Thanksgiving - Indulging Can Be Hazardous
by Lori Hartwell, RSN President/Founder Thanksgiving is almost here. We will gather with family and friends and share a tasty meal. For most people, it is a happy occasion. However, some people dread the festive feast. Many people who live with chronic kidney disease have dietary restrictions that don’t coincide with the culinary delights of the holiday season. The dialysis diet can be difficult to adhere to during the holidays, so it is important to make sure your holiday meal is healthy. And remember many family members may be dealing with their own dietary restrictions. read article
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Thanksgiving - Indulging Can Be Hazardous
Thanksgiving is almost here. We will gather with family and friends and share a tasty meal. For most people, it is a happy occasion. However, some people dread the festive feast. Many people who live with chronic kidney disease have dietary restrictions that don’t coincide with the culinary delights of the holiday season. The dialysis diet can be difficult to adhere to during the holidays, so it is important to make sure your holiday meal is healthy. And remember many family members may be dealing with their own dietary restrictions.
2008 Essay Contest - Spanish Essay Winner (spanish)
Si tuviéramos cien mil dólares para mejorar las condiciones del paciente renal, lo primero que haríamos sería asegurarnos de convertir esa cantidad en un fondo recurrente, protegido por un banco reconocido, fiable y notariado con el propósito de que gane intereses. Para asegurarnos de que se hiciera buen uso de él, seleccionaríamos un comité compuesto de pacientes renales que representaran sus respectivos turnos. De esta manera, cualquier compañero que solicitara ayuda económica, debería presentar su petición, debidamente justificada, a este comité.
2008 Essay Contest - Spanish Essay Winner
If we had one hundred thousand dollars to improve conditions for renal patients, the first thing we would do is to make that amount into a renewable fund, protected by a well-known, trustworthy bank, and notarized so that it earns interest. To make sure that it would be used appropriately, we would select a committee of renal patients to represent their different shifts. This way, any fellow patient who requested economic assistance, would present their request, rightfully justified, to this committee.
3rd Place - 2008 Essay Contest
The portable artificial kidney, “Arty,” would be similar to a pace maker. “Arty” would be to the kidney what the pace maker is to the heart. The artificial kidney would be a small machine about the size of a woman’s fist. A patient would only need one artificial kidney that would be placed inside the patient’s body through a small 2 inch incision in the area where one of the kidneys is located. The artificial kidney would consist of a soft pliable type material that has a lot of micro fibers similar to a natural kidney’s nephrons. It would also take over the functions of a diseased kidney by filtering nitrogenous wastes and toxins from the blood and produce urine. The urine would then be stored in the urinary bladder until it is full. The urine would then exit the body through the urethra.
2nd Place - 2008 Essay Contest
I’m going with the theory that you start at home, make changes in your own neighborhood, city, or county, then, like a pebble dropped in a still pond, you wait for the ripples to spread the message. That’s how I am going to use these funds to try to move my state towards an opt-out program of organ donation. What’s that, you ask? Well, instead of asking residents to sign a donor card on their driver’s license saying they opt-in, they would be asked to sign a card saying that they DON’T want to be a donor and sign that. This then begins the process of re-educating the populace to believe they are considered an organ donor unless they say otherwise.
1st Place - 2008 Essay Contest
First, I would educate them. Once a person has been diagnosed with renal disease and will need to begin dialysis, I would have a fellow dialysis patient who has had the procedure--catheter, life-site or graph--assigned to the new patient. Let them share their personal story about the surgical process, the healing period, and what the incision will look like once it has healed. Although my brain knows this procedure will not only save my life but give me a better quality of life, as a woman, my heart tells me that I will have a scar that will be unattractive and might limit my wearing of certain clothing. To some this might seem superficial but to a female, especially a young female, this is a very real concern. It's important to have affirmation from someone who has already been where I still have to go.
Help Your Family Make the Kidney Connection
Twenty six million Americans have signs of kidney damage based on urine or blood tests. People of all ages and races are at risk for kidney disease, but African Americans are much more likely than other groups to develop kidney failure, which is severe kidney damage requiring treatment with dialysis or kidney transplant. In fact, African Americans are four times more likely than Caucasians to be diagnosed with kidney failure.
(I)nformed, (C)ommitted, (U)nderstanding Legislators
We see our elected leaders on television, we read about them in the newspapers, and sometimes we even encounter them in person. Most of the time these elected officials are doing the talking—they tell us about themselves, their plans, their policies, and their problems.
Election season turns things around. Now, it's our turn to speak, and our leaders must listen. They know that to get our votes they will need to understand our interests and concerns.
Nine Years on Dialysis and Still Working
I started dialysis nine and a half years ago and at that time, as I lay in my hospital bed undergoing three days a week dialysis on an emergency basis, I wondered if I would ever return to my job.
So You Think You Can Dance...My Life as a Dancer and Dialysis/Transplant Patient
At 4’11” and 98 pounds, I’m petite, and have been all my life. So, needless to say, when I tell people that I have four kidneys and two pancreases, they are shocked. But, really, I’m very fortunate. I’m alive today because of the support and love of my mother and father and the expertise of amazing medical professionals.
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"I learned while sitting next to a fellow dialysis patient in the lobby or while receiving my dialysis treatment. Ideally, this is not the best way to learn!"
-Debbie Raysor, So. Carolina
Excerpt from RSN's 2008 Essay Contest
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