Today is five months since my first hæmodialysis. It is hard to believe that I have come so far since that first day. It certainly has been a roller coaster of a ride from thinking that plasma exchange might work (it couldn’t – kidneys too far gone), to trying peritoneal dialysis at home (that didn’t work for me either) to getting a fistula put in my left arm near my elbow, and knowing that the future care is to be hæmodialysis until or unless a transplant happens.

Getting towards transplant is the next goal. I had a meeting with my consultant yesterday in Tallaght University Hospital. We’re certainly getting towards starting the build up to transplant. Before I get to transplant we have to be sure that the anti-GBM antibodies which attacked my kidneys (causing the problem in the first instance) have gone from my body. The good news yesterday was that the last test showed the level to be 17. On admission back in December, it was over 350. So, we are definitely well on the way to them being gone.

As readers of the early part of this blog will know, I had terrible trouble with adherence to my HIV medication. I’m much better now on that, but am still getting there with all the medication that I have to take because of the kidney failure. Today, I am sitting down and organizing the medications so that I can do as well as I possibly can. It might be that I need to invoke the help of Andrew (as Medicine Tsar) fully to get on top of it, but I hope that from today, it will be better than it has been thus far. Adding what I need to take to my Google calendar should help.