Outfoxing Stage IV by Hiding in the Tree of Life

When I had kidney cancer I considered myself a warrior, and I won the battle, now one kidney, no cancer. I did everything I needed from ramping up education and research, diet, losing 35 pounds, meditation, seeing a naturathic MD exercise, supplements, anything and everything because I needed control. and it worked in 2010.

After learning I was already Stage 3b in 2012 and NOT told, we fast forward, recently slipping from 32 to Stage 4 egfr 29, then 26. I am approaching CKD in a much different manner.

Have you seen what all the millions of nephrons look like in a kidney? They look like the most amazing bare tree in deep winter.. silhouetted branches spreading out, finer and finer in a soft rounded tree shape..that is how I view my sole kidney. I will not fight with it, I am seeking a peaceful answer to assisting it in lasting as long as possible. After the shocking 3pt. drop from Feb to March, in 30 days I switched to a a vegetarian diet with low protein and supplemented with amino acids ( Dr. Walser's advice) and went proactive again.

I tapered myself off an anxiety med, I stopped acetaminophen with a mild sleep aid, and went back to melatonin, I learned I am probably deeply Magnesium deficient (severe leg cramps), now supplementing, and I have been very fatigued. all the signs of a failing kidney.

But with a nutritional ketosis diet I FEEL absolutely amazing, so much mental energy, as a writer/researcher I can spend hours deep in Pubmed and Renal News finding more and more useful data. So I was and am still confused on how sick I really am..

Dr. Jason Fung, the wildly popular Canadian nephrologsit is 'converting' very sick and obese diabetics into healthy people with fasting and low carb diets. totally removing grains, sugars, fruits, carbs from their diet.[intensive dietary management site]

BUT even he has told me directly by email I CAN'T DO ANYTHING to improve my kidney at this point. My weight is the defeating factor. I DO NOT wish to believe him, expert tho he is.

So I am looking lovingly at my poor struggling kidney and finding a softer way to save it, and myself from dialysis for as long as possible.

The short story is in January 2015 I decided to abandon all the USDA healthy plate high carbs nonsense that only made me fatter and chose intermittent fasting an 8/16 regimen, and then Low Carb, Healthy Fats diet. I quickly lost 13 pounds, my BP was doing good, LDL/HDL, sleep..all very good. but blood sugar? welllll… I dont trust what the harried MDS say..I AM getting closer to diabetic every minute I am over 100 fasting or not.

During the annual renal panel my eGFR 29 suddenly shows a 3 pt drop since 6/2014.. I ask for another one, now it is 26!!! NOW the urologist is willing to send me to a Nephrologist again after THREE years of slow drop and NO councel?

I have a third renal panel next week, and I will know if the eGFR 26 was a blip down, or not. I 'think' my off loading my kidney with a no meat diet may have helped some over the last 3 weeks.

I am HOPING to learn from all of you…it seems I must also FEEL sick to be close to dialysis prep? Other than fatigue I am wondering if I am worried too soon, I see some can hang in the mid 20s for years..everyone is different.