There’s not much to say other than the obvious.  I started 2009 going through dialysis training.  My kidney function was around 16% and it was time to do something about it.  I began by doing four manual exchanges a day and by April or so I started using the cycler.  In July I went through a transplant evaluation at UAB and was listed on their transplant list.  A month later I went through another evaluation and was listed with Vanderbilt’s transplant list.

Sometime in the fall I was feeling worse and was convinced it was because of the cycler.  My nurse thought it may be because I was getting shorter dwell times with the cycler and I went back on manual exchanges.  I felt better but soon got tired of doing all the exchanges again.  Every 6 months my team does a kinetics test that tells what kind of dialysis I am getting – this test in December came back as inadequate.  A review of previous tests showed that I did indeed get better dialysis on the cycler.  For about a week they had me doing 5 exchanges a day before I went back on the cycler again – and that is what I am doing presently (plus one manual exchange a day).

Some of you have asked me if I have heard anything from the transplant list and the answer is no.  They told us that we wouldn’t.  You see, you can’t call and see what number you are on the list because they match recipients by more than just that – they match by antigens, antibodies and blood type.  So it is a wait and see game, unless you have a live donor and so far, I do not. 

I’ve only been back on the cycler for about days but I am liking doing it at night with the only one exchange.  I’m sleeping better which goes a long way!!  I’m looking forward to a good 2010.