Newbie Introduction

[QueenGee]

Hi. I was diagnosed w CKD six months ago. (Jan. 2020) Things have moved so fast. I got a CVC inserted on the fourth day I was in the hospital and started Hemo on the sixth day. Two months later I got my PD Cath, trained for a month and started PD three months ago.

Everything seemed to move very fast. I lost my job and the insurance issue is quite overwhelming. I'm just taking it day by day and my social worker is a great resource.

That's my situation. I'm an avid line dancer. Missing my classmates due to Covid-19. But I dance on my patio almost daily.

So glad I found this forum.

[WYOAnne NKF Ambassador]

Sorry your dialysis start was so traumatic! Hope all has settled down for you and are doing AOK!

Hope along the way you have learned as much as you can about CKD. The less scary this whole kidney journey is the more you know. I also found out that the more you know, the more "intelligent" questions you can ask your doctor and the more respect you get from the medical community. There is nothing worse than getting an "eye roll" from your doctor.

I wasn't on dialysis very long when I got my transplant. It hasn't been always easy but I am living well after my transplant 20 years ago.

I was 49 hen I had my transplant. Because of my donor I was able to see my girls graduate from college, marry and now I am a grandma.

I live in WY and travel to MO to see grandsons every chance I get - except lately due to COVID-19.

Stay well and feel free to ask any questions! This is a wonderful community and we are all here for you!!

Have a great weekend!

[Kbristow]

The months before and the month after I started my dialysis were the toughest. But then everything got easier because my uremic symptoms (nausea, dizziness, brain fog, itchiness, extreme fatigue) went away. I was still tired and didn't have much appetite but it was much better. I hope dialysis continues to work out for you. I never had any infections with PD and was able to work in some vacations and adjust to everyday life by doing some of the exchanges in the car when I was out. Of course it's harder now with COVD-19 but even a half day out on an easy hike with an exchange in the car might be a possibility for you.

This community is a wonderful place to share and read about how others cope with certain challenges.

It helped me also to keep learning and reading about CKD and the process of transplant for patients and donors. I watched webinars and YouTube videos to learn as much as I could. There are lots of webinars especially now with the pandemic because there are so many questions about how the dialysis and transplant populations can stay safe. Kidney.org and American Kidney Fund and others have lots of webinars including an archive of past webinars. Learning will equip you with more knowledge and reinforce what you know; It also helped me to better assess the care I was getting. Most of the time it was great but occasionally I had a care provider who was recommending things that were not consistent with what I was reading so I would ask more questions. This eventually led to me switching nephrologist where I got on the transplant wait list far sooner and received better care.

Best wishes.