Happy Saturday! If you read my last post, back in March, you know my life has been crazy these past 4 weeks. I interviewed and accepted the full-time position with my current employer but in a different department. I had no idea how to adjust to working full time when I worked only 2 to 3 shifts a week for all my child-rearing years. The first week was rough. Even though my new position is basically a desk job and not nearly any strain on my body, I am not accustomed at all to sitting 8 hours a day. As a nurse, I am used to being on my feet all day, and all the other rigors that come with bedside nursing. I was not getting even a quarter of the daily steps I normally would and by the time I would get home there was dinner, showers, and other commitments that did not fare well for exercise. It is at least a 35-minute drive and with morning and after-work traffic closer to an hour. By the second week, I found if I leave my house 15 minutes before I need to I can beat the morning and school traffic and be a half hour early to work. My boss and I discussed this and we adjusted my hours so I can get there a half hour early and leave a half hour early. Of course, I am working not just sitting there wasting time. I also get a whole hour for lunch instead of just 30 minutes. So, I eat a quick lunch and then go for a 30-minute walk. As the days get hotter I may have to eat more of brunch or it will be too hot. I am now into a pretty good routine going into my third week of this job.
As far as meal prep goes, we have moved into our Summer menu, which is lighter and leans more told cold-type meals. I am still buying fresh veggies every week and prepping them for easy grab-and-go salad fixing or snacks. My husband and I have really committed to losing weight this Summer, which for me means I have to cut more calories if I can’t fit in the exercise, so we will be having carbs at lunch and no-carb dinners. I don’t know if this will be successful. It is working so far for him, but for me, weight loss is incredibly difficult. Due to my having CKD, I can only adjust so much for my macros and not cause damage from too much protein, or fat, so carbs are my main macro.
As I continue to adjust I hope to get three blog posts a week done.
This week I am going to talk about week 3 of the AKF Kidney Education Class. They sent me this lovely binder book so that I can take pictures of each slide and share them here. If you have not read the first two weeks you can find them in the archives.
Today, I am going to talk about what happens in the body when the kidneys are damaged. The short video below, I think explains it very well. The second part of the video talks about prevention. I want to say that while a lot of symptoms of CKD are minor and or unnoticeable until there is a lot of damage to the kidneys. If you ever have a metal taste in your mouth you need to seek medical attention right away. This is why CKD goes unnoticed because it can be easily mistaken for other things.
When your kidneys are damaged:
- The damage keeps your kidneys from working as well as they should.
- Waste and extra fluids stay in your body instead of being excreted as urine
- Blood enters the kidneys
Please remember these posts where I say that it is AKF classes, are the property of the American Kidney Fund to which I am a Kidney Coach. I facilitate the class and can answer questions based on my expertise and own personal experiences. It is not intended to be medical advice or to replace seeing a medical doctor. It is for informational and educational purposes only. If you would rather not wait for all of the slides to be posted to this blog you can contact me to see if I can set up a way to do the class via another option all at once. The video below is not an AKF video but one I found on Youtube and thought it fit nicely into the topic for this class.
Please like and share these posts, as they are helpful to all kinds of people no matter where they might live.
Living Life With CKD 