. My current craving is Nacho Cheese Doritos and lemonade. I guess I wasn't supposed to have morning sickness for four months, huh? It seems that all of the nausea was kidney related and not baby related. I'm hoping to start gaining some weight soon.

But, weight is something that they take seriously in dialysis. I currently weigh 63.5 kgs and they make sure that when I leave a treatment I'm exactly that same weight. This is normal for most patients but, of course, I'm and exception. So, the conversation between the nephrologist and OB has begun as to how much weight they want me to gain. Most pregnant women at 20 weeks have gained 5 pounds by now. I'm still in the negative...I think I've lost about 5 pounds since February.

Speaking of OB, we had an appointment yesterday and heard the baby's heartbeat again. Sounds good and I'm measuring just about right. That's all good news. We'll be visiting the OB once every two weeks with an ultra sound every 2 to 4 weeks. (Guess this really is a high-risk pregnancy, huh?) I'm going to have to start checking my blood sugar before meals soon because of the steroid I'm taking. Prednisone can raise your blood sugar. I'm also going to start taking blood pressure medicine. My pressure is high after treatments, but that's expected because it is kind of a stress on the body. It's hard for me be be live because for my entire life my blood pressure has been very low.

So, we all know that I'm a planner...but these past few weeks have been crazy! I know that Jason has done most of the scheduling, but now that I'm feeling better I'm taking some of that on myself. And it's HARD! I usually try to do all of my scheduling in my head without a calendar, but now when I close my eyes to visualize the week all I see is a spider web, a giant mess! I'll rest easier when I find a way to organize my life a bit better.

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