A glimmer of hope (6/26/22)

A glimmer of hope

Despite my knee being the size of a ballon, the weigh-in today gives me hope.

My “dry weight” is 81 kg (178 lbs). Last Sunday, before I was on a fluid restriction, I blew up to 88 kg (194 lbs). That meant I was carrying 16 pounds of excess fluid that my body couldn’t remove on its own. On Monday (6/20), the dialysis center removed almost 10 pounds of fluid in 1 session. This was a painful experience as it caused cramps and aches all week just like a great leg day would.

Yesterday when I left dialysis, my weight was 81.3 kg. 36 hours later, I just came in at 81.5 kg, an insignificant gain of .2! This means I have effectively managed to control my fluid intake.

Also, and not to get too graphic, but my output was fantastic the last 36 hours as well. This is not something I ever had to think about before.

Did you know the average output is 250-400 ml per output? Someone with healthy kidneys will go ~7x per 24 hours for a total volume of 800-2000 ml. I almost hit that today. Truly a milestone.

It seems like some kidney function is returning boosted by diuretics. Like I said, a glimmer of hope.