The art of being a Kidney patient is, apart from keeping your chin up and taking the tablets, is to control your fluid intake and your diet.
You see the kidneys filter out excess vitamins and minerals which your body doesn't need as well as the waste. Things like Potassium found in most foods and phosphates in dairy and meat.
If you don't keep these under control you can get other complications such as problems with your heart and bones.
In order to make sure the dialysis is working for you, every month you have to have blood tests to check these levels as well as others, including the crap which in medical terms is known as creatinine.
Well yesterday I had to have these bloods. Normally if you have some kidney function you still go for a wee and have to do a 24hr urine collection to go with these bloods. However, I do not go for a wee (lucky me I hear you cry), think of the time I spend by not going to the loo. I do have drainage bags from my dialysis though. This is the fluid which I have put into my peritoneaum overnight, has sat there for an hour sucking out the crap and then has been drained out into very big bags. In a night I go through 19 litres of fluid plus what ever extra I have drank during the day is taken out as well, so its very heavy.
So yesterday I rolled up to the hospital with my drainage bags and had my bloods done. Only the lab sat on my bloods for 4hrs before they decided to process them. As a result my bloods were really bad and at 6pm I get a phone cal from the nurse telling me I have to do extra dialysis and go back this morning for urgent bloods to see what is going on.
Whats the problem with this other than the inconvenience? Well as I had been really good, food wise, so my bloods should have been good, once I left the hospital yesterday I ate potatoe crisps and chocolate.......very bad as they are very high in potassium. If my potassium goes over 7units my heart decides to play silly beggers and I have to be revived!!!!
So I panic, worry all night about my bloods. Get to the hospital this morning for bloods to find its nothing too much to worry about..........
However, I am still waiting for the results of the bloods this morning. I am lucky that, although I live 30mins (on a good day) from the hospital, my husband works in the town the hospital is in so I am currently sat in his office having a break from sticking labels on leaflets to write this.
I'll update this more when I know more...........that depends on how long the lab thinks urgent should take!!!!!!
