First let me say, I LOVE and respect all in the medical field who support me. What they give to me is unmeasured and I thank them for this.
I make it a point to know my caretakers and ask they do the same. Sometimes a new doctor or CNA are introduced on my team and I find that it takes a while for us to know each other
Everyone I know understands how I am not cut from normal cloth. I love being challenged, underestimated and told I can’t do something. Like a boxer one who loves to hit and be hit. It stimulates me, causing a chemical change.
As a gazelle and a lion when they see each other. The gazelle panics and goes into flight mode. A lion upon spotting the gazelle gets excited and goes into attack mode.
Last year was tough for me. I started losing my transplanted kidney and the sickness that came with it was unmeasurable. Because of this, I lost a ton of weight. Two weeks after starting dialysis I was struck with double lung pneumonia. I spent two days in the emergency room before I was taken by ambulance to Maine medical center. The first two weeks there I continued to lose weight until after a few days I had lost over 30 lbs. This is normal for dialysis patients for we lose many of our physical abilities as well as muscle, rendering us to a life of constantly feeling fatigued and not having the output as before.
I became close to my medical staff there. They were beyond professional and went above and beyond taking care of me. I remember one night whereas I couldn’t sleep from days of coughing, my pajamas were soaked from all the sweating. My nurse came in and changed my sheets, got me new pajamas and proceeded to rub powder on my back to help with the sweating and soothe my aching body.
I was scheduled for dialysis at Maine Medical. I was wheeled there to start the procedure. Just like my other center, I must weigh myself. We have a “dry weight” because we can not urinate due to our kidneys not working. So, if my dry weight is 180lbs and if I go to dialysis weighing 183lbs, they remove 3 pounds of fluid while I’m on the machine.
The problem is while I was at Maine Medical I continued to drop weight. Every time I went into dialysis, I weighed less than before. Therefore, they had to guesstimate how much to take off me. Around my third dialysis treatment, I was down to 180 lbs. A long way from my 217 that I started with before I went into kidney failure from the second time. I was surrounded by the dialysis nurse and two residents that were from internal medicine. We were talking about my weight loss. The nurse said it was normal because of my sickness and that they would have to adjust my weight accordingly at my Bath, Maine dialysis center when I was discharged from the hospital.
I told her how I was planning on working out and rebuilding my body to what it was. She laughed and said, “That’s impossible. You are on dialysis again and your body will not respond that way.” She was not condescending but from her experiences to gain muscular weight after being rendered to the machine was not possible.
During their laughing, I said, “Would you like to make a bet? I bet by “Maine” springtime (which is the end of April beginning of May) I will walk in here and steep on the scale and will have gained my weight and be in shape. I bet you $1.”
She accepted the bet as the interns continued to laugh. About that time one of my nephrologists, Dr. Cantlin walked in. She saw us laughing and asked what was so funny. I told her what I said to the nurse and how I would gain my weight back being in shape by the end of April beginning of May. Dr. Cantlin looked at my nurse and smiled as they were laughing. She started laughing also as she locked eyes and said to the nurse, “You are going to lose.”
Understand, Dr. Cantlin was on my medical team when I returned to the states with kidney failure. She was there when I dropped to 190 lbs from 270. She was there when I was stricken 3 times with CMV, losing weight on each episode. The many times I was admitted to the hospital with complications and surgeries, losing weight in each adventure. 100 lbs, 70, lbs, 40 lbs etc.
She knew of my passion and commitment to better myself, to ”beat the machine”. She knew that I was relentless in this task and loved proving my doctors wrong. Such as, when my quads tore off the bone of my legs and they said I would not walk the same again, or when they tore for the second and third times.
The nurse didn’t know the attack draws greatness out of some people and I am one who feeds upon it.
The nurse didn’t know me.
I’m the one who breaks the ribbon while in a race
I’m the one who dances in the confetti after a stellar performance
I’m the one who is carried upon the shoulders of others.
I’m the one.
You too can be the One.
You ARE the one.
I returned to the Maine Medical and stepped on the scale. The nurse turned to see me on it. I lifted my shirt exposing my abs. She smiled and nodded. I got a hug for she was happy I accomplished what I said. And I got my dollar.
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