The "It's World Kidney Day!", edition.

No music today, but music is always around anyway. Today is World Kidney Day. The purpose of World Kidney Day is to make people aware of kidney health and to protect their kidneys. Of course, prior to 2012, I had no knowledge of any of this. I freely admit that once my kidneys failed, I became a fierce supporter of people getting the knowledge of what their kidneys do and how to protect their kidneys. In addition I am a strong proponent of people getting check ups to make sure their kidneys are healthy and having information if their kidneys are in danger or failing. I must admit that a few of my readers have told me that they, too, have kidney issues. I encourage all of my friends to get their kidneys checked!  

If you've been reading this blog, I've taken you on my adventures in kidney failure and dialysis. There are 5 stages of kidney failure. You don't want to get to where I am, stage 5 ..End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). That'll earn you a trip to a dialysis chair. But you can get checked to see if your kidneys are healthy and if you are in any of the stages of kidney failure, how to manage it. I'll always wonder if, instead of going to different doctors for each of my symptoms, rather telling just one of those doctors all of the symptoms if this may have ended differently. At this stage, I'm not sure. I may have prolonged having to go on dialysis and being prepared, instead of being 2 hours off from dying.  Anyway. Perhaps you can get the urine test once a year on World Kidney Day to make sure your kidneys are healthy. Look. I'd really be pissed at you if after reading this blog since January 2013 and you tell me you haven't had a urine test. You should know better than that by now. Unless you wish to join me in my Adventures in Dialysis. I really wouldn't wish these adventures on anyone. 

Ok lecture over. Back to life. Doing home hemo has increased my energy level immensely. But I can still get tired. Home hemo has also seemed to lessen my bouts of insomnia. Anyway. Brian started planning for life after home hemo training. We are taking water aerobics 3 times a week, an acrylic painting class and a watercolor class and manage to make it to the gym. And I've reactivated with the sorority and also got sucked into one of the clubs Mom was involved with .... I walked into the room and a lady says, "you look just like Frances Perry". Lol. And we're planning a trip to visit Shawn. We'll be testing out the portability of this home hemo thing. 

Oh yeah. The water aerobics is in a senior center, but I think it's too easy. Plus it's shallow water aerobics and I prefer deep water aerobics. It wears me out more. Lol lol. So anyway. Yesterday in water aerobics, the music went out. The music tends to be 50s music.. A bit before my time. Well someone played 60s music!!!  The Beatles were more than welcome!  Lol. Another song played that Brian and I liked. We were familiar with it, but didn't know the name or the group. Thanks to Google we found it. We were listening to The Zombies, "Time of The Season".  Great 60s, hippie song!  It has been added to my playlist. 

We checked out some aquatic centers here. Wow. These places are impressive. We'll be moving from the senior center for several reasons. We need more of a challenge. And the locker rooms are a joke. So tiny and 1 shower. Lol. The instructor teaches deep water aerobics at one of the centers, so we'll be joining her there. The acrylic class is a hoot. And in spite of that, we are painting and learning. The watercolor class is at UNLV. What we've found with both class is that after you leave your painting for for a few days and come back to look at it, it looks prety good. While painting, though I feel like an abysmal failure. Lol. 

Finally, as we plan for travel, we have a lot of logistic issues we need to address. We have to carry the home hemo machine as luggage. It's pretty heavy, but it has a carry case. It will be checked in at the airport as medical equipment, so there is no charge. Yes after Shawn's luggage was diverted to San Diego, I'm concerned that the airlines may "misplace" my life line. Anyway. I will also need to bring the saline bags, the needles, the pads, the medications, the sterile gloves, the tape, the gauze pads, the blood pressure cuff, syringes and the thermometer.  I may have to bring the scale....  The company that makes the dialysis machine will ship the dialysate bags and anything else related to the operation of the machine to the hotel. Brian suggested using a Rubbermaid crate with wheels. Sounds good. I'll be making reservations early next month. The true test of home hemodialysis flexibility. I've read about people actually going on camping trips with this thing. 

Today is our free day with no activities. Going shopping for ingredients for red beans and rice. I'm hosting dinner for Dad's friend, Carl on Sunday. Carl lives in a senior complex. He's not in the assisted living area. He's fairly independent, but he doesn't drive, because of his eyesight. Anyway, he and Dad hang out pretty often. And I just like doing this. I feel that Mom wants me to keep an eye on people. :)

Well. I didn't do three days of blogging this week. But I'm still going to try. Have a great weekend. I hear it's warming up in the Midwest. We're heading toward the 80s this weekend. I have no regrets!  Take care and get that urine test to get your kidneys checked out!!!  Happy World Kidney Day!!!!