Midge's story

My name is Margarita. I'm a 38 year old single mom with 2 teenagers. I've been on hemo for a little more than a month and I have a catheter for access. I'm having a procedure this week to for placement of access for PD.
I don't know how long I have been sick. I mistook the symptoms of kidney failure for the stress of being a single mom, full-time student and, eventually, unemployed. In retrospect, I have probably been sick for at least 2 years, if not longer.
On September 19, 2012 I went to the er with headache, chest pains, fatigue and nausea. Before then I thought I was a pretty healthy person who was just a little worn out from the stress of my life. Apparently I was wrong. I had been feeling headachey and nauseous for 4 days at that point, but we were having a heat wave and I thought I was suffering from heat exhaustion. When the chest pains began, I got worried and decided to go in.
At the emergency room, my initial BP reading was 211/182. The emergency room nurse told me that I could have had a stroke and that I was in kidney failure. She admonished me for not taking care of my blood pressure, but I didn't even know that it was an issue. At that point I had about 3% kidney function. The emergency room doctor seemed to be surprised that I wasn't aware of how sick I was. I guess I had just gotten used to feeling crappy all the time.
I was admitted to the hospital and began dialysis 5 days later. I initially had a catheter in my neck because I was so full of fluid that I couldn't lay on my back for the insertion of the AV catheter.
It's been almost a month since I was released from the hospital. I get dialysis 3 days a week for 3.5 hours at a time. I don't know all the technical terminology about dialysis, but I ask the nurses questions whenever I can and read whatever I can get my hands on and I'm learning. I was fortunate enough to find a dialysis center a mile from my house that I am very happy with. I am still struggling with bureaucracy to get the financial help I need in this period of adjustment. I'm not currently employed, and it's hard to function because dialysis still takes a lot out of me. I am hoping that once I transition to PD it will lessen my fatigue and also free up my schedule so that I can go back to work.
I found this board through a friend of mine who had a kidney transplant a few years ago. I'm so thankful that this is here. When I first started reading about ESRD I was afraid that everyone was expected to be a Pollyanna about their diagnosis and keep their chin up, but that's not really me. I do feel fortunate to be alive, but sometimes I have some not so happy feelings that I need to get off my chest. My friends try to be supportive, but they just don't get what I'm going through (except my friend who sent me here, but I don't want to burden her with all my questions/ rants/ complaints). So glad to know that this place exists.