Happy Anniversary - 10,000+ Posts in our 1st year. A post to all members.

[Epoman]

To all members:

Happy Anniversary, I would like to thank each and everyone of you for your loyalty and commitment to this site, when I first created this site I knew it would grow but I never imagined that we would hit 10,000+ hits in our first year. I have spent many long nights working on this site thinking of ways to make it a true community. I have put all my energy in making this site the place to turn to for dialysis patients, we have had a couple of small problems along the way and I apologize for that. But overall we have helped a lot of people and provided medical support and most importantly emotional support. We have had an exciting year, not only did we reach 10,800+ posts in over 988 topics, and have 266 members join. I also added a home page with several new features such as dialysis news section that gives up to the minute dialysis related news from all over the world, also added a memorial section for members who we have lost, so if you haven't checked out the home page yet, take a look.  We were also featured in the premier nephrology magazine "Nephrology News & Issues" the article can be read here: http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=922.0 Six of our members were chosen to be interviewed, unfortunately only three members plus myself were chosen to be included. But it was a great article and will hit the stands in August for our 1 year anniversary. I also launched a sister-site called http://ilovenxstage.com which will help people make the decision whether or not to try the NxStage dialysis machine. I have also selected 3 moderators this year to help me run the site. I also added a five new sections on the message board which were: "Transplant Stories", "Home Dialysis", "Employees", "Diet & Recipes" and finally "Spouses and Caregivers" ALL of those sections were requested by members. And there are a few more surprises coming for our second year. Stay with us we are just getting started. So once again, thank you members for making IHD.com great, YOU make this place great. 

I would also like to that the MOD team, Rerun, bajanne2000, and goofynina for all their help, I would not be able to run this site without you guys. I know I am strict sometimes but like I have told you all, this site is bigger than all of us. I have a vision for this site and I am grateful that you three share my vision. Please realize how important you are to this site. I know sometimes we look like the bad guys having to move, fix posts and sometimes you may not agree with some of my actions, but always remember I value your opinion and input. We are a team. 

P.S. One of the surprises is coming later today, so check back! It's going to be great! I really hope you enjoy it.

- Epoman
Owner/Admin

[Bajanne]

Please let me say how proud I am to be part of such a wonderful community!  I am sure everyone is tired of hearing me say how much it meant to me when I had no idea of what I would be getting into with dialysis.  But I must continue to say it.  This website was to me an important weapon in battling with dialysis.
We have had some clashes, but hopefully, the most of them are behind us and we can now concentrate on building up this site, not just for ourselves, but for the new ones, the ones who are scared out of their wits because their doctor just told them that dialysis is looming large on their horizon.
I have seen this site develop in so many caring ways.  I like the way that we cater for all who are involved in this experience called dialysis - spouses, caregivers, significant others, workers. 
Epoman, how can we say thank you for providing us with this place.  My thanks are not only general, but must be specific, since it was through your personal posting on a message board that I first heard of this place and made my first click (the first of many hundreds!).
I cannot begin to imagine how much you have invested in this website - finance, time, emotion.  However, you can be proud of what you have accomplished.  And I know we have only just begun!

[goofynina]

WOOHOOOO, You made it boss,  Great Job,  I want to thank you again for all of your hard work and determination,  i know there were a lot of challenges but i am so glad you came through (as always)  Keep up the great work and thank you so much for making me a part of this AWESOME community...  Your Ace Boss....  and YOU ROCK......

[Joe Paul]

Thanks to you Epoman, and Congratulations. Looking forward to reading and sharing the good and bad times we all have, for as long a time as able. Thanks again for a place to come. Joe

[Sara]

Happy Anniversary!  Thanks for all your hard work!   

[Tracy Lynn]

HOORAY! Happy Anniversary! Thank you so much, Epoman and Team, for the work you do. It has helped me tremendously. And thank you to all the members. You  guys rock.

[kevno]

Happy 1st Anniversary. Well done Epoman for all the hard work over the last year you have put into the site.

[Rerun]

Epoman, about a year ago I knew I would be starting dialysis for a second time (hence Rerun) in September 2005.  It was then that I found this site.  It has helped me through some hard times.  During this past year I've started dialysis, used my fistula, had it blown out, fixed, had my transplant taken out, lost my job of 20 years, Had two catheters, open excision breast biopsy (negative), and finally put on the transplant list.  Thanks for sticking with me through all this. 

This is a wonderful site.  We have had our growing pains, but that means bigger and better things.  I did like it when it was just a few of us like a small family, but hey , ...the more the merrier. 

Congratulations Epoman!   

[Sluff]

I want to thank Epoman and all those who have made this site a reality. Thanks for all of your dedication to keeping this site available, up to date, informative, but mostly for being honest and straight forward. You all stick together like a well oiled machine and that makes for a dependable machine(Site).

Thank you for accepting me into your community even though I'm not on dialysis yet, you will never know how much that acceptance means to me and how it makes me feel about myself. After the initial shock of diagnosis some friends and family forget about how real Kidney disease is and how it effects a person and it's not real to them after a month or so. So what I'm trying to say is I truly do care about each one of you and I do care about the members, and consider you all my extended family.

Going forward...

[deej]

Happy Birthday Ihatedialysis.com and may there be many, many more birthdays to come . Congratulations Epoman! You´ve made a great site. Thanks.

[Black]

Congrats Epoman!!  Your hard work is paying off big time -- you are helping hundreds of us cope, teaching us well by always "telling it like it is", and we're enjoying so many people we would never have met w/o you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[kitkatz]

I found this site quite by accident and have stayed with it.  When I saw the name I hate dialysis, I knew this had to be a place where I belonged.  Thank you for the first year of success! This site is unbelievably helpful.  There have been times this year when I did not know if I was going to lose my mind or not.  You all have been extremely helpful in keeping me sort of sane. You remind me that my feelings are normal and I can only be who I am.

Congratulations on one year.  (I was sleeping at five oclock this afternoon and missed the online party.  I apologize to everyone. I wanted to be here.)

[tamara]

Yippee Yah One Year Anniversary !!!!! 

Congrats to the Epoman for all his hard work and making this site like us , better with age!!

I know I might not post much, but I have been hanging in and out of this place for the last year and I have found this site to be the one I am mostly on, I sneak around the forums, but mostly hang around the games, its good to know that the info is there when I need it, but also the games are there to get my mind off that thing we all hate, DIALYSIS.

Here's to many more to come!

Cheers, ( ooh thats right I'm a dialysis patient, I'm putting down that congratulatory drink and sipping on my ice,lol )

[anja]

Epoman, just couldn't let our 1-year anniversary go by without telling you how much this site means to me!  Everyone was here for me when I needed it most, before beginning dialysis, and now when I am in need of support, I know you and they are always still here!  Were it not for this site, I wouldn't have known all my options, for they were not all given to me- I asked the right questions with your help and was confident in my decision though my doctor was not.  I credit this site with my lessened apprehension in becoming a dialysis patient and my state of mind remaining stable and positive.  Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication as well as the financial burdens developing and maintaining this site and the other sites incur!  Your vision is far-reaching and has aided in bringing it to fruition.   Thanks also to our wonderful moderators who bring out their individual expertise, sense of humor and insight.  And to all the fantastic members of this community that make it the great place that it is, a place of comfort and consult, a safe-haven at the end of the day, the place I look forward to each and every day, to share in your lives as you share in mine.  Thank you one and all,  Anja

[angieskidney]

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

Congrats Epoman on the success!!

Sorry I wasn't there for the online party but I had company and it seems people don't like to visit to just have me sit on the computer 

Anyway, when are you posting about the surprise? Or do I just not see where it is posted?

[Hawkeye]

I am a bit late on this since I had other obligations yesterday, but I still had to chime in anyway.  Congrats on the first fantastic year for IHD.com.  In the little time I have been here I have watched this site grow by leaps and bounds.  Way to go Epoman and his support team, and way to go to all the members who have helped make this the best damn dailysis site out there.

[mmmmdeedee]

Ooh, Happy Anniversary! Thank you for for being there for all of us. Thank you for giving me a place in which to ask questions and not be made to feel like an idiot! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dee Dee

[JerseyGirl]

I love this site, and am happy I have found it.  I've searched the web for interesting sites and this site  rocks!  I found it by accident as well.  Congratulations EPOMAN, goofynina, bajanne, and the rest of the team.  Keep up the great work...you can really learn alot here about everything dialysis.

[Ohio Buckeye]

Congratulations!!!!
I'm new to this but have already been helped so much by this site and feel like I know many
of you.  Epoman, you have taken this bad stuff that has happened to you and brought
this very good thing out of it.  You are an inspiration and encouragement to me and others.
Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to this site.  You have been a
tremendous blessing to us.  Thank you!

[Ginger]

A belated Happy Anniversary and thank you for a wonderful site that takes away some of my apprehension about having to change from PD to Hemo when I have a bilat nephrectomy in the future. I have learned lots from all the Q & A about hemo.

[Bajanne]

 

Just read this over (sobbing my heart out) and thought new ones should have a read as this was Epoman opening his heart.
Imagine, then we were celebrating 10,000+ posts - now we have 10,000+ topics!!!!!!!!

[pelagia]

Thanks for bumping this up Bajanne. It is an amazing place, started by an amazing guy.  Epoman had an incredible vision. 

[paris]

Thanks for bumping this thread, Bajanne.   Epoman would be proud of everyone here for making IHD so strong.