Things to do

[kitkatz]

Things to do while waiting for medical results or a transplant.

Take up knitting.
Learn to crochet.
Paint by numbers.
Get a pet rock and talk to it. See of it grows.
Play rocks, paper, scissors.
Talk to yourself- have a conversation
Get the puzzle where all the pieces are the same. Put it together, if you can.
Buy a one million piece puzzle.
Play tic-tac-toe.
Buy a coloring book and crayons.
Sit

[angieskidney]

Things to do while waiting for medical results or a transplant.

Take up knitting.
Learn to crochet.
Paint by numbers.
Get a pet rock and talk to it. See of it grows.
Play rocks, paper, scissors.
Talk to yourself- have a conversation
Get the puzzle where all the pieces are the same. Put it together, if you can.
Buy a one million piece puzzle.
Play tic-tac-toe.
Buy a coloring book and crayons.
Sit

You can even do some of those while sitting on the hemo chair in clinic


Buy one of those hand held game boys and play many games

read a book

write a book

write poetry

with a book and pensil in hand .. draw or come up with designs for crafts or webdesigns or anything else

[jdat]

A big thing I started doing through my "time" was listening to recorded college lectures. So much fun I tell ya!

[goofynina]

OMG, Lectures??  You have been given the gift of life and your listening to lectures???  Go out and live, let the world know,  well, thats what i would do   

[livecam]

Educate yourself about the transplant process.

Get in shape for your future surgery and faster recovery.

Start planning the rest of your life free from all of the restrictions of dialysis.

Try to stay calm!

[kevno]

I have been doing all that livecam for the last 18YEARS

[angieskidney]

Get in shape for your future surgery and faster recovery.

My bp has been too low for me to do much of anything (I get dizzy so much that I have stopped my own BP meds (they are to lower my bp) and told the nurse this. I  lost so much weight when I got sick and dropped from 140 lbs to 112 lbs and now that I am back up to my 140lbs I need to start working out but it is hard when you feel like crap all the time and are dizzy every time you go out

[livecam]

The reason I mentioned getting in shape was because if I had known I was that close I would have tried to excersize more.  In reality I was tired and weak too and got enough excersize at work slinging VTR's and cameras around , climbing on news trucks, and walking the lot.  Anyway reality is that we never know when that call will come.  I will say that a couple of days before it happened I really felt it was getting close but that might have been wishful thinking more than anything else.   

[kitkatz]

Get a new phone
Get a cell phone
Get a pager
Get a walkie talkie
Get a car phone
Put a telephone booth in the livingroom
Become a world wide communications specialist so when the CALL comes you can be ready for it!

[livecam]

Always go to Sunday Brunch and eat well so you will be stong for the surgery...or take a cruise a month before the transplant and eat two lobsters on formal night.

[angieskidney]

The reason I mentioned getting in shape was because if I had known I was that close I would have tried to excersize more.  In reality I was tired and weak too and got enough excersize at work slinging VTR's and cameras around , climbing on news trucks, and walking the lot.  Anyway reality is that we never know when that call will come.  I will say that a couple of days before it happened I really felt it was getting close but that might have been wishful thinking more than anything else.   

Ya ... I feel like mine is a long way off .. but maybe that is just because it has been already 5 years and I know that I have a lot of antigens this 2nd time around ..


things to do ... try to put 10% of all my monthly money in a separate banking account to be prepared for anything ... opps I shoulda done that awhile ago

[kevno]

Wait for the call, wait for the call, wait for the call Remember to plug the phone in Phone Transplant Ward to make sure they have your number (at least 10 times a week )

Start a new job, as a car mechanic, so you can do bad repairs on all those cars. More chance of getting a transplant, more accidents (Not Nice)

Kevno

[jdat]

OMG, Lectures??  You have been given the gift of life and your listening to lectures???  Go out and live, let the world know,  well, thats what i would do   

Hey I live plenty now that I have been given the gift 

But just to be serious for one second .... my thinking is much clearer now. Maybe that's why I can listen to those lectures again! 

[angieskidney]

OMG, Lectures??  You have been given the gift of life and your listening to lectures???  Go out and live, let the world know,  well, thats what i would do   

Hey I live plenty now that I have been given the gift 

But just to be serious for one second .... my thinking is much clearer now. Maybe that's why I can listen to those lectures again! 

Yes and this is something that the medical staff (I have been told by an American nurse once that daily hemo or pd is better than a transplant) don't seem to realize. When I had my transplant I noticed ... yes it was VERY noticable .. that you seem to be able to concentrate more once again like when you were healthy and you can remember things better.

Was that just me or do you notice this as well?? (Sorry I know off topic but jdat brought it up and I really want to know )

[jdat]

Well double high five there for sure.

How I see things with the transplant:

• We are much more happier and relieved ( I know I was ).
• Because we feel better physically ( I realize this does not apply to all cases ) we focus less on our illness letting our minds work on other things more freely.

I'm sure there are plenty more things that could be added there!

I know tons of people who are on hemo and pd who just seem very forgetful and unable to concentrate anymore yet doctors never really mention that. I couldn't concentrate for one single bit during the whole Hemo and PD period I went through.
But coincidentally that changed just a could days before my transplant .... go figure .... I guess my mind was getting ready.

[coravh]

I was much better able to concentrate after the transplant. To give you an idea what 3 times a week hemo did to me - I am the sort of bookworm that reads about 200 books a year. I read everything I can get my hands on. For the year I was on dialysis, I read about 12 books. It took me 2 weeks to read the Harry Potter book that came out that year. After the transplant I was back to my old reading habits and when the next Potter book came out, it took me 2 days to read.

It was so wonderful to get my brain back along with a new kidney.

Cora

[livecam]

For dialysis I would stop by a news stand and buy a huge stack of newspapers and magazines to keep busy with during treatment.  I also had a laptop that I bought just for dialysis back when I started in 1999.  The damn thing cost way too much and I would be surprised if it's worth more than $100 today.  No internet in the unit back then so I kept busy watching DVDs and playing flight simulator.  Got so I could land the plane without crashing or overshooting the runway.  I usually took food to the unit or had it brought in as it was a late afternoon-early evening shift.  My wife would occasionally make barbecue and bring it to the unit.  More than a few times I would have to cajole her to do that or go to a fast food place by cellphone.  She works too with a 90 mile RT commute so she was pretty tired at the end of the day. 

[angieskidney]

I was much better able to concentrate after the transplant. To give you an idea what 3 times a week hemo did to me - I am the sort of bookworm that reads about 200 books a year. I read everything I can get my hands on. For the year I was on dialysis, I read about 12 books. It took me 2 weeks to read the Harry Potter book that came out that year. After the transplant I was back to my old reading habits and when the next Potter book came out, it took me 2 days to read.

It was so wonderful to get my brain back along with a new kidney.

Cora

Ya I noticed that too! I love to read books but ever since I lost my transplant I just can't seem to be able to get through books as fast. Same as with web design. I don't think it is the same with everyone but when I had my transplant I taught myself web design in between classes in college and then when the nest year came to learn it I helped the teacher teach the class and got advanced standing. Also in the job I had for 9 years I took over for a girl who went on vacation in a position that the business sends people to college to learn and I was able to do such a good job that they put me in her position and she got me lesser paying position. Yet now with being on dialysis I have not learned anything new or been able to even keep up on my own shorter hours job.

I just always seem so tired and slow all the time. ...

[kitkatz]

Wait to get on the list, to get on the list, to get on the training list for NX stage machines.

[deej]

So that´s it!  . I´m also an avid reader but soon after I started dialysis I realized I couldn´t concentrare on my reading either. I sometimes had to read the same page 2 or 3 times. I thought it was just me (maybe my eyesight was getting worse) but glad to know I´m not alone.

[angieskidney]

So that´s it!  . I´m also an avid reader but soon after I started dialysis I realized I couldn´t concentrare on my reading either. I sometimes had to read the same page 2 or 3 times. I thought it was just me (maybe my eyesight was getting worse) but glad to know I´m not alone.

My mom kept saying I was imaging things or making excuses but come on! I would read even these posts and sometimes I seem to have the hardest time reading more than a few lines. My eyes seem so lazy in how they seem to not be able to follow a lot of lines of text if there is a lot. I used to love to read and read a lot! ....But I thought it was just because I am dyslexic .. or because I am getting older! They are not excuses! I was just trying to figure out what was going on with me! I am glad to see other people say the same things because now I don't feel so crazy!! 

[kitkatz]

Save money so you can live while being transplanted.

[kevno]

Things to do;

Do one brave thing a day like Calling kitkatz (KATIE) then run like hell

[kitkatz]

You are going to spend your days running, Kevno! I have my big stick out and am looking up dark alleys for YOU!

(5000 unemployed comedians, and we get Kevno the wonder funny, number 5001)


Katie KaBoom

[kevno]

Things to do, I will always be looking over my shoulder just in case (Note Being Nice) Kath is waiting for me with her Big Stick. My Friend Kath