Kidney Foundation Admits: Kidney Patients Should be Notified of Potential Risk from Fluorides and Fluoridated Drinking Water.

... LINK ...

Ellijay, GA: June 3, 2008 – A new position paper from the National Kidney Foundation concludes that individuals with chronic kidney disease should be notified of the potential risk from exposure to fluorides. The document acknowledges gaping holes in research concerning kidney impacts from fluorides, lending new ammunition to the growing numbers of cities, health professionals, water agencies, and citizens who question industry and government assertions that water fluoridation has been proven safe. continued...

Happy Earth Day, everyone! What will you be doing today, this month, every day, or all the time, to celebrate?

Our family is honoring Earth Day in several ways: My son is participating in National Turn off the TV Week (a voluntary effort to raise awareness that life without television is not torture and can even be fun!), my DH is taking our gas-"friendlier" vehicle to work (instead of his sports car), we're all taking special care to remember to turn off our lights, computers, monitors and electronic devices...

...and I'm right here, promoting National Donate Life Month.

What? NDLM and Earth day, together? Am I out of my mind? How could one possibly draw a connection between the two? Here's your answer...

The Six-Word Memoirs website is going viral. And, really, why shouldn't it?

During the time when I was still in kidney failure and on dialysis, I came across the website But You Don't Look Sick? that pretty much sums up my own

It saddens me to read the headlines and watch the news reports about the four Chicago-area transplant recipients who have contracted HIV from their deceased transplant donor. The very thought of what has happened is heavy on my heart.

Just as the chance of a healthy life is given, it is snatched away.

I can't even imagine how the recipients and their families feel. The emotions of grief and anger, come to mind - a gift that was so freely shared, selflessly given to save a life, has now turned into a medical endeavor ever-increasing in complexity. The transplants these four people received, new organs intended to save their lives, might now mean a quicker route to death's door.

While events like this are very rare, it was one of the outcomes (ie. receiving a transmittable disease) that I had to prepare myself for, and accept, before I could go forward with a kidney transplant. It was extremely important to me to be prepared for every single possible outcome before I underwent a transplant.

I made the conscious decision to wait for four years on dialysis before pursuing the transplant - I believed, and still believe, that knowing I was at peace with whatever happened would give me the best possible chance.

No amount of peace has been afforded to the four transplant patients in Chicago. No fleeting opportunity for possible health has been afforded. Dreams of futures have become nightmares of what seemed almost impossible...

I'm sure they never expected to receive an organ along with a good dose of HIV - my heart goes out to all of them, and like most of you, I wish I could do something... but the only thing I can do is hope, wish, pray that there will be some way...

Please, if you or anyone you know have ever been touched by organ donation, send good thoughts (and prayers) their way - they'll need it.

Today's Kidney Education: "In 1994, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued guidelines for transplant professionals to identify and try to minimize the risk of transmission of HIV. From the time those guidelines were issued until the present instance, there have been no documented instances of HIV transmission through organ transplantation in the United States." OPTN/UNOS Statement Regarding HIV and Hepatitis C Transmission through Organ Transplantation

It started with the "normal" diet thing:

So, what you mean, Mr. Doctor, when you say I can "eat normally" is that I can eat what, exactly? Exactly how does someone who has been on one renal diet (first low protein pre-ESRD, and then high protein during ESRD) or another for more than half her life eat normally?!

Is there a list of foods I can have?

What? I can eat what I want? Is there someone who can tell me what I want... 'cause someone's been telling me what I wanted to eat for the last 15 years. Is there a list, possibly? WHERE IS MY DIETITIAN WHEN I NEED HER!

I still struggle with the "normal" aspect of my newly found health, and Falling into Healthy Eating isn't as easy as it might seem (NOTE: I'm totally going to be making that recipe as it contains three main ingredients that I've not been "allowed" to eat for a very VERY long time!!!) Doing things 'normally' was the last thing I thought I'd be worried about! Truly, I have no idea what 'normal' is - but, right now I'm thinking my daily "normal" is probably not... i.e. eating Campbell's Select Healthy Request Savory Chicken and Long Grain Rice Soup every night (with crushed up Classic Fritos Corn Chips Mmmm) and a Starbucks Espresso Frappuccino with EXTRA WHIPPED CREAM every day - the Starbucks addiction is the worst, no?

And I'm normal in other ways? How can this be? I've never been 'normal' so maybe I'm just having an abnormal moment when you just think I'm normal. Yes, surely that must be it.

I keep wondering how long this 'normal' stuff will last. I sure hope it lasts a long time, although it does take some getting used to. Not living my life around medications, doctors appointments, dialysis treatments and daily exhaustion is strange. What should I be doing with all my time? What do NORMAL PEOPLE do with all their time?

I'm still trying to figure out 'normal'... which seems to be the most 'normal' thing I've done all day.

My mother always said, “You make your own happiness.” That phrase wasn’t something I would truly come to understand until years after.