#loveyourkidneys

Good Morning Residents of CyCity! Hope all of you had a great, restful and wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I had to take some time away and a little break before the summer begins. For those new to my page Memorial Day is special to me for many reasons, but most notably for having my Kidney Transplant. On May 28th 2018, my life was saved by a young man who passed in a motorcycle accident. He was 30 years old. I'm grateful and thankful, and blessed by his gift. But also always saddened that someone so young lost their life. It's a double edge sword. So I make sure to do my best and honor him by moving forward, and living the best life I can everyday. Because no Day is promised, and our time here can be incredibly short. So enjoy it to the last. 🙏🏾 Q. P.S. If you have never considered becoming an organ donor, please give it a once over. You leave behind an amazing gift that ends up helping save a life just like mine. 🙂 #cypresscitycomics #transplant #kidneytransplant #loveyourkidneys #kidneydonor #lifegift #yougetwhateveryonegetsalifetime #nationalkidneyfoundation #americankidneyfoundation #organdonation (at Cypress, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPlFiEthzSj/?utm_medium=tumblr

My first @tiktok lol Not very exciting I know but hopefully I'll get to making some more comical ones 😂 . . #LoveYourKidneys #KidneyDiseaseAwareness #TikTok #Advocate https://www.instagram.com/p/CCY56trjjHH/?igshid=1i84lb3fvbat4

Home from the surgeon's office and I decided I am taking a mental health day. First, I had a problem at the clinic with my dialysis machine so I had to tear it down, reset it, and prime it a second time. Then, as I am getting ready to put my needles in, I noticed the "thrill" (the pulsing feeling of my blood flowing through the graft) was absent. Sure enough, my access was clotted. So, I was sent to the surgeon's office, they did angioplasty in a few areas and suctioned out some clots, then sutured me up and told me to go back to dialysis. I chose to listen to my body and just call it a day. So if anyone needs me, I'll be in bed praying and/or meditating that I get a kidney soon because I'm honestly not sure how much more of this I can take. . . . #DialysisSucks #LoveYourKidneys #Angioplasty #ArterioVenousGraft #ADayInTheLife #PrayersForHealing #Tired #WitsEnd #ThisIsNotLiving https://www.instagram.com/p/B_VZJZMjTNv/?igshid=1b7uxjtlcktt6

My incisions are healing well & I've been cleared to start using the graft on February 20th. The two incisions in the top picture which are closer to my elbow are being stubborn so I needed steri-strips put on when the stitches were removed. The incision in the bottom picture is right at the bend of my armpit & is completely healed! The faint arch outline you can see going between my armpit & elbow is the actual graft I will be inserting two (unless I infiltrate which happens then sometimes 3) 14 gauge needles into 5 days a week. People often think I'm joking when I tell them my job is staying alive so I can get a transplant but it is! Thankfully, patients like me have choices. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ 1. We can do hemodialysis 3 times a week in a clinic setting where a nurse & technician will be overseeing our treatment. Our only responsibility is to show up on time & stay for our prescribed length of treatment (anywhere from 2-4 hours based on residual kidney function) ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ 2. We can have a catheter inserted into our abdomen & do peritoneal dialysis at home 7 days a week for 7-12 hours depending on labs, body size, & residual kidney function. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ 🔺This is what I currently do for basically 24 hours a day because I spend 11 hours hooked up to the machine at night, then I have dialysate solution in my stomach all day until I hook back up. The solution is also dextrose (sugar) which has caused me to gain a lot of weight in the past 4 years since my kidney failed. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ 3. We can have a arteriovenous graft or fistula access (basically creating an artery big enough for blood to be pulled from & returned to simultaneously) made in an arm or leg & do hemodialysis at home 5 days a week for 2-4 hours a day based on residual kidney function & labs. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ The difference between home hemodialysis & in-center hemodialysis is that home gives you a little more freedom to do the treatments on our schedule, more blood is cleaned more often, & insurance won't pay for more than 3 treatments a week in a clinic setting. ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ #TheMoreYouKnow #DialysisLife #FridayFacts #LoveYourKidneys #AreYouMyType #DonateLife (at The House of Tuff) https://www.instagram.com/p/B8RXGuTlXe1/?igshid=1mvag01wbs4pp

Gotta clean those permanent filters • discount code: brian20 • www.simple-supplements.com • #kidneyhealth #kidneys #loveyourkidneys #daily #dailyvitamins #dailysupplements #simplesupplements @simple_supplements @indy_muscle (at Carmel, Indiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2zDJhSAPhT/?igshid=1f2p0lcaduwzj

#loveyourkidneys #WorldKidneyDay #information #chronickidneydisease #ckd #fsgs #nephroticsyndrome #kidney #support (at Braunschweig Innenstadt) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvAMEzUhZHJ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=j94xt4gi1415

From the @nationalkidneyfoundation National Kidney Foundation and TMF Quality Innovative Institute Team-Up to Prevent Kidney Disease through Screening and Education https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-kidney-foundation-and-tmf-quality-innovative-institute-team-up-to-prevent-kidney-disease-through-screening-and-education-300645267.html #LoveYourKidneys (at Lake County, Indiana)