I met with my dialysis team yesterday as planned to go over my early March labs. As anticipated, a central point of discussion was what to do in response to the change in my transport function. The following was decided: Reduce the number of dwells to 4 from 5, increase dwell time to 2 hours from 1.5 hours, and add a one-liter dwell during the day. The daytime one liter will be accomplished by loading a liter into my stomach in the morning, where it will remain all day until I hook back up to the cycler at night where it will be first removed before any normal fill and dwells occur.

A downside to having a liter of dialysis fluid in your gut during the day is the possibility of some of it being reabsorbed back into the body. Since the fluid also contains a fair amount of sugar, I was told it MAY impact glucose control.

I was politely chided by my dietitian Rachel to up my protein intake which I will accomplish by attempting to consume more red meat and more protein bars.

First of April, we will run yet another adequacy test the output which will be an updated Kt/V which hopefully will move upward from the current 1.8 more towards 2.0, the ultimate minimum goal.

The lead picture is from Poe in response to the Prompt: “picture of Popeye pondering his new dialysis prescriptions’