Great news... and a night on the town!

So the cats out of the bag now… and I can tell you I’m going to be an AUNTIE!! YAY!!! I’m so over excited, my sister-in-law is due on the 21^st August and both her and my bro will make great parents! Me and my mum couldn’t resist and have been buying baby outfits already! So that’s the news out of the way now back to everyday life…

Sorry for the lack of blogging been busy again with uni work, 3 more assignments handed in, only 4 more to go!!!

I’ve had a cold this week so had to miss uni a few days! I’m on the mend now and even managed a night out with the uni girls last night for one of their 21^st birthdays. You would think we had grown out of fancy dress by now but oh no…. school girls, cats, cowboys, fairies and even Marilyn Monroe were all out last night!

I had a great night, although as usual I did have to leave early as I was shattered and due to the fluid restriction couldn’t drink much (it’s not much fun being the only sober person). My patience doesn’t last long when the drunks get into the swing of things… literally, I got hit on the head twice last night by my mate Nic (see pic)!!!

So dialysis has been going ok, same old thing really… blood tests next week, to check the levels of potassium, phosphate, calcium and about a hundred more things, basically seeing whether I’m sticking to the renal diet or not and whether I’m taking my tablets!!!

So plans for next week are…. Going to uni, doing uni assignments and not forgetting dialysis, I lead an exciting life!

Uni work struggles

I think the new dry weight worked as I didn’t feel as bad at the end of dialysis It took me a few attempts to get my blood pressure but not half as long as last week so that’s good.

I’m mad busy at the mo, I’ve got uni deadlines coming out of my ears and I’m struggling to fit in doing my assignments with actually going to uni and going to dialysis. Dialysis (including travelling time) takes up over 14 hours of my week meaning I have 14 hours less every week than my friends to do my uni work. I can’t do it whilst I’m at dialysis as I am right handed and unfortunately my needles in my fistula are in my right arm.

On top of all this I’ve been asked to volunteer for Transplants in Mind. I wouldn’t mind but it’s in Birmingham on the 8^th right in the middle of my deadlines! So I’m going to have to decline until summer and focus on my uni work. I feel bad about it but I can’t physically fit it in.

No other news really other than an old friend got in contact and has asked me to get involved in setting up a North West young patients kidney group. Something needs to be put in place for young kidney patients but I don’t know when or if it will evolve into anything but I will keep you updated.

What is a dry weight?

Emily commented on my last blog asking what a dry weight was. So here is where I try and explain it. It took me a while to work out what it was when I first started dialysis!

Your dry weight is your weight after a dialysis session when all of the extra fluid in your body has been removed when there is no excess fluid in the lungs or in the tissues. Most dialysis patients don’t pass urine so fluid builds up in between each dialysis session so this is why renal patients have to have a fluid restriction. If you let too much fluid build up between sessions, it is harder to get down to your proper dry weight.

If you are way above your dry weight, fluid will make its way to your lungs or the tissues in the body especially in the ankles and this will also cause your blood pressure to rise.

If you are under your dry weight you may experience cramps/dizziness/sickness on the dialysis machine towards the end of the session. Low blood pressure is also an indication of being under your dry weight.

It is hard to regulate your dry weight as people’s weight changes all the time especially when you are relatively young like me. It’s hard to know whether weight gain is due to fluid or actual fat gained.

So last night I took the fluid off to my new dry weight of 66.5kg I removed 2.1ltrs and didn’t experience any cramps or dizziness which was great however it took me way over half an hour to get any blood pressure at all! So we’ll just have to wait and see how I get on over the next few weeks!

I’m busy doing uni work all day today as I have deadlines looming but am going to catch up with a friend later on tonight down the pub so that should take my mind of it!

Anyway I hope this post has helped Emily and anyone else who was confused about what my dry weight was!!!

Have a lovely weekend! x