Anemic

Blood. Some people are fascinated by it, some are disgusted at just the mere thought of it. I have never really focused on it too much until my kidney issues began. Not everyone knows this but your kidneys do two tasks. One is cleaning your system of the toxins that build up and the other is to create crucial life giving red blood cells. Well technically they create a chemical called EPO that prompts your bone marrow to create red blood cells, but the point is that your kidneys are still crucial in the process.

You have roughly about 8 pints of blood in your body, of course this varies in size and weight. I was basically half empty. There is a common analogy used with a glass of water where the person holding the glass asks if it is half empty of half full. Well when your body only has half the amount its supposed to its definitely half empty. I wound up getting 3 blood transfusions that first day, August 22nd.

Anemia is very simply defined as a lack of red blood cells. Whenever you are anemic you feel very lathargic. You lack the drive, will or energy to do anything. Which I am all to familiar with.

I have had an ongoing battle with anemia since day one. It was the red flag that ultimately got me in the hospital back in 2014 and has acted like a handbrake in my life everytime I start going to fast. 

It’s hard to truly convey how you feel when you are anemic because usually it is synonymous with “blah”. With kidney disease everyone sympathizes with you and your disease because it truly is about as drastic as it comes. But when it comes to anemia it’s harder for people to connect because all of the issues and symptoms are subdermal, meaning it all happens below the skin.

Hopefully this gives some insight into one of my many challenges I face on a pretty regular basis. I write all of this sitting from a hospital bed in the ER at AAMC where I have basically spent my entire Saturday.(Don’t worry,  I’m being released) All because of a level reading from last week. Just because I’m on dialysis doesn’t mean everything is under control. It just means that the main issue is being delt with but at the same time creates several other minor issues that all cumulate into my “new normal”.