Welcome to Friday! I hope the week has been kind to you. Before I get to my final gift idea I am going to give a couple of updates. I did not get to my Dollar Tree food item this week, because on Wednesday I hurt my hip and Thursday I was in so much pain it was hard to care about anything else. I do not actually know what I did to hurt it, and I was not sure if it was my hip or hamstring. I either over-stretched or just pulled it. Of course, with CKD I was worried it might have been a small fracture, but I didn’t really think it was that as I could stand on it, it just hurt really bad. I got no sleep at all Wednesday night because I could not get comfortable. Because I have CKD pain medications are very limited the options I can have. I finally took a baby Aspirin and an Extra Strength Tylenol Thursday morning, because I just couldn’t relax from the pain. Now I have a very high tolerance for pain, but when it is making me agitated it really is not a good thing. That took the edge off and at least made me feel human. I also used heat because it was cold and ice would have been awful. However, you do have to be careful with heat if a blood clot forms. Rest, elevation and compression were also required. I did not have anything I could compress the area with. But, my husband’s knee brace fit on my thigh so I wore that for 24 hours straight. I did order this one, from Amazon, and it just got here in less than 24 hours. Thank God because I have to work this weekend and there is not a whole lot of sitting. I will wear the brace all weekend in hopes it works. I slept like a baby last night, mostly because I found a way to prop the leg and isolate it enough to not put any strain on the area. I woke up with very limited pain this morning and was able to resume normal walking, with only a minor hitch in my step, and went to finish Christmas shopping. I also took a multivitamin yesterday and ate an extra 20 grams of protein. I have no idea if either of those things did anything, but as I write this I have no pain at all, and no limp. Amazing! The human body truly amazes me.
You can see from my Fitbit stats, Wednesday I forced myself to get the 10,000 steps which was probably not a good idea. Thursday when I insisted on resting, I only got half of what I would in a normal day. But, that is OK rest is a good thing, and we all need to do it when it is needed.
Now, for my Ultimate Christmas Gift for People with CKD: Give Life! Now, that could be a very political sentence, but I am not going to be political. There are so many ways you could promote life, for people and animals, but since this series was about Kidney Disease that is what I will focus on. There are hundreds of thousands of people waiting for a new kidney. Some have been on the wait list for many years, and may never get one. You can live a long and healthy life with only one kidney. Plus, you could save someone’s life. What a gift! I was on the bone marrow donation list since my early 20’s, I am now 51. In that time I was contacted twice about being a possible match. It didn’t end up I was, and now that I have CKD I am not sure I would be allowed to donate, but what a feeling to have thought that maybe I could have gave someone life. If you would like to learn more about being a Living Kidney Donor, please visit the American Kidney Fund Living Donor webpage to learn more. The American Kidney Fund is a great organization and they do great things for kidney patients. So, if you just can’t give a kidney, maybe you could donate in another way.
That is the end of my gift ideas for CKD for 2020. I know Christmas is still a week away, but I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Be sure and check out the awesome Christmas Carol’s video below. 10 beautiful songs in one video.
Living Life With CKD 