Covid Jab Blues

Saturday I went for my Covid Booster. I qualify as my CKD and transplant render me vulnerable. They offered me the flu jab too and I wisely declined. I already have this booked for early next month and with my immunosuppression I didn't want to take on too much on. Battling one virus, albeit in …

Straws in the Wind?

It's just over eleven weeks post-op. In short things are as they have been all along. Kevin my sulking kidney is still not doing it's main job i.e. producing urine in any significant quantity. Without specifics there has been a tiny increase in output but not in any way measurable. So dialysis continues three evening …

Kevin is having a sulk

Kevin the kidney is having a sulk.So far refusing to work in my bulk.Kevin the kidney remaining asleep.For over nine weeks now, he's made not a peep.Kevin the kidney is having a sulk. Kevin the kidney refuses to work.All kidney-like functions he chooses to shirk.Kevin quite frankly, a complete waste of space.Choosing for now not …

Back for Biopsy

I am back in the Churchill this morning. The reason - a routine biopsy to check on the kidney’s progress. As yet the kidney remains asleep - the reason I know this my complete inability to urinate in any quantity. Since the op I have probably produced about 5ml a day at most - difficult …

Home Again

Finally on Tuesday afternoon I was set free from Churchill Hospital. Following another dialysis session I was given the release notes and packed my bags. My mother in law kindly gave me a lift back to MK, living close to Oxford it was a relatively quick journey for her to get to the hospital, I …

Medication! That’s What I Need!

As I write this I’m sitting in the sunshine in the Churchill Hospital Roof Garden adjacent to the Renal Ward. My final drain was removed today leaving me unchained to any devices. You might recognise the title of this post is an analogy to 1970s -80s BBC TV Show “Record Breakers” 😀 Theme Tune. I …

Food Matters

I was visited by the dietician on Friday. She talked me through the dietary issues and the changes I need to make in the short term, medium and long term. Short Term The next few weeks until the new kidney kicks in Keep salt levels low Avoid high potassium foods such as bananas, avocados and …

750 ml

Time moves on and I still wait for a kidney transplant. Meanwhile I continue to dialyse three times each week ( four hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday). My health remains good but I do get tired. A lot has happened since my last post. Sadly Mum died in early February and much of the …

Steroid Nights

It’s just after 3am and I’m wide awake. It’s the Steroid effect!

Cutting The Lawn

It’s a small thing - probably something that most of you have done already this year. Certainly the lawn needed a good trim. However, for me it is a sign of a return to normality. Since last summer I really have not had the energy to contemplate much in the way of housework let alone …

Matter of Routine

I have settled into the routine. Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening I get dropped off at 6pm for a 4 hour session of dialysis. At a time which varies but is usually between 10:30pm and 11:30pm I get picked up and go home to sleep. Those of you who are mathematically minded will notice …

Back Home

I was released from the Churchill Hospital at 4pm on Thursday with a large bag of medication, This included a two week dose of cefazolin, an antibiotic. This needed to be handed over to the dialysis nurses in the renal unit at MKUH where it would be used for intravenous application at the end of …

Churchill Transfer and Tesio Lines

I’ve been unwell for a few days now. This first manifested at dialysis last Wednesday and again on Friday when I had uncontrollable shivers. Bloods were taken and cultured, I was admitted to MKUH, where I stayed until yesterday. At the weekend the bloods taken from my line, and from my arm were grown to …

Infection

I have been admitted to MKUH following a bout of gastroenteritis which left me feeling very unwell. It possibly started on Monday when my Tesier Line became very sore. The first symptoms came Wednesday when during dialysis I suddenly became extremely cold and started shivering uncontrollably. This lasted quite a while and led to body …

It was all going so smoothly and then…

I have got into a routine. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I head off to MKUH at about 5:30pm for dialysis. Generally I am on from about 6:30pm until 10:30pm. The exception is Monday where generally I am on fom 7:00pm to 11:00pm. During my 4 hours dialysis I will listen to music or watch …