Not Dehydrated Last Time

I had another successful dialysis treatment on Saturday. Whenever I go to dialysis, they always take my weight before and after the treatment. The goal of this is to help maintain my “dry weight”. This dry weight was determined at the hospital, before I started my first dialysis. They decided that I should weight 66 kg. Now, that isn’t much at all, and during my first outpatient dialysis treatment, they took off too much fluid, dehydrating me, and ended up having to add some extra fluid at the end of the treatment. So, they decided to up my weight to 67 kg. Since then, I am eating better (even on my restricted diet) and have gained a little weight. So, I think it’s time to up my dry weight again.

Thursday’s treatment left me with low blood pressure and a light-headed feeling. I saw my cardiologist on Friday. She told me that I had most likely gained weight and needed to let the clinic know to increase my dry weight. She said that I was probably having too much fluid filtered out of my blood, and I agreed. When I went to dialysis on Saturday, I only weight 67.7 kg (which is 0.7 kg above my weight). They ended up filtering off about 700 cc of fluid that night, and my weight when I left was 68.2 kg. They seemed a bit confused of how I could gain weight during a treatment, but I mentioned that they had had to add more fluid this time to keep my blood pressure and heart rate at a normal level and not drop too low.

I should get to see the nephrologist at the clinic next week and let him know that the cardiologist recommended increasing my dry weight on record. I used to weigh 165 pounds (which is 75 kg) before my surgery, so maybe I can get my dry weight at least back up into the 70's.

Here are some prayer requests I have for this week:

• I am scheduled to go back to work on Monday, August 29. Please pray that I will be well enough to perform my duties at work and that I will continue to stay healthy enough to keep up a full work and dialysis schedule after not doing anything all summer.
• Now that my insurance card has arrived, please pray that the transplant paperwork will be processed quickly so that I can get tested and put on the transplant list.