Let's Talk Peritoneal Dialysis!
Hey, I'm Jason. I'm a chronically-ill-super-freedom-loving-medical-self-journalist.
There’s Nothing Wrong with Good News!
I yell at the television. Perhaps you also yell, fearless reader—I’m guessing you do. Why wouldn’t we shout at these yahoos? First there’s the commercials with their stereotypical views on gender roles—aka, men are doltish lawn-mowers; women are t-and-a with attitude and nasty revelations. Ridiculous on both counts. Then there’s the “news” reporters. I don’t have to divulge my political fantasies to get into this one. It doesn’t matter which news outlet you’re glued to, none of them are telling the honest-to-goodness full story—you get to hear the good bits, the bits meant to please you. And you are pleased. This is true for kidney stories, as well.
From my perspective, the only time kidney disease is mentioned in the media is when some cousin of some patient finds some Starbucks employee who’s willing to donate her barista kidney. Don’t believe me? Here’s my Google search for “starbucks kidney donation.” Comical. Tragical.
I applaud the selflessness required to donate a kidney to a strange, albeit caffeinated, person … I just wish there were more actual reporting about kidney disease. The numbers of kidney-related health problems are on the rise in historic fashion. But none of that bit is meant to please you, is it?
But that’s not what I want to talk about today. That’s just me yelling at the television.
Here’s the actual good news. After eight weeks of regular anomalies, it would appear I am on the mend. My swollen belly is no longer. Any chance of infection is being thoroughly destroyed by 14 days of intraperitoneal antibiotic—I administer this myself, with fancy bottles and all kinds of of cool stuff (my team trusts me to follow protocol, plus I have an RN for a wife—your results may vary). What felt like a roll of nickles in my belly at the beginning of the week is now nearly undetectable.
And here’s the actual news. A week ago I was jumping up and down about my success, only to be knocked down again by further complications. Today, I feel free again. This is good, but here’s the hard truth: success and failure are part of kidney disease. It doesn’t matter if a patient has a transplant or is on dialysis, eventually something will destroy the status quo.
The good news is so darn easy to swallow, though, it is nearly impossible to remember what bad thing happened yesterday. Sound familiar, dear reader? Okay, fine, go back to the beginning of the post … we can wait.
Ahhh. Great, we’re all back together now. You see, even in the kidney business, good news is what we want. I am my own chronically-ill-super-freedom-loving-medical-self-journalist but I still tend to focus only on the good. There are those who will praise me for my attitude, and I thank them—but the other side of my report is always: I’ve lost my kidneys. That said, once a doctor has reported the loss of a vital organ, any other bad news is a cake walk.
For me, at least, today is a good news day. Please share in my joy, you have earned it:
This week has been a remarkable week at http://jasonbhamlin.com—a week beyond compare. Thanks to my fearless readers (turns out there are more than two of you), I can report my single best numbers week of blogging has been this week, right here. It doesn’t stop at that, though, on no. The numbers you guys posted ran up my best year- and best month-counts of all time. Two realizations come of this: one, there are actually people I do not know reading my blog (mind blown), and two, I love you guys, my fearless readers, and I’m once again in your debt. What does this mean for next week’s posts? Stay tuned, I promise good news (or bad news)—unless I’m mowing the lawn in some stereotypically lame way, which may happen, since I am a product of American commercialism after all.
Let's Talk Peritoneal Dialysis! 
it is so hard to manage the ups and downs life, like yours. I feel your pain! Hope more ups than downs, in your life journey!