World Kidney Day: A personal perspective

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World Kidney Day: A personal perspective     

My multi-faceted perspective on CKD is very deeply personal because I am not only a nurse, an educator, and an RSN advocate, but also a former home hemodialysis care partner.

By Denise Eilers, RN, BSN
March 12, 2008


Thursday March 13 is World Kidney Day. Since I have been part of the “kidney community” for the past thirty years, I am delighted to celebrate this day of awareness and education.

Soon after I met my future husband on a blind date in 1967, he nervously confided that he had been diagnosed with CKD. From 1980 until his death in 2004, he was on conventional home hemodialysis with me as his partner. During that quarter century, his life was consumed with full time work, golf, and community volunteerism. We also raised our son, traveled and restored an old home. A wonderfully normal life, indeed. Dialysis was simply part of the routine, much like paying the bills or fixing meals.

Considering that life changing experience and my nursing background, I was nevertheless totally unprepared when, in 2006, my own routine lab work revealed an increased creatinine level with a commensurate reduction in my eGFR. I was completely dumbfounded and mentally frozen in a state of shock. I remember disjointedly thinking, “Is this what it feels like to be the patient? This can't be real!” However, a frantic call to my husband's nephrologist and subsequent treatment for high blood pressure has ensured that I will probably never be another kidney statistic.

Each of life's myriad experiences should be an opportunity for learning, a means to enrich life. So contemplating the educational aspect of World Kidney Day, what exactly have I learned from my diverse journey through kidney disease?

Misconceptions abound

Despite the negative spin so often portrayed in the lay media, kidney disease can coexist with a full, productive life. Relegating kidney patients to the stereotypical role of “sick person tied to a machine” is counterproductive.

Choice matters

Every patient deserves the chance to make an informed choice about treatment options. Kidney professionals must make sure patients are fully aware of every modality. That being said, every patient's choice should be respected. What is right for one person isn't always right for everybody. My husband intelligently weighed the trade-offs and chose to continue on dialysis.

Advocacy counts

I don't think I truly believed the cliched phrase, “One person can make a difference,” until I became involved with Renal Support Network. An advocacy trip to Washington D.C., talks with presidential hopefuls before the Iowa caucus, and my recently developed web of grassroots contacts have forever convinced me otherwise. Speak up! They DO listen!

Education is power

At the heart of World Kidney Day is public awareness of CKD and its risk factors. Before patient empowerment became a popular buzz phrase, my husband lived it. Education can short circuit the downward spiral of CKD and enable a person to become a true partner in their care. Numerous studies reinforce the fact that knowledgeable patients are healthier patients.

World Kidney Day is about all of the above yet so much more. It is about individual patients who embrace life, living it to deilers1.jpgthe fullest, despite CKD. It is about spreading the word to everyone in our immediate circle and beyond—family, friends, co-workers, and legislators at every level. It is about remarkable people like my much beloved husband.


Ms. Eilers, a registered nurse and member of ANNA, teaches nursing fundamentals at United Township Area Career Center in East Moline, Ill.  She is active with weKAN, Renal Support Network's advocacy group and also volunteers for Genesis Hospice in Davenport, Iowa.

http://www.nephronline.com/nephnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2449&Itemid=1