I know it's been a while since I last updated. I've had a lot going on the past couple of months. Last month I had some blood tests done and found my creatine had risen considerably from 7.1 to 9 just since July. My kidney function had now deteriorated to the point where I would need dialysis. Since I don't have any live donors lined up I only really had too options, choose dialysis or get sicker and eventually die.
Since I want to live I chose the dialysis option. I'm also choosing PD (Peritoneal dialysis) This type of dialysis is much gentler on the body and other organs and I can do it from home. It's actually ironic because now I can't possibly be homeless since there is no way I could do my dialysis treatments on the streets unless I went with the Hemo option.
I had surgery one week ago today. I had a catheter placed in my stomach and also surgery to repair a hernia. I can't actually start the dialysis treatments until my hernia heals which will take about 3 weeks. Until then I am being trained how to do my own dialysis at home.
The surgery wasn't fun. I woke up confused and in a lot of pain. I also became nauseated and started dry-heaving which if you ever had surgery on your stomach, you know this is really bad! It's amazing how quickly the body heals itself. Last weekend I couldn't even sit up on my own. Now I'm walking around and doing my better. The worst part wasn't the pain though. The worst was the constipation from the pain pills. I'm not much of a pill guy so I only took about 4 over a 3 day period, but that was enough to fuck me up pretty good. I had my surgery on Friday, I didn't have a bowl movement until Wednesday! Talk about pain!
So I'm on my way to feeling better. It's funny, I was so scared of dialysis but now I realize it's not so bad. It's not something I would wish on anyone but I know I'm going to get through this. Sometimes you just have to face your worst fears head on and then you realize you were afraid for nothing. It's going to be OK.
I will try to keep up with my blog more often. Have a great weekend!
