Jeff's Journal

The Monthly Report Card

I did not know I was going to get a “monthly report card” from the Clear Lake Kidney Center. It is a report on my monthly blood work. It is something the dietician has put together. It reflects her personality. On the “Report Card” she wrote that I have “great labs” this month. Maybe she’ll give me a little sticker or something on the back of my chair.

At the moment, my labs are great for a transplant. If something drifts, that could postpone a transplant. It is amazing what the kidneys regulate and how hard you have to work to keep things in range. We are watching phosphorus and calcium since dialysis does not pull off phosphorus very well. I am also watching my eyes. As the phosphorus builds up, your skin itches and eyes tend to water and get bloodshot. I take a phosphate binder to help with phosphorus levels. My phosphate binder is the mighty medicine, Tums. I eat those before every meal. It is rather cruel to get your appetite back and then mask the taste of all meals with a chalky binder.

They also gave me information about coping and depression. Something tells me a wall is approaching. I think it is kind of like the Shawshank Redemption when the inmates bet on who would crack up the first night. There must be some noticeable pattern with dialysis patients. I guess you get into dialysis by being so sick you don’t really realize what is going on. Then you get enough treatments and you start to feel better and get your head cleared up and then after a couple of weeks you begin to realize, this is not going away. And then you have to deal with it. Last week, a lady across from me cried for the full four hours. I’ll look and see if they have attitude evaluations on our monthly report card.

The Honorable sat with me today. He makes me laugh. (During Little League we would call games. We called ourselves The Honorable and The Preacher. Things were fine until we started talking about the people in the stands over the microphone. The Little League President agreed it was entertaining, but asked us to not do that anymore.) They are back from vacation and he mentioned he was going to call the transplant coordinator and get evaluated. I checked voicemail and there was another friend who left a message wanting to explore donation. It has been amazing the number of folks who have offered to donate. Two more people were scheduled to go in to the transplant clinic today for evaluation. It will be a while until we get their “report card” back. In the meantime, I feel loved and appreciated and I’ll try to keep my labs in good shape for my monthly report card.

posted by Jeff Waldo @ 8:54 PM