Goodbye February -Hello March!

This post contains advertisement links. I might receive a commission if you shop via some or all of them.
There will be no additional costs for you. Thank you!

We’re already 10 days into March, dear reader. Time is flying by faster than I can keep up with, it seems. But I have committed to sharing my monthly updates, so here I am. A bit late, but I’m here!

What February was like

February was, like most Norwegian Februaries, grey and soggy with a few days of winter wonderland bliss. I was hoping to start my walks again, but this weather has been very much uninspiring in regards of anything outdoorsy.

So I have stayed mostly inside, working on my business. You see, dear reader, I have this dream of finally creating an online income for myself. I have this blog, of course, but I also have its Norwegian counterpart and a Pinterest and Instagram account for each of them. A lot of time has gone into figuring it all out: What goes whee and when, without me burning myself out.

There have also been some changes regarding my dialysis treatment. I am well on my well to mastering the art of self-cannulation, where I stick the needles into my arm myself. This will, eventually, lead to me being a lot more self-sufficient again. I won’t have to wait for the nurses to hook me up or take me off of the machine, I can just do it myself.

As soon as I’m fully trained, I will be able to have home hemodialysis, providing that my landlady will give permission to make the necessary changes to the house. Then, I won’t have to go to the hospital three times a week, as they will simply provide me with a dialysis machine and everything I could possibly need in order to treat myself at home.

That, dear reader, will be a real game changer for me. I will no longer have to rely on anybody but myself, and will only have to come in to the lab once a month for blood work.

The nurses are quite impressed, they tell me, as I’m already able to do with one hand what they are doing with two, and that I mostly find the fistula immediately with the needles. It’s not hard to do at all.

I have also passed the colonoscopy/gastroscopy examination with nothing particularly to be found, and I also got an ultrasound of the heart which showed no change for the worse.

As for my holistic treatments, I’m still experimenting and diving deeper into the root cause of this disease, which is actually not a kidney disease at all. It’s igA nephritis, so my immune system is somewhat defect. Some of my IgAs are galactose deficient, and other parts of the immune system see them as a threat, latching on to them and thus creating a cluster that the liver enzymes can’t recognise. And so, it lands in the kidneys, creating inflammation and then fibrosis there.

The holistic approach will always be to treat the root cause, and then I should be working to fix my immune system and see if I can put the galactose back into the equation, while at the same time working to reverse the fibrosis.

I didn’t have AI when I was diagnosed, dear reader. But I have it now. And it reads research much, much faster than my doctors are able to.

What’s up in March

The first thing that comes to mind, is that I’ll turn 49 years old – which I think is completely insane. I feel so much younger still, and I really thought I’d be in a different place at this age. These health issues have set me back quite a lot, even if I continually work to get around them.

It really looks like spring is getting here early this year, so maybe I’ll even get the caravan ready for some weekend trips.

And my daughter is turning 18 later this year, so we’ll hit the road too for some necessary practice driving.

Hopefully, we will move on with the transplant process too. I will have to go to the dentist for a full checkup, and to a gynecologist. Everything needs to be thoroughly checked. Everything!

I will keep working, dear reader, to make my income dreams come true and to treat the root cause of this mess holistically, while simulttaneouslly training for home hemodialysis.