Lori's Lines "A Second Chance"
During the past four decades, I have witnessed many incredible advancements in the treatment of patients with kidney disease. I will be forever grateful for all of the people who worked tirelessly to preserve my life and the lives of the millions of others who have lived with this disease. Unfortunately, there is a widely held public perception that kidney disease is still a death sentence like it was in the 1960s, and that individuals with kidney disease are bed-ridden and cannot live a satisfying life. Nothing is further from the truth.
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Lori's Lines "Aspirations for the Future"
When I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in 1968, no one really talked about my future because back in those days, they didn't think I had one! But there was one person who finally gave me hope.
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Lori's Lines "Build Your Own Sandcastle"
As a child, Bob Bell loved to build sandcastles. He spent as much time as he possibly could at the beach, creating these complex structures. As he grew older, he found that he was quite good at building sandcastles. In fact, crowds of barefoot onlookers in bathing suits would stand for hours watching him work. But he eventually took a "normal" job and stopped building sandcastles.
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Lori's Lines "Buttons are Helping Me Keep it Together"
As you may know, I have a number of health challenges. When I started back on dialysis last March, after a 20 year run with my kidney transplant, I needed to again adjust to living on dialysis. At times I felt a bit down and frustrated. Although I had been on dialysis before, I again had to learn to adapt to this major lifestyle change.
As individuals with a chronic disease, how can we deal with the bumps in the road that seems to continually appear before us? One of the strategies I use to cope with challenges in my health status is to engage in the creative process.
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Lori's Lines "Excuse Me! What Am I Ordering?"
The tempting titles that adorn the menus turn your willpower to jello! Like Tony Roma's special barbecue ribs boasting that tantalizing famous barbecue sauce of theirs. Or an Olive Garden culinary special, Chicken Scampi. Yum! I can just taste the chicken breast tenderloins sautéed with bell peppers, roasted garlic, onions in a garlic cream sauce served over angel hair pasta. And than they fill you up with all that hot bread and butter they bring to your table before your meal even arrives.
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Lori's Lines "KidneyTalk Arriving in June!"
Most people who know me would probably say, "Lori likes to talk!" I do enjoy people, and I do enjoy learning new things and sharing the knowledge I have acquired over the years. So I am very excited about Renal Support Network's latest project,"KidneyTalk!" KidneyTalk! is an online radio talk show that, beginning in June, will stream health, happiness, and hope over the Internet. I am absolutely thrilled that my KidneyTalk! co-host is Stephen Furst, an accomplished television and movie actor/producer/director recently diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and now on dialysis. We are having so much fun creating these shows and interviewing guests
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Lori's Lines "Managing Multiple Medications"
I have taken enough pills in my lifetime to choke several horses! (I am sure you have taken your fair share, too.) At this point, I believe that my 42 years of pill taking have qualified me for a PhD in pillology, so I thought I would share a few tips that I have learned along the way. There are a lot of issues that I could cover, but for now I will limit my comments to two general categories-medication safety and medication adherence.
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Lori's Lines "Pay It Forward"
My mom and I were shopping. Both of our arms were full with the store's 50%-off sale merchandise. The store was packed and there wasn't a lot of room to move around. The checkout line was long and a man was arguing with the saleslady about a price. The energy in the air was unhappy.
Mom and I looked at each other and mentally asked each other, "Is this really worth it?" At that moment, my mom accidentally bumped into the young woman waiting in line in front of her and promptly said, "Excuse me." The woman turned around and asked my mom, "Can I hold something for you?" The woman said this with a big smile and an eagerness to help. Mom was startled; she said, "No, I got it, but thank you for asking."
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Lori's Lines "Persistence & Hope - A Winning Combination"
Anyone who has ever gotten anywhere in life will tell you that they exercised a lot of stiff-lipped persistence. When recalling the early days of their career, few successful entrepreneurs can forget the rejections they endured, along with plenty of nail-biting and toe-tapping. Likewise, every person who is living well despite chronic kidney disease is doing so because of stubborn persistence. It is that refusal to give up despite some very rough going—along with hope that things will get better—that characterizes the achiever.
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Lori's Lines "Personal Maintenance Agreement"
Recently I was exiting a long flight when I overheard a woman say to her spouse, "I have to go the restroom, my kidneys are killing me!" We all know that her bladder was killing her—figuratively speaking.
In today's high-tech healthcare society, I am amazed at how little people know about their bodies and what makes them tick.
Limited awareness leaves people prone to developing serious health problems. The two leading causes of kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure. It is estimated that 20 million Americans have chronic kidney disease, which equates to 1 in 9 adults. There are so many people who have no idea that their bodies are in crisis.
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Lori's Lines "Telling Your Story-One Person at a Time"
Everyone has a story. Unfortunately, not everyone tells their story for fear of being judged, shyness, or the belief that other people are not interested. I have learned that telling my story can save lives. I have grown up telling my story of how I survived with chronic kidney disease. I always receive responses like "you are so young to have kidney problems" or "are you okay now?" These comments remind me of the lack of education among the general public of CKD and what causes it.
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Lori's Lines "The Birth of RSN"
I can remember the exact moment I came up with the idea of starting the Renal Support Network. I was in my car, waiting for a red light on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, by the Kodak Theater, where the Academy Awards take place.
The gridlock was horrible that day, but when you are stuck in Los Angeles traffic you have lots of time to think. (Cell phones were not yet mainstream!) It was the two-year anniversary of my kidney transplant; I was so grateful to not have to dialyze anymore. I had been on dialysis for 12 years and this was such a welcome change.
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Lori's Lines "The Resilience of the Human Spirit"
I grew up believing that the blind could see. My grandfather taught me that. For instance, he could hear the ice cream truck long before I could, and he always knew who was in the room. He would walk around the neighborhood by himself for hours, knowing exactly where he was and what was around him. The only difference between him and other people was that he carried a cane.
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Lori's Lines "Turning Scary Emotions into Hope for a Wonderful Life"
Our emotions typically are triggered because of a fear of the unknown and how living with CKD will affect our lives and those that we love. People often become extremely emotional during times of emotional stress, and we can be happy one minute and tearful the next. If this sounds like you, the first thing to realize is that you are not alone! Research has shown the most people go through many emotional stages when they are first diagnosed with an illness. In my case, I have had CKD since I was a small child, and my lifelong journey has been heralded by many changes in both the status of my disease as well as how I deal with it emotionally.
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Lori's Lines "Uncertainty"
The last couple of months have brought so much uncertainty, pain, and grief to people across the world. Hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes have caused many to reconsider whether they can truly believe that things will ever get better.
Last December, I had to undergo double knee-replacement surgery. I really didn't have a choice, since it was becoming too difficult for me to walk without severe pain. Thirty-seven years as a kidney patient had taken its toll, along with years of ice-skating.
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Lori's Lines "Visualizing a Healthy You"
One of my favorite visualization techniques comes from Wayne Dyer, PhD, a psychotherapist, author, and motivational speaker. He suggests the following exercise, which I've paraphrased for simplicity: Picture a digital basketball scoreboard. Once you have a strong visual of the scoreboard, picture a score of 24. Slowly visualize the scoreboard counting backward: 24, 23, 22, 21... Focus only on the score. If another thought comes to mind, you have to start over.
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Lori's Lines "weKAN and we did!"
One of my favorite Chinese proverbs is, "Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, but involve me and I'll understand." This quote is a roadmap to patient involvement.
Mapping out the plan for weKAN "patient activists" to visit Capitol Hill was a first-time experience for Renal Support Network (RSN). Knowing it was imperative to involve these intelligent patients in the process, RSN scheduled interactive conference calls to provide a forum for questions and input. The training materials created from this information would help patients become successful as effective spokespersons and advocates on behalf of fellow kidney patients.
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Lori's Lines "Welcome from Lori Hartwell"
I am excited to introduce the first issue of the weKAN Live & Give newsletter. The title of this newsletter represents the core belief system of the Renal Support Network (RSN) and the weKAN Patient Activists-we can live, and give!
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Lori's Lines "What My Pets Teach Me"
My pets are an example to me of how to live. They teach me to listen and to be kind and loving no matter what. As I watch them play together and get along even though they're different, I realize that it's easier to accept one another if we have a common goal. They also remind me to pay attention to details, to take care of myself, and to live in the moment.
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