Liquid

In my last post, I told you all about the Renal diet. Some of you may have been wondering, what about water? My body cannot get rid of water. Dialysis takes off some of the excess water, but not all. Let me tell you a story.

When I was young, I didn't drink much water. Shoot, I didn't drink much of anything. When I was in college, some things happened that changed all that. No, it wasn't my 21st birthday. It was kidney stones. Ah, yes, kidney stones.

My father had a kidney stone several years earlier. I remember he was in a lot of pain, rolling around on the floor. I thought that I would NEVER have a kidney stone. I actually drank water. Dad didn't drink water. As the urologist would later explain to me, it's not so much what you drink, but how much you drink.

I ended up with kidney stones two different times. Once I got hit by one while at the Rennaissance (spelling?) Festival. I'm pretty sure I freaked out Toby and my brother, who had to pull over to the side of the highway and call an ambulance. I was on the grass, on all fours, weaving back and forth and puking constantly. A quick trip to a local hospital and an IV with lots of saline, and I felt much better.

Later, I got another kidney stone. This one I couldn't pass. I had a surgery, sort of. They knocked me out and then blasted my kidneys with sound waves in order to break up the stones, so they would be small enough to pass. They stuck an incredibly long, flexible straw up Mr. Happy in order to keep the passage way open when I passed the stones. That was awkward. For the next couple of weeks, Mr. Happy had a couple little strings hanging out the end of him. Why strings you ask? So when the tube needed removed, they could do it quickly. I go to the doctor. I stand over a trash can and drop my drawers. The doctor wraps his finger around the little strings and yanks!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say; after a couple of experiences like this, I started drinking a lot of liquids. Any of you who are familiar with my medical history will wonder how this compares to other things. Well, here it is. KIDNEY STONES ARE THE MOST PAINFUL THING I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. That's right. I'd rather have gone through all the other things if I could have avoided kidney stones. Shoot, the last kidney stone I had, not even massive amounts of morphin could lessen the pain.

Anyway, I forced myself to drink lots of liquids. I carried a big mug of water around with me to track how much fluid intake I had in a given day. I set goals and I drank constantly. Then, my kidneys shut down.

Now, my body can't get rid of water, so I 'm restricted to a small amount of fluid each day. That's right, after training for years to drink a lot, suddenly, I can't drink hardly anything. My nephrologist (kidney doctor) keeps wondering why I have such a hard time stopping myself from drinking too much.

I am restricted to 32 ounces a day. That may seem like a lot to some people at first, but try counting your liquid intake in a day. I bet it comes up to more than that. You see it's liquid intake. Not just what you drink. Soups, fruits and vegetables. Anything with liquid in it has to be calculated. This really throws off more eating options for me.

When it's cold and rainy and it's a perfect soup day...not for me. When it's the middle of summer and I'm outside burning up; a nice, cold, tall glass of water is out of the question. The worst part is winter. When it gets cold outside, my body dries out. I am constantly thirsty, but I can't drink very much. I have itchy, dry skin and constant chapped lips, but I can't do anything about it. I have to stay partially dehydrated.

Have you ever been seriously dehydrated? I have. It hurts. Your whole body just doesn't feel right. You hurt all over and can't figure out what's wrong. Luckily, it's happened to me enough that I know how to fix it. A quick trip to the ER and they stick an IV in my arm and shoot me full of saline. After about half an hour of fluid, I'm feeling decent again.

OK. I've gone on long enough for this post. I'll write again later.

Grace and Peace,
-Nat