You have died of Dysentary

I'm not going to die of dysentary. I'm much more likely to die of dehydration or hunger. I promised in my last blog that I would write next about the Renal diet. I suppose you could call it a 'diet', I do lose weight. Mostly because I can't eat anything that tastes good.



All people on dialysis have to be on a Renal diet plan, though the extremes of the diet vary greatly from person to person. Basically, if you can't pee, your body fills up with toxins normally urinated out of your body. Dialysis attempts to remove both the toxins and the excess water, but it cannot do it all. So, you are to avoid certain foods that are high in these toxins.



There are LOTS of different toxins out there in LOTS of different food items. Shoot, even things that are good to eat for normal people end up being bad for dialysis people. The biggest toxin, and the one I struggle with the most, is Phosphorus. Phosphorus is found in ALL food. There is no way to avoid it, so I have to take special pills called 'phosphate binders' with every meal or snack.



As I'm eating, I take a chewable phosphate binder that removes the phosphate from the food I ate and turns it immediately into poop. That's right, poop. My body will then discharge the phosphates the next time I go to the bathroom. Which is usually some time in the next five minutes. That is why I can't go out to eat any more. My pills send me to the bathroom usually before I'm even done eating the meal.



There are lots of high phosphate foods. These are the foods I'm not supposed to eat very much of. This hurts, because I LOVE these foods. Here's a short list: Nuts, Beans, Okra, Chocolate, Pancakes, Biscuits, Waffles, etc... Then the big one...dairy products. That's right, all forms of dairy are high in phosphorus. Milk, Cheese, Ice Cream, etc... I LOVE drinking milk. I used to drink it every day. I LOVE ice cream. I used to eat it all the time. Don't even get me started on cheese. Cheese goes with EVERYTHING. Cheese goes ON everything. Cheese goes IN everything. Cheese makes up a major portion of my diet!



There is another toxin I struggle with: Potassium. This is something that's good for normies (what I call normal people). When I was younger, I used to seek out high potassium food and drink because it helped me avoid leg cramps. I used to get HORRIBLE leg cramps, so bananas and milk (that's right, it's high in phosphorus AND potassium), All Sport and other potassium high stuff was a constant in my life. Now, I'm supposed to avoid them.



This makes it MORE difficult to find appropriate food and drink. I LOVE fruit juices, but all forms of citrus are high in potassium. Orange, Grapefruit, Cranberry, etc... And it gets worse. That's right, even worse than having to avoid cheese. There are two food items that are super high in potassium that I love to eat and are in most every dish I eat: Potatoes and Tomatoes. Both these items show up as ingredients in almost every meal I've ever eaten. These are constant staples in my diet. They're cheap, diverse, and we even grow them in our backyard garden!



There is one particular thing I'm supposed to eat LOTS of...protein. Protein helps your body heal, so anyone who is sick or in the hospital is supposed to eat lots of protein to keep their albumin levels high. But, there's a problem. All proteins (that is meat, fish, eggs) are also high in phosphorus. It's a catch 22. Darned if you do, darned if you don't.



So, that's how the Renal diet works. It's incredibly annoying and stops you from eating most stuff that tastes good. I've never gotten a good report on my toxin levels because if one gets low (phosphorus) then the albumin is low too.



Good. Bad. It doesn't matter. I know that the build up of these toxins will end up killing me, but sometimes I just want to eat some cheesey mashed potatoes! :)



Grace and Peace,

-Nat

End Stage Renal Disease

For this blog, I thought it would be prudent to explain exactly what End Stage Renal Disease is like. It's kind of a scary name, End Stage Renal Disease. It's called End Stage because it's a disease that will kill you quickly if you don't do something about it. It will "End you". I've known a few people with End Stage Renal Disease who decided that they have lived long enough. All their affairs are in order, so they quit dialyzing. They die within one week.

Basically, End Stage Renal Disease means that your kidneys no longer function. Your kidneys are filters. When you drink liquids, the liquids pass through your kidneys where all the bad stuff is removed and sent to your bladder to be shot out of your body the next time you pee. People with End Stage Renal Disease can't pee. Since their kidneys shut down, all the bad toxins from the liquids, as well as the excess water, build up inside the body. If nothing is done about this, you will die. Isn't it neat the way God designed the body. All this stuff we find gross like peeing, pooping, farting, are actually your body's way to removing bad stuff. If you don't do it, you die.

Dialysis is what you do to survive. They take these big machines and hook them up to your body. There are several ways to do this. I have tubes sticking out of my chest. One tube is where they remove the blood and the other is where they put it back. Three times a week, over the course of several hours, the machine pulls blood out of my body, puts it through a filter and attempts to remove harmful toxins and excess water. Then, they put the blood back into my body through the other tube. Every time I go to dialysis, I lose about 6 pounds.

Unfortunately, dialysis is man's attempt on God's design and; therefore, doesn't work perfectly. All the toxins will never be completely removed from my body, so I am adversely affected. Over the past three years, you may have noticed many changes in me. These are almost all due to the kidney failure. Yeah, I went through lots of other stuff too, but the kidney failure has affected me far more than any other thing.

The build up of toxins in your body affects you physically, emotionally and mentally. Basically, toxins slow everything down. Physically, I have no energy. I sleep all the time, and don't do much of anything. Even menial tasks seem insurmountable.

Emotionally, I feel nonchalant, lazy, unmotivated. I get depressed easily. Sometimes I cry for no stinkin' reason. That's annoying! I'll just be sitting there, watching TV and all of a sudden, tears well up in my eyes! I'm thinking, 'what the heck! I have no reason to cry, but I am.' I'm not a big fan of that part.

Mentally, I have no energy. I can't keep thoughts in my head. I walk into a room and forget why I went there. I can't remember people's names or where I know them from. I still get ideas for youth ministry and my business, but I can't develop them. They don't have a hold on my brain any more. Being one of those uber thinkers, this is probably the most annoying aspect of this disease. I used to think all the time. I used to have a hard time shutting off my brain at night so I could fall asleep. Now, I can't keep thoughts in my head. I have to write everything I need to do down on paper, just so I remember to do it. Even simple things like eating a meal and brushing my teeth go on my to-do list.

Well, this blog is long enough now. Next time, I'll talk about diet. That's right. People with End Stage Renal Disease can't have a normal diet. Until next time, thanks for reading...

Grace and Peace,
-Nat