The Kidney Chronicles

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sat Mar 13, 2021 9:29 am

The Kidney Chronicles is going to be a journal of mine regarding what it is like to be a McDougaller and a living kidney donor. I became a McDougaller in September 2010. I donated my right kidney to my wife January 2021, just a few months ago.

I posted a few comments about this at the Lounge, a post titled 2021: The Year of the Kidney

This is part of what I wrote prior to surgery, on New Year's Day.
But I joked to my wife when we said, "Happy New Year," to each other this morning that 2021 will be, for us, the Year of the Kidney. I will be donating a kidney to my wife in two weeks. This will end my wife's need for kidney dialysis, something she has been attending to for the past year or so. That's if everything goes well and I hope it does.

Being down to a single kidney will provide me even more incentive to eat a healthy, McDougall plan, diet. My blood pressure will likely be raised by about 5 points. So, I'll try to keep the weight off, the sodium low and the potassium high. All of this comes nearly automatically when one sticks with the McDougall plan.

This journal will be a space for me to talk about what things are like now that my wife has one functioning kidney again, is no longer needing kidney dialysis and I am living on one kidney. All of this while I continue on the McDougall diet and my wife hasn't completely bought into the McDougall lifestyle.

It's important for me to mention that my wife experienced kidney failure due to a genetic condition called Polycystic Kidney Disease. Could a McDougall lifestyle extended the life of my wife's kidneys longer? Perhaps. In fact, it seems likely. In any case, we are where we are.

See you on the next post.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sat Mar 13, 2021 9:46 am

About 3 weeks ago I went to my 1 month follow up appointment with my surgeon, the physician who removed my right kidney so that it could be transplanted into my wife's body. It was a bit of a struggle to even get to the hospital, where the appointment was held, due to bad weather here in Indianapolis that week.

I get there and the nurse sits me down, takes my temperature and my blood pressure. My blood pressure is 151 over 86. But at least one other physician has noticed me having blood pressure that high in their offices before, blowing it off as white coat hypertension and nothing to be concerned about.

When I was trying to get cleared to be a living kidney donor about a year ago, I went in to a different doctor's office to get a stress test. My blood pressure was high at that time and the cardiologist wasn't concerned, but the kidney transplant team was. So, they had me do a 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure check, where my blood pressure was taken every 20 minutes for 24 hours (only once per hour at night though). My blood pressure was normal or close enough to get me cleared for being a living kidney donor.

My surgeon had no concerns about me, not about my blood pressure and not about how my surgical incisions were healing. So, the appointment ended quickly. I will see my surgeon again in 3 months for my 4 month follow up appointment. But the next day I get a call from my kidney transplant coordinator. She is worried about my blood pressure of 151 over 86. I tell her that I think that blood pressure reading reflected that I had a stressful time just getting to the appointment (and I needed to use the restroom right after my blood pressure was checked). TMI. :)

My kidney transplant coordinator then tells me that she spoke with one of the physicians on the kidney transplant team and they are giving me an anti-hypertensive, low dose, for 30 days with no refills. In 30 days they want me to check with my primary care physician and see if this medication needs to be continued.

I tell my coordinator that I will begin taking my blood pressure at home each day and provide my primary care physician the results, so he can see how I am doing. I get the medication prescription filled, but I never start taking it. I purchase a brand new Omron blood pressure cuff-device to measure my blood pressure. It's pretty cool, with bluetooth capability to transfer the results to my smart phone.

So, I try to set up an appointment with my primary care physician about hypertension, but he says he thinks the kidney transplant team should deal with it. So, I find a new primary care physician, set up an appointment and she checks my blood pressure. It's 125 over 77. My at home blood pressure measurements are pretty good. So, she tells me to just check my blood pressure twice per week and that, as it stands now, I need not take the medication I was given.

I understand why my kidney transplant coordinator wanted to protect my kidneys and, thus, pressed to get me some treatment when she saw that 151 over 86 reading on my chart. But I don't think it's a good idea to diagnose someone with hypertension based on a single blood pressure reading.

But that's just me pretending to be a physician. What do I know?
Last edited by Spiral on Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Ejeff » Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:45 am

Spiral, thanks for the update, it’s very interesting to read your story. I would have done exactly what you did... when it comes to your own health you seem to know a lot. :-D

It always seems so easy for a health care provider to prescribe another pill. Excellent that you took the time to think that through. We have a blood pressure monitor also, but ours is older. Cool to have the Bluetooth feature.

Glad you and your wife have recovered well.

Erin
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Lyndzie » Sat Mar 13, 2021 11:51 am

Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear your blood pressure is high. Are you planning to make any changes, or just keep an eye on it for now?
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Daydream » Sat Mar 13, 2021 1:13 pm

Spiral, thank you for the update. I too would have done exactly what you did. I'm glad you got a new primary care doctor.

You became a McDougaller in September 2010. I'm sure your wife has seen your good health over the years due to the McDougall diet. Why hasn't she fully embraced the McDougall lifestyle?
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:42 pm

Lyndzie wrote:Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear your blood pressure is high. Are you planning to make any changes, or just keep an eye on it for now?

It seems like my blood pressure is normal these days. I check it 3 times every morning with my fancy new Omron blood pressure measurer. Once again I am ignoring what a doctor tells me. My new primary care physician told me not to be obsessive about my blood pressure and to only check it 2 times each week. I am checking it 21 times each week.

:mrgreen:

Some patient I am.

I have resumed running. Jogging actually. I am trying to get 1 hour of exercise each afternoon. And I decided that it would no longer be just 1 hour of leisurely walking. I walk a half mile, then do 3 repetitions of 0.65 mile jog and 0.35 mile walk. Then I walk until my hour is up. I bought a new running watch, another gadget, a Garmin Forerunner 235. It's as cool as the Omron blood pressure gadget.

So, I'll have to tell my new primary care doctor next time I see her, "Sorry, I am obsessive. That's the way I roll."
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:46 pm

Daydream wrote:Spiral, thank you for the update. I too would have done exactly what you did. I'm glad you got a new primary care doctor.

You became a McDougaller in September 2010. I'm sure your wife has seen your good health over the years due to the McDougall diet. Why hasn't she fully embraced the McDougall lifestyle?

Hey, that's an excellent question. But it's really, I think, the same reason why most people have not embraced the McDougall lifestyle. It's too difficult for most people. My wife is no exception.

I think lots of people who have been exposed to the McDougall diet believe that adopting it would be the healthy thing to do. But they just can't imagine themselves giving up all of their favorite foods. And you can't just go to the nearest restaurant, sit down or fast food, and get much to choose from. Even I sometimes slip up and eat too many bean burritos at Taco Bell (with no cheese or sour cream of course).

My wife once told me, "I want to eat like an American." Now, she has been influenced by my diet. She does eat much more plant based than she used to. But I don't think she will ever jump in all the way. Her personality is different from mine in that way. I think lots of people here on the McDougall forum are in situations similar to mine.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sat Mar 13, 2021 4:59 pm

One thing I will say about blood pressure is that I am used to getting my blood pressure checked and either getting an excellent reading like 110 over 70 or getting a bad reading like 150 over 88.

Blood pressure seems different than, say, serum cholesterol or fasting blood sugar or C-Reactive protein. Maybe that's why the American Heart Association wants people to follow certain steps when they take their blood pressure, like sitting quietly for a while and making sure their arm is at heart level.

I found that if the table I was sitting at was high so that my arm was high, my blood pressure would be low. But if I was sitting at a table where my arm would be low, I would record higher blood pressure.

Also, the American Heart Association specifically says to go to the restroom before you check your blood pressure. So, my sense is that many of these blood pressure measurements taken at doctor's offices, where the nurses are taking a Go-Go-Go attitude, aren't very reliable.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:06 am

This morning my blood pressure readings were:

113 over 79
118 over 76
116 over 80

So, the first two readings were classified by the Omron device as normal while that third reading was classified as hypertension stage 1 because of the 80 diastolic number. If the systolic number gets as high as 120, Omron classifies the reading as elevated. I think these classifications are from the current consensus.

Yesterday morning all 3 readings were classified as normal.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Mon Mar 15, 2021 4:48 am

This morning my blood pressure readings were:

112 over 81
113 over 76
109 over 75

Yesterday my walk-jog workout lasted for 4.38 miles, one hour, 3 minutes.

I walked a half mile in 8 minutes and 15 seconds, a 16:31 minute per mile pace
I jogged 0.7 miles in 8 minutes and 36 seconds, a 12:17 minute per mile pace
I then walked 0.3 miles in 5:01 for a 16:43 minute per mile pace
Jogged 0.7 miles in 8:03 for a 11:31 minute per mile pace
Walked 0.3 miles in 5:16 for a 17:32 minute per mile pace
Jogged 0.7 miles in 8:10, a 11:40 minute per mile pace
Then I walked another mile or so.

For dinner last night I cooked up some napa cabbage, kidney beans, cannellini beans, tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots and bell peppers with water to make a great soup. My wife liked it. She appreciated that I didn't use Mrs. Dash because Mrs. Dash blends contain cayenne pepper, which makes soups too spicy for her.

I had so much soup on hand that I had some for breakfast. A good way to start the week.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Daydream » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:21 am

Spiral, your soup sounds good. Did you put any seasonings in it?

I think you are doing remarkably well with your walk/jog exercise!
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:35 am

Daydream wrote:Spiral, your soup sounds good. Did you put any seasonings in it?

I think you are doing remarkably well with your walk/jog exercise!

Daydream,

I would usually use Mrs. Dash Original or Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb. But my wife said that my previous soups had too much "heat" in them. So, this time I used garlic powder, thyme, cumin, rosemary and sage. It's still no salt added. But I avoided the cayenne pepper that is one of the ingredients in Mrs. Dash seasnonings.

Thanks for the compliment on my exercise program. Back in 2010 I started running 5ks and half marathons and I tried to train hard so I could run those races fast. But now I just want to burn calories and get my heart rate elevated for a little while.

I don't think I will try to be fast again.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:45 am

Ejeff wrote:Spiral, thanks for the update, it’s very interesting to read your story. I would have done exactly what you did... when it comes to your own health you seem to know a lot. :-D

It always seems so easy for a health care provider to prescribe another pill. Excellent that you took the time to think that through. We have a blood pressure monitor also, but ours is older. Cool to have the Bluetooth feature.

Glad you and your wife have recovered well.

Erin

Yes. I agree with this. I can understand why doctors think that there is pressure on them to offer a medication to "fix" a problem, since that it something they can do whereas eating healthy and/or exercising and/or getting adequate sleep is something that the patient must do.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Spiral » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:49 am

Daydream wrote:Spiral, thank you for the update. I too would have done exactly what you did. I'm glad you got a new primary care doctor.

You became a McDougaller in September 2010. I'm sure your wife has seen your good health over the years due to the McDougall diet. Why hasn't she fully embraced the McDougall lifestyle?

I think I will take another crack at this question, now that I think about it.

I wasn't really having any significant health problems when I adopted the McDougall diet back in 2010. Maybe if I had been suffering from terrible chest pain and then adopted the McDougall diet and then the chest pain went away, perhaps my wife would have been more impressed by the results.

But my wife hasn't really witnessed a huge change in my health since I adopted the McDougall diet. I was pretty healthy back then and I am healthy now. At least on the surface it doesn't seem like a lot has changed. I think if one were to compare my blood work from 2009 to today, it would be different in terms of cholesterol and some other things.

But I think people in general are suckers for before and after stories. I don't really have one.
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Re: The Kidney Chronicles

Postby Daydream » Mon Mar 15, 2021 1:17 pm

Spiral, thank you for sharing the seasonings you used in your soup--much appreciated. :)

Spiral wrote:
I wasn't really having any significant health problems when I adopted the McDougall diet back in 2010. Maybe if I had been suffering from terrible chest pain and then adopted the McDougall diet and then the chest pain went away, perhaps my wife would have been more impressed by the results.


I understand. That makes sense. You were already heathy when you adopted the McDougall diet so your wife didn't see any dramatic change in your health over the years.
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