Building a Relationship with Your Care Team: It's super important to talk openly with your social worker, dietitian, nurses, patient care technicians, and kidney doctor for your treatment to go well. Get to know them because they're some of your biggest and best supporters.  The Dialysis Social Worker: These folks can help you in so many surprising ways. They give all-around support to people with long-term kidney disease. As key members of the care team, they usually have a Master's in Social Work and help patients deal with all the big changes dialysis brings, like managing emotions, handling paperwork, and finding resources. I know I'm missing a lot of what they do. They're not just there to listen; they're really talented at boosting your spirits! [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ] (My social worker is a true blessing. She is always there to encourage and advise. She cheers us all up with activities like BINGO and never forgets our birthdays or other holidays. She's...

* Reassuring advice and personal reflection on not letting your diagnosis define you or dictate your core identity. Hello Everyone! Hope you're doing well or getting there! Today I wanna chat about living my/your best life with an ESRD diagnosis and all the fast changes happening in your life. The adjustment can be daunting and can feel very overwhelming. Sometimes you'll think "if I could just switch places with anyone else....". Other times, it's like you're on a bad vacation, just waiting to get home and hit reset. I'm sure you've got a ton of other feelings and thoughts swirling around, and that's totally normal. I've had them myself.  You'll get through this. It'll just take some time for things (health-wise and emotionally) to get on a new path and for the proverbial dust to settle. You are the host, not the illness:  A diagnosis is merely a detail of your current physical or mental health; it is not a character trait. Receiving a...

Snacks are your friend: Dialysis-Friendly Snacks: Sweet and savory treat ideas that satisfy cravings without compromising your lab numbers. ***Please understand that your best source of information pertaining to your specific diet is obtained from your Renal Dietician and Nephrologist. Always consult them first. Hey Friends! One super important thing I've learned since starting hemodialysis is that whether you're diabetic (like me) or not, your blood sugar drops during dialysis. So, I eat two snacks every session to keep my blood sugar from getting too low. As a diabetic, I have to be extra careful about low blood sugar. First and foremost, I ALWAYS have my glucose gel for emergencies. I use a gel pack called "Transcend".  It's a glucose gel that raises your blood sugar pretty quickly. (It raises it about 15 to 45mg/dL within 15 minutes, depending on your body weight, metabolism, and if you're exercising. I like these more than the tablets, both for taste a...

Today's quote:   " I'm thankful for my struggle because without it I would not have stumbled across my strength." -Inspirational Proverb Hey everyone! Today I wanna chat about those "coulda, shoulda, woulda" moments that no one really wants to bring up. I feel like if you just acknowledge those thoughts, you can actually let them go. Maybe this whole process isn't for everyone, but it's totally worked for me in a bunch of areas in my life. It's brought down my stress levels and helped me move forward in both my head and my actions in several parts of my life. Letting go of past choices means you gotta switch from just replaying stuff in your head to being kind to yourself and actually doing something about it. You can totally break that cycle using some core psychology tricks like changing how you think, just accepting things as they are, and really paying attention. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ] To successfully move past those decisions,here are some a...