Post dialysis.
1. My husband lost 20kg of weight. This is all within 1 month time frame. This is not fat loss, because no muscles being built up from the lost. The loss was fluid loss. During dialysis water will be extracted from the blood and filtered out. Before he started dialysis, hubby weighed 86 kg. Now he is stabilizing between 68 to 70 kg. You should see his pants, hehehe, it would drop off (like you see the contestants of the Biggest Losers would do) if they are not tied up properly with the belt. Now his clothes seem like oversized for him. I have been asking him to go to the tailor but he still has not said yes.
2. The fluid retention in his body before dialysis had caused his legs to be swollen. So now the legs are now so skinny, you can see his bones. The fluid retention had also caused his lungs to be filled with water. He was wheezing and coughing prior dialysis. He was also easily tired when he walked a few steps to get to his office or from the porch to enter our house. I had to push him on a wheel chair whenever we visited the doctor for a check-up.
Now the wheezing and coughing have stopped. He does not need a wheelchair anymore. He walked much faster now without me following behind carrying his bag to the office.
3. His blood pressure and blood glucose level are also under control. Although he still has to take medication for them but, sometimes he can skipped it when they seem to be on the lower side. BP 130 -140 is good, glucose level 5 - 7 are normal. Now he takes some sweet kuih like the kuih kusui, kuih lapis etc, he also asked for a slightly sweetened nescafe O or tea.
4. Many food that we have to be careful off. If you listened to the doctor and nurses, you may not be able to eat anything. Seriously, no joke. There is Pottasium, Phospates, water/fluid, cholestrol, that you need to be careful or control the in take. But the doctor told me to be extra careful in consuming food with high Pottasium level. Because Pottasium can cause heart attack. So, bananas, starfruits, spinach, potatoes, tubers and dried fruits (e.g kurma) are absolute no or can be taken in a very small amount.
High Phospates can cause your bones to be brittle. So you need to reduce the intake so that you can prevent your bones to be broken if you fall. Unfortunately, diary products like milk, cheese etc are high in phospates. Kidney failure patient need to take a special milk for their need. They also need to take calcium carbonate with their food to bind the phosphate and prevent it from getting absorbed into their blood.
Other food that he has to "pantang" - Santan, pulut, salty/ or high sodium foodstuffs, high fluid fruits like watermelon.
I know I sound like a doctor, but that is the facts of life for the person undergoing dialysis. As for me I need to always read the labels to make sure they are safe. But, in Malaysia, most of these ingredients are not listed in our food label. Because they are not required to be listed. It is easy to buy packed overseas food because you can see Pottasium as a listed ingredient.
Next time I will write about other people's experiences and the caregiver story.
Meanwhile, Ramadhan is near, to all my readers
I wish you all, the BLESSING OF RAMADHAN
MAY THIS RAMADHAN BE THE BEST EVER IN OUR LIVES SO FAR
MAY IT BRING US NEAR TO ALLAH
MAY IT BRING THE BARAKHAH OF THE MONTH AND THE LAILATULQADAR
Amiinn...
