having a chronic illness is horrible. I'm sorry you have to go through this. But your spirit and testimony to life is what makes your story brilliant - not your disease, but you, the disease is just one small part of you :)

Hi Antje Thank you for your comment. I've had kidney disease so long that it's been put on the back burner so to speak. I mean I have to do dialysis but even with that I consider myself lucky with my short 3 hr treatments as opposed to many friends who have 4-5 hr treatments. On days I don't go I spend my time with family and friends or writing. My life is much more than my disease. Growing up I had transplants for much of the time so I had as normal a life as a kid with a kidney transplant can have. I had lots of support by my family which include 3 younger sisters. And I still have have the support from my parents, sisters and my long time boyfriend. I have a lot to share abt growing up with kidney disease and trying to find my place in the world. So, I hope you will keep reading. I am going from memory so it may take me some time before I get new additions. I plan on including some short bio's on my parents. For some reason I felt the need to do that. Krisna

i heard about dialysis - is it painful? what does it do exaclty, clean out the kidneys every week? I mean what do you do when you are there - if u don't mind me asking.... I think you're pretty cool for sharing that though. I include some stories on my parents too. It's cheaper than therapy.. lol...

But when I was diagnosed it was in the early stages. Dialysis is done in a clinical setting or at home. There are different types of dialysis too, Hemodialysis which is what I do and Peritoneal Dialysis which is done using the lining of the stomach. I don't know what they are called in Canada, Brian, but here they are called Kidney Centers. I go to one run by the original kidney center, Northwest Kidney Centers. Mine is called Seatac Kidney Center and is directly across from Seatac International Airport. The center is brand new. Anyway, dialysis is painful and requires 2 needles to be placed in the vein in my arm. My artery was surgically attached to the vein and both were brought closer to the surface. This was done to enlarge it and to make it easier to place needles. One needle (arterial) is used to pump the blood out which is then taken through an artificial kidney, cleansed using a mix of acid and bicarbonate and then returned through the other needle (venous). Dialysis can remove Sodium, regulate Calcium & Potassium, and remove fluid. It cannot remove Phosphorus which is found in all dairy products and also soda pop that contains caffeine. In soda it's in the form of Phosphoric Acid which is absorbed into the body easier. Anyway, I do dialysis 3 days a week for 3 hrs. each time. Some people do up to 5 hrs. Some people do dialysis at home and every day for a shorter time. I am quite healthy for a dialysis patient especially for one whose had kidney failure for almost 30 years! As for my parents well...my mom has bipolar disorder and I pretty much raised my 3 younger sisters. Haven't gotten to the 3rd sister in my story yet but I will. I agree with you about writing about parents is cheaper than therapy. With me writing about everything is cheaper that therapy. Well, I better get off here and go to bed because I have to go to dialysis in about 7 hrs. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the first part of my actual story. I posted it a little bit ago. Krisna

I believe that we are all put here for a purpose. You have a job to do while on this earth and it's not done yet because you are still here and kicking. I can tell from your stories that you were endowed with special abilities and your family too to help you handle what was coming down the road for you. Even though your mother was sick and you were needed to help with the younger children which in turn helped you too. You are one "super" lady. God Bless

Thank you! I believe the reason I'm still here is simple. As my sister, Kelli, once put it, "I am the glue that holds our family together!" And she was right! Thank you again!

Sounds like you've gone through a lot. Thanks for teaching all of us....

I haven't been writing for a while because last July my dialysis access clotted and I had to have new one put in. I had a temporary catheter put in the artery in my chest. I had surgery to get a new permenant dialysis access put in my upper aem in August. They brought the artery up and attached it to the vein. Then I had to wait a couple months to see how well it developed. It didn't develope well enough so I had to have surgery again to straighten it up and bring it closer to the surface. The last surgery was abt a month ago and required them to cut the entire upper arm open. It became infected almost immediately and took extra long to heal. Now I've been getting IV antibiotics on dialysis and it's now almost completely healed! I had my last access for 21 yrs! I will be writing more soon! Thanks for reading!