One Year Post Transplant
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
I have been really silent on this blog. The only excuse I can give you is that have been BUSY! I spent the last year catching up on life. It might sound dramatic but there were so many little things I could not do while I was ill. There were also so many things I could not eat and I am now enjoying! In a nutshell: I am enjoying my life. I am so grateful  for what has happened over the past year and I can honestly say I have a new outlook on life. I enjoy every moment, no matter how little. I have learnt to appreciate the littlest things. I have always been a firm believer in “everything h ..read more
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CMV Post Transplant
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
If you follow me on Instagram, you will know that  I recently found out that I am CMV (Cytomegalovirus) Positive. I received a lot of messages from people asking if I was fine and wanting to know what was going on. I thought it might be easier to write about it. CMV is not dangerous for someone with a normal immune system. Chances are, you have had CMV at some point in your life. It presents as a normal flu and you will never know if it was actually CMV unless you are tested for it. Since it is not dangerous and it is a basic flu, it is almost rarely tested for. However, CMV can be dange ..read more
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So what has changed?
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
Every time someone sees me since my transplant, they always ask me how I am feeling now. I guess its a valid question. Everyone says I look so different so it makes sense that they would want to know if  I feel any different. There are good things that have changed and there are some bad things. I have to admit that I don’t really let the bad get to me but in the end, I need to be realistic about the fact that I have a long term illness and it won’t always be rosy. The Good Life in general  I have a lot to be grateful for. I spent a lot of time once I had recovered from surgery tryin ..read more
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Fitness + The Transplant Games
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
Ah, the transplant games. I remember when I was diagnosed initially and I was doing my work-up for the transplant list, my transplant co-ordinator mentioned the transplant games. I didn’t think much of it then. I had just been diagnosed and all I knew is that I wanted a new kidney. Lets go back in time. I have always had issues with my weight. When I left high school, I started dieting on and off. By the time I was 20 years old, I decided that I needed to lose 10kg and fast. So I went on a Chinese herbal tea diet. I lost the weight and I was skinny for my 21st birthday party. While I might ha ..read more
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General Isolation- Post Transplant Part 2 + going home
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
In my last post transplant blog post (here) I was on Day 5 of my recovery and I was peeing on myself. This resulted in the nurses having to put a bedpan next to my bed as I could not make it to the bathroom in time. My days literally consisted of me getting up every 15 minutes to pee in the bedpan and then back into bed. The perk of this is that I became mobile very quickly and this made my recovery a lot easier. By Day 6 (Sunday), I still had not gone to the toilet yet and the doctors were a bit worried. So they started me on a very light laxative syrup (Lacson). Day 7 (Monday) came along and ..read more
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Kidney disease awareness speech
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
Today I was asked to speak at an event to raise awareness for kidney disease. They were also raising funds for Tygerberg Renal Unit. If you’re interested, read what I had to say below. Today was also the first day that I left the house since my transplant! I only went out for an hour though and then came back home. It was lovely to feel the sun against my skin though, even if it was for a little bit. I kept my mask on while there and only took it off for this picture. If you looked at me today, would you have guessed that three weeks ago, I was in ICU? Or if you looked at me today, would you ..read more
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ICU- Post Transplant Part 1
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
The last two weeks have been a roller coaster. I have been struggling to find the motivation to actually write a blog post because I am adjusting to an overactive kidney and a ton of medication. So now I am taking some time to myself and I am going to write an honest post about my first few days post surgery. It is going to be very detailed so if you’re not into that, please do not continue reading. Spoiler alert: I peed in the bed a lot. Day 1 (Tuesday)  I woke up at around 5AM on Tuesday morning (7 November 2017) for routine blood tests, BP check and sugar levels. My sister arrived at t ..read more
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The day before surgery 
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
It’s currently 1am and I can’t sleep. It’s the morning of my surgery. In exactly 7 hours, my dad will be going into theatre and two hours later, so will I. In approximately 13 hours, I will (hopefully) have a new functioning kidney.  I know a lot of you have been waiting for me to update my blog, especially since the story went live in the newspaper about my dad and I (read it here). To be honest, the past few weeks I have been spending quality time with everyone I love. Not because I don’t think there’s going to be a positive outcome to my surgery, but purely because I know recovery is g ..read more
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Kidney Transplant Workup – Recipient
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
As some of you may know, I will be going for my kidney transplant shortly. There are many factors when it comes to organ transplant. The recipient and the donor should both be quite healthy. I will write a separate post on the donors workup but for now, we will talk about the different tests I went for, why I did them and my experience. The work up is usually organised by your transplant co-ordinator. My transplant co-cordinator (Juliet) would email me a list of tests to complete and it would be my job to get them done as soon as possible. *I will be updating this post as I go along in my jour ..read more
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How to deal with dry skin on hemodialysis
The Girl With Kidney Failure
by The Girl With Kidney Failure
3y ago
Since starting hemodialysis I have had to deal with incredibly dry skin. My skin literally flakes off because it is so dry and it actually hurts. Kidney failure can affect your sweat and oil glands, impacting your skin. You are also limited to the amount of water you can drink so your skin is dehydrated. I have spent the last few months trying a combination of different products and I have finally found a routine that sort of works for me. My skin is still dry but it no longer hurts or flakes. It also looks a lot healthier and does not look as dry. This is not a cure for your dry skin. I have ..read more
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