You might notice that the blog looks a little bit different than in the past. I updated the WordPress theme I was using to one named “Hemingway” to gain easy access to search functionality. Please give search a try and let me know how it goes in the comments.
This past Friday my dialysis nurse Cindy performed all necessary monthly interfaces with me including labs. Here’s the deal. We recently changed, rather drastically, my dialysis prescription hoping to increase my Kt/V readings toward the goal of 2.0 or more. Also, Kt/V is a lab-derived number indicating how well a patient’s dialysis works. Higher is better in this case.
I am disappointed in the outcome regarding Kt/V. After increasing the dialysis fluid I’m using to 13,500 mL per night from 10,000 mL, and the number of dwells to five from four, I have gained all of 0.1 in the Kt/V reading, and I’m still 0.2 below the desired minimum. See the graph below:
Like lots of things in life, there was also a positive side to my labs. My Phosphorous has been running on the high side. To combat this I doubled the amount of phosphorous binder I have been taking with breakfast. The current labs indicate I am now within the upper bound. See the graph below. In this case, there is half a God. The remainder of my lab results were within specs or expected.
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