Hi followers, I hope all is well with you guys. First, like always, I can't stress this enough, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) continues to be a very serious awareness in this country, and all over the world for that matter. People get a clue, and consider getting tested for possible early stage CKD, so that preventive measures can be taken early on, in helping to prolong or even in some cases, reverse the progression of CKD, especially for those with a history or family history of diabetes and/or high blood pressure (two of the main causes of CKD), there are others, such as individuals with the polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in which I have, which is an inherited kidney disease, and others natures of the development of CKD. All I am saying is people get a clue, keep your garbage disposal (your kidneys), safe from harm, so if you haven't been tested, consider being tested, because it could potentially be very beneficial to your further health, and even if the results are the early stages of CKD, it is not the end of the world for you, there are so many preventive measures in place today, than there were, when I was first diagnosed in 1990, with ESRD, and not fortunate to be diagnose with early stage CKD. Now, on with the topic for today, Medication, I was on one of the many discussion forums on f/b, and there was a question about medication, which a pt. was concerned about stopping a certain medication for a much needed procedure, well I chimed in immediately, because I know this all too well. I share with her, the fact, that in my case, I had approach the 50 mark, and it is mandatory that a pt., especially if they are considering a transplant or a 2nd transplant, (like myself), has to have a colonoscopy done by age 50. I had this done several years ago, mainly because I was being evaluated for the IVIG procedure, (by the grace of God, which was created to help in lowering the antibody levels), I happen to be at 98%), there are two hospitals that offer this procedure, for a possible cadaver kidney in the future, one being John Hopkins back east and Cedar Sinai Medical Center (LA), quite naturally I chose LA, because I reside in the bay area. I didn't have to drive down, as Kaiser was gracious enough to pay for airfare and of course, my hotel stay as well. Well anyway, back to the topic at hand, I was as usual completely getting off the subject. Now, in answer to this pts. question, I was told by my neph, that it was required for me to have a colonoscopy, that is fine and dandy, but Kaiser requested that I stop my aggrenox med for five days prior to having the procedure. I checked with my neph, and he then referred me to my primary doctor. I then immediately met with her, and she did a checkup, that I didn't truly need in my opinion. She then tells me, after all that, that she is not keen on me stopping this particular med at this time, and for those many days, she just simply said she is leaving it up to me, so you know what a position this put me in. First, let me share with you the importance of taking this particular med, I had a stroke in 1999, and back then I prescribed aspirin, but when I experienced a 2nd stroke in 2007, they changed the aspirin regimen, to this med called aggrenox, in which I truly hate until this day, I don't like taking large capsules, but I do, and I just get it over with everyday, twice a day, morning and night. Well, I didn't go ahead with the scheduling of the procedure, until I felt comfortable with this decision, it was Friday for the appt. with my primary, and then I went home to do some much needed thinking. I thought about it constantly throughout the weekend, I even went to bed every night with this on my mind, so you know, i wasn't really sleeping much, just up watching a long I Love Lucy marathon on the Hallmark Channel, it was working until, a commercial would come in between, there it was again, laying heavy on my mind, so after watching all six episode, I sat in my bed, while in my 3rd dwell of my cycler treatment and talked to God about all this, and having faith and belief in him, I know all things are possible with him, so I said I will leave it up to the Lord, to know what is the right thing to do. For some strange reason after having a talk with God, I finally went off to sleep and woke up that morning, and I knew what the answer was. Monday morning I spoke with my primary, and shared my decision with her, and she said are you really comfortable with your decision, but I told her, I am going to be honest, no I am not, because of the fact, that you are not keen on me stopping the med for that amount of days, and I continued by saying to her, I was taught, by my mom, early on in my dialysis life, that you have to have faith and belief in him, because all things are possible with him, now I don't know how religious my primary doctor is, and I sensed a sort of hesitation in her voice, so I don't even know if I had offended her with that remark, as she is of indian descent, I am just hoping that she believes in God, but that is water under the bridge, and I went ahead with the prepping for the procedure, the fasting, the all fiber diet, the no greens in the diet day, and drinking that disgusting gallon of liquid, yeah right! add some crystal light to it the nurse suggested, that didn't even make it taste any better, I was practically gagging everytime I would swallow this stuff, so I did a man over matter thing, like gulp it down, without tasting it, (lol). Finally I finished it, and of course the taking of the docolax (to make sure I was completely cleaned out). I stopped the aggrenox, as instructed, but you know I was on pins and needles during this process of the prepping for the procedure. When it was all over, you should have saw me immediately take my aggrenox, right after I awaken from the procedure, as I brought a dose of this med, to take right after. I did share this in much deeper details in my 2nd book - My Twenty Year Journey with PKD in the Dialysis World - it would truly help those on PD, feel more comfortable and at ease about undergoing this procedure, I share the entire scenario around what was required to pre prep for the procedure, what I ate, and how much I ate, and of course, most importantly decreasing the amount of dialysate to dwell in my peritoneum, I discovered that when I did all manuals at this time, I wouldn't dwell the usual 1500, I decreased it to 500, so that this liquid that I was required to drink, would stay down comfortably, because in the beginning when I first started to injest the liquid, I was throwing it right back up, so I wasted the first glass of it, and that was because there was way too much liquid already dwelling in my stomach, Gee! I should have know from jump street, that adding more liquid in my body, wasn't going to work, while I am already loaded with dwelling fluids (lol). So, maybe many of you PD patients are approaching the colonscopy mark, (so to speak). Well that is it for my blogging today, as always until my next blog, stay compliant and safe. take care and all the best to all my followers.
Glo
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