So today I had my first dialysis session in The Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore. Amongst the many things that happened, I was given a cook book called Truly Tasty. Andrew and I had been meaning to buy a copy, … Continue reading Beef fillet and ratatouille
Today is the last Sunday that I will be on dialysis in Tallaght University Hospital. No, I haven’t got a transplant. No, I don’t not need dialysis. Why, then? It is because my care is being transferred to the Midlands … Continue reading Start of the end of an era
The outlook for people living with HIV has improved dramatically over the last 20 years. An HIV-positive diagnosis is no longer as hopeless as it once was. Many who have HIV are able to live fuller, longer, healthier lives. However, myths still … Continue reading HIV Blogger included in list of Best HIV Blogs for 2019
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 … Continue reading Adherence towards transplant
For dialysis to work, each patient needs access from the body to the machine. Back in December, when my kidneys failed, I was given a permacath in my chest so that blood can be taken from my body, fed into … Continue reading Three points of access and a question from the 1980s
It’s been ten years of finding ways to raise awareness of HIV and people living with HIV. Here’s to the next ten years. Continue reading Ten years on – thanks to the nurses, doctors, and friends
So, I’ve been on haemodialysis (HD) for just over two months now. Just settled into the rhythm of it. Sunday afternoons (after church), Tuesday mornings (first thing), and Friday lunchtimes are the days I have been going up to Tallaght … Continue reading Changes afoot to dialysis
So, after three-and-a-half-weeks out of four being in hospital, I am now home. The new reality is hitting me, hard. Three days a week, I have to return to hospital as an outpatient for hæmodialysis. I also have to manage … Continue reading Out of hospital — but back 3 times a week
Earlier this afternoon, I learnt that the doctors were not going to proceed with my expected plasma exchange as the damage to my kidney was just too much. Irreversible kidney damage due to Goodpasture Syndrome. There is always hope. It may be in a different form from that expected earlier – but there is always hope. Continue reading there is always hope.
I don’t think I have had a day like Friday for Firsts first-time my entire family-of-origin came to see me in Dublin; they arrived just after my first bad reaction to a drip of platelets — I came out in a rash. they went to find food when I went downstairs for my first biopsy of a kidney. which was followed by my first dialysis session of an hour followed by first two hours of plasma exchange and finally I get back up to the ward and get some food — ham salad. looking forward to tomorrow, the biopsy results … Continue reading a day of firsts
