Your kidneys play an important role in your life, and being on renal dialysis should not make you feel less normal.
The 43-year-old Janine Harmse spoke to the Herald about living with chronic kidney disease and receiving renal dialysis.
Also read: Life Robinson nephrologist speaks about kidney health
“In the winter of 2016, I was taken to the emergency room, I was struggling with bronchitis for three months and I was so weak that I couldn’t walk from the garage to the house. The following morning I was rushed to the ICU where I was for two weeks.”
There she received a perm catheter (implanted close to the collar bone) and she’s been receiving dialysis for the past seven years for four hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Also read: ‘Kidney disease can strike at any age’
“It was only after two weeks of full-on dialysis that I realised that I will have to do this for the rest of my life. I went through shock and disbelief, followed by research on transplant odds, and waiting lists to where one can procure a kidney legally. I made a conscious decision very early on that I will not let dialysis or my health ‘manage’ my life or define who I am – I’m not sick – I have a medical condition.”
She added that dialysis has forced her to be more organised. Everything (even holidays) has to be planned around treatment because you can’t go more than three days in a row without dialysis.
The biggest change for her is her diet and learning to minimise fluid intake.
“A fact not known is that if your kidneys don’t function properly or at all is that you can’t get rid of fluids. This means that you don’t pass urine and too much fluid accumulates in your body which puts immense strain on your heart and your lungs start to fill with the excess fluid.”
According to Janine, a maximum of one litre of fluid can be ‘removed’ during an hour of dialysis. Ice cream, yoghurt, and salad dressing all count as fluids.
“Dialysis for me is just another item on my to-do list and not the crux of my life. I’m a working single mother so I pack my laptop, chargers, cellphone, and whatever I might need and I work while dialysing.”
She said that people who are new to the journey must go through the motions of reading up and searching for ways to not be on dialysis because it’s only natural to want to go back to the way your life was pre-dialysis.
“Grieve, shout, and cry – do what you must to express your feeling of unfairness and face the facts. You can be in denial, Be positive so that people look past your kidney failure and still envy your lust for life.”
