The "I Like Thunderstorms at Night", edition.

"U Can't Touch This", MC Hammer. Royalties for Rick James.  "Stop.  Hammertime ". Or is it "Superfreak"?  ;-)  One of my side effects fro ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease" is the inability get much sleep at night. This has been consistent since I got out of the hospital. I might argue that the nap(s) I took during the day would affect nighttime sleep. However, I am not napping near as much as I was 8 to 9 months ago.  I'll go to bed around 11PM.  I won't go to sleep until after midnight. Then I'll wake up every hour and a half or so. On days when I've been very active  may sleep up to four hours straight. Yay!!  Last night was a pretty much sleepless night. I was treated to the thunderstorm.  When it started the dog next door let the neighborhood know. Lol. What we do without Bubbles?  My dog responded with a "woof" that I interpreted as, "Hush!".  Lol. 

What I've discovered is other ESRD patients and people with other types of kidney disease also suffer with insomnia. Those toxins running through our bodies just cause all kinds of havoc. "Testify", Common. He can always tell a story.  My nephrologist prescribed Ambien, but I'm not keen on taking anymore medications.  I already take the phosphorus binders, an anti-hypertensive, something to lower my parathyroid level and a vitamin. Hopefully it'll work out. 

I was thinking of how my body was affected from my kidneys failing over time. I can pinpoint when things started happening, but I don't think it was the kidneys initially.  In March 2009, I went to my orthopedic surgeon. My knees hurt. My feet hurt and I couldn't move my shoulder. The diagnosis was arthritis, plantar fasciitis, and frozen shoulder.  The remedies were Celebrex, foot exercises and physical therapy. The worst was the frozen shoulder.  I couldn't lift my arm, and therapy was painful also. Lol. The heat did feel good. The PT had to get my shoulder joint moving. It felt like grinding bone on bone. ;-(    The good news is in 3 months I had full movement. :-). I'm pretty sure this was not related kidney failure, but this is the point I started collecting doctors. 

One day, my PT noticed I was walking funny.  I told him my thighs hurt. He said it cold be sign of spinal problems and suggested I go back to the orthopedic surgeon, who promptly sent me for an MRI. Sure enough, I had spinal stenosis.  "Groove in the Heart", Deee-Lite. Featuring Q-Tip and Bootsy Collins. Time to chair dance :-D.   From there I was sent to the pain clinic. Oh yeah, I also got steroid shots in my knees. By fall 2010 I got a steroid shot in my back.  I think I had a total of 3 shots. I was prescribed painkillers between shots. 

I noticed my appetite diminishing in November 2011. I was using a cane by then.  By February, I wake up trying to vomit, but I hadn't eaten. It was like the most brutal form of morning sickness. It would last about 15 minutes.  That would wear me out for the rest of the day.  Sometimes I'd have to call in sick. I was having problems getting up out of chairs (I told the story of DPD command officers helping me up.  Lol. These guys are now an assistant chief and a deputy cheif). My clothes were falling off of me (and when the assistant chief and deputy chief helped me up, my pants tried to fall off - lol).  I was tired. I retired because I was tired. By September I was itching and had this weird metallic taste in my mouth that wouldn't go away. By October 2012, I had pulmonary edema. The fluid and toxins had found their way to my lungs. I was drowning the last week. All the doctors were treating each symptom separately. The blood test came 2 days before I ended up at the hospital. 

Well, the great news is the ESRD was identified and treated.   Oh yeah, the back doesn't hurt anymore. My feet don't hurt anymore.  My knees don't hurt anymore.   My shoulder is fine. All is well. :-)

Signing off with "The Dramatics", Ocean of Thoughts and Dreams". Of course. <3. Have a fabulous weekend.