A Family Affair
The transplant doctor called a meeting for my whole family and told us that since I was AB positive, I was easy to match and they were all possible donors. So who would donate? The doctor helped us make a decision. My daughter was not the top choice because she might still have more children, so he suggested my oldest son, Robert, be tested and my other son, Michael, be the second choice.
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A Healing Presence: Howard Netter, MD
My father, Howard Netter, M.D., spent much of his life welcoming new people into this world. His work as an obstetrician-gynecologist perfectly melded his love for medicine with his absolute respect and joy for humanity. I recently returned to my hometown of Albany, New York to practice holistic medicine and energy healing. After speaking with streams of my father's precious patients I realized that this wonderful clinician and surgeon was, in fact, always practicing holistic medicine as well! He truly cared for every patient's mind, body, and spirit. He offered precisely what each patient needed to feel: supported, nurtured, and respected...When faced with deteriorating renal function and health challenges due to Polycystic Kidney Disease, he practiced what he believed: You must actively participate in your own health care process.
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A Ride Across America 2: A Journey to Promote Organ Donation
In April 2006 (National Donate Life Month), we assembled a team of transplant recipients, living donors, and family members of donors and recipients and completed our second "Big Ride." After loading up our gear, we traveled from San Francisco to New York City on (take a guess...) ATVs!
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A Time to Speak
In case you're wondering, Toastmasters is not where you learn the fine art of making toast for breakfast (though a lot of clubs meet at that early hour). Rather, it's a training ground for learning the fine art of public speaking.
After visiting a few Toastmasters clubs in my local area, I decided this would be a beneficial investment of my time. I chose a club and became a member.
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Adequate or Optimal Dialysis (Podcast)
A frequent term that is used in the dialysis industry is adequate dialysis. Lori and Stephen talk to Dr. Raffi Minasian on how the industry is recognizing that patients need more dialysis to feel better and improve their quality of life. Dr. Minasian explains some of the benefits of more dialysis and the barriers health care professionals encounter to be able to deliver optimal dialysis to their patients
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Bush Baby Travels the Globe - Learning about Love, Joy, and Support While Living with Kidney Failure
This is a story about a little stuffed koala bear-like animal that has traveled the globe to visit people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), bringing them love, joy, and support from fellow travelers with kidney failure. The tiny toy creature, called "Bush Baby," has journeyed to five continents, staying with one enthusiastic host or hostess after another.
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Coaching Yourself to Victory (Podcast)
On this week's show, Lori Hartwell and Stephen Furst speak with Sharon Pahlka, a truly remarkable woman who has been a kidney patient for three decades but has never let that stop her from doing the things she has wanted to do (even competitive water skiing, when she was a bit younger). She now helps others with chronic illnesses to "live their lives on purpose."
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Commitment, Self-Evaluation, and the Value of Employment and Hope for Kidney Patients
Life as we have known it changes. That is why it is so critical to retain as much as possible the things that have given us purpose, identity, and financial reward. We need to keep working... at something!
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Confessions of a Fashion Princess (Podcast)
Michelle Kats (Mishy) hasn't had an easy life, she was diagnosed with kidney disease at a very young age. That hasn't kept her from developing style and knowing who she is. Listen as Stephen and Lori travel with her along her journey of courage, hope and love.
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Do You Know Who Is Sitting Next To You In Dialysis?
As I reflected on all the years I’ve done dialysis treatment, I realized that socializing with other patients at the dialysis unit has been my most positive experience. I have always enjoyed getting to know a new person, intrigued to discover our similarities as much as our differences. However, combine the idea of a dialysis treatment with the idea of “social benefits,” and being able to socialize with others ends up on the top of the “Least Likely To Do List.”
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Education is Key to Living a Better Life with Kidney Disease (Podcast)
According to this week’s guest, Dr. Ken Kleinman, MD, president of Nephrology Medical Associates and CEO of South Valley Regional Dialysis Center in Tarzana, CA, education is the key to managing any chronic illness, especially kidney disease. It’s hard to learn everything you need to know about kidney disease. And when you do learn, you run the risk of forgetting it. But don’t worry... it happens to all of us. Dr. Kleinman says, “You don’t just have kidney disease—your entire body is out of whack because kidney disease affects your whole body. There is so much information to learn that you just can’t do it all in a 15-minute visit.” So what are we to do? It’s up to us as patients to learn all we can about our disease, since we’re the ones who have to live with it every day. We can begin the learning process by asking questions, starting with our own nephrologists.
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Exercise Program Tips for Dialysis Patients
Although you see your physician regularly to control your blood sugar and your BP, what are you doing to increase your physical activity? It is equally as important--and maybe even easier to control--than BP and blood sugar. You can be more physically active, and it may just save your life.
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From the Ironing Board to Tokyo: My Worldwide Adventures as a Peritoneal Dialysis Patient
In May 1999, it became clear that I would soon have to start continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). Since I had planned to visit an inter-religious conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that summer, my first question to the nephrologist was: "Will it be possible for me to travel there?"
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High Antibody Count - What To Do? (Podcast)
Howard Feinberg had a transplant that unfortunately ended up failing. Now back on dialysis, and back on the list he learned his chances were very slim to receive a second kidney. Howard took control of his care and found out all his options. He learned of a new therapy that helps reduce your antibody count. Listen to Howard’s journey of how he was able to receive his second transplant.
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How to Get Involved in Your 'Network'
Have you ever had times when another patient helped you and you thought, “I want to be like that and help other patients have a better quality of life”? There is something about being a kidney patient that often causes us to see other patients as family and want to help them live healthier, happier, and longer lives. A great way to do just that is by becoming involved in your local ESRD (end-stage renal disease) Network.
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How to Make the Holidays Hassle Free - and Add a Sprinkle of Joy!
The holidays can be full of joy and lasting memories. But they can also add stress in our lives, especially when we are balancing the many issues kidney disease brings to us. Here are a few suggestions on how to enjoy the holidays with fewer hassles:
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If You Could Read My Mind, Love
So many times I wish my wife could have read my mind. How much easier that would have been! Despite our closeness, despite the extraordinary number of hours spent together on my dialysis nights, despite long rambling conversations about everything and nothing, she still wasn't privy to all my thoughts.
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KidneyTalk! Celebrates 100th Show: The Remarkable Ed Spence (Podcast)
“Live your life” is the motto by which Ed Spence lives his daily life and encourages others who have kidney disease. You don’t want to miss this inspiring show as we travel along his 34 year journey of overcoming the trials and tribulations of kidney disease with an attitude that is unstoppable.
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Living the Writing Life and Being a Peritoneal Dialysis Patient
As someone who has written 43 books down through the years, I am seen as having some sort of supernatural gift. Instead, I started out at least as wide of the mark as Austin and his basketball. With practice, I grew faster and more accurate. Skill? Intellect? I wish I had a lot of either. What I do have is tenacity, the belief that, by now, I can hit some sort of literary basket every time I shoot.
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Looking for Adventure: A Grand Waltz with Dialysis
This was not the first adventure Bill and the NxStage kidney machine have been on together. Bill traveled and dialyzed daily with his machine this last year on a road trip to Chicago with his dog, Cairny, taking in Yellowstone National Park along the way. He has also flown to three destinations with his machine. He can now say that he has been over land, sea, and air with his kidney machine.
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Medication Tips (Podcast)
This week on KidneyTalk, Mike Josbena, MS, RPH, President of Wordsmiths Health Communications talks with Lori Hartwell and Stephen Furst in depth about medication. What is medication? Where do you store medication? You'll be surprised to hear where in fact you should not store your meds. What about herbal medication? Is it really medication? Can vitamins hurt you? What if you forget your medication? Listen in to this fun and insightful show, and find out the answers to all these questions and more.
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My Terrific 'Normal' Life
I was born June 13, 1970 in Houston, Texas, a healthy, “normal” baby girl. At age 3, my family moved to Kenner, Louisiana, outside New Orleans. As a child, I loved sports. I played volleyball, basketball, and softball. I was best at softball. I played each summer in a neighborhood league. One of my childhood friends that I played with, Paige Weber, was the best in the league. She went on to play softball on a statewide level
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New Years Resolutions for the Renal Diet
From Thanksgiving to the new year, patients with kidney failure in particular must be careful what and how much they eat. Holiday foods are replete with phosphorus, potassium, and sodium. Therefore, it takes some effort for kidney patients to be extra adherent to their renal diets. Here are some tips from one of our favorite renal dietitians on how to eat healthy year-round
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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.
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Overcome the Exercise Excuses! (Podcast)
So many reasons not to exercise, but what reasons do you have TO exercise? Shari Gilford has been the Graphic Designer and Managing Editor for RSN’s patient newsletter Live & Give; a current transplant recipient; previously on nocturnal home HD, in-center HD, CAPD, CCPD; and a recipient of two other transplants speaks with Lori Hartwell and Stephen Furst about motivating yourself to exercise. Shari is a busy woman, and her life has not been an easy one, yet she is happier, younger, and more energetic than ever. It all starts with the will to exercise. Refusing to let her difficulties dictate to her what she could and couldn’t do, she took control of her health and made a positive change to her entire life.
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Seeing the Big Picture: Communicating With Your Nephrologist About Goals and Expectations
What are the expectations of my patients, and how do they compare with my own expectations of them? Is there more that we can do together to allow patients to accomplish those goals? Free and open communication is an absolute necessity if patients are to achieve their goals and not fall prey to the trap of low expectations coming either from themselves or their caregivers.
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Sit, Fit for Life (Podcast)
Hey, all you “couch kidneys” out there! Do you hate to exercise? Does the thought of just saying the word “exercise” tire you out? You’re in great company because Stephen hates to exercise and struggles with having enough energy, which our guest this week says he hears kidney patients say all the time. This week on KidneyTalk Lori and Stephen visit with Dan Bayliss, Clinical Coordinator of the SitFit exercise program at the University of Virginia Renal Services department. Dan discusses some fun and creative ways to exercise and tells us why it’s so important for our health. Listen in and discover all the benefits of exercise – you’ll be surprised and maybe even motivated to get moving! Let’s get physical
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Slip, Slop, Slap- Preventing Harmful Effects of the Sun
Warnings about the damaging effects of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays on the skin have been at the forefront of health advice for years. As a kidney transplant recipient, I know that the chance of getting skin cancer is much higher for me than for the rest of the population.
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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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Something For Everyone at the U.S. Transplant Games
The success of transplant athletics--specifically, the U.S. Transplant Games--has created new opportunities to demonstrate the success of transplantation and the critical need for additional donors.
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Spring Fling: Earning Your Dialysis Dollars
"Have you earned your Dialysis Dollars today?"
That was a common question heard throughout the Jane Phillips Dialysis Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. We began this motivational program for our patients in November 2006. The social worker and dietitian worked together to develop a way to involve patients in their own healthcare and well-being. Our goal was to get as many patients as possible interested in their lab work and attitude in an effort to improve their health, increase happiness, and encourage hope.
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Taking Dialysis on the Road (Podcast)
“On the road again....” Four simple words that once seemed impossible for dialysis patients. But not any longer! On this week’s show, Lori Hartwell and Stephen Furst talk with someone who helps make dialyzing in another city or state (or even another country) a lot easier. There was a time when it was difficult to arrange treatments for hemodialysis patients who wanted to travel. Dialysis facilities didn’t always have openings for patients who wished to receive only one or two treatments. The facilities also may not have had enough staff to accommodate visiting patients. Thankfully, times have changed.
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The World or Bust
Why do I travel? I think it comes back to how I deal with kidney disease and life in general. I live in the moment-which, let me tell you, has its significant drawbacks.
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Traveling Around the Globe: Adventures of a Hemodialysis Patient (Podcast)
Bill Peckham has undergone hemodialysis since 1990 and has traveled all over the world, dialyzing in 19 countries on five continents. Learn about his adventures and hear firsthand what dialysis is like in other parts of the world. So, you think your traveling days are over now that you're on dialysis? Think again. On this week's show, Lori Hartwell and Stephen Furst talk with Bill Peckham, a hemodialysis patient who has visited 29 countries on five continents since starting dialysis, dialyzing in 19 of them!
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Working 9-5: What a Way to Make a Living (Podcast)
Are you concerned as a kidney patient about maintaining your current job? Maybe youd like to go back to work, but believe you cant for one reason or another. If this is you or someone you know who is living with kidney failure, this is the show for you. This week on KidneyTalk Lori and Stephen talk with Beth Witten, who speaks, writes, and answers questions from patients and professionals about rehabilitation for the Medical Education Institute and is an expert on the topic of kidney patients staying employed or returning to work. Hear Beths advice regarding job discrimination, insurance, and disability employment plus other interesting facts about working. Tune to your favorite online radio station because there's good news waiting for you!
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