By Jack Reynolds, DPC Patient Ambassador and Board Member Seasons come and go, and cold winds blow. Holiday Greetings! Well, I would never have made it as a Hallmark card bard. One of my most vivid recollections of Christmas, which is almost dreamlike now, is lying alone in a hospital room pondering my gloomy fate and thinking about my family and what was going through their minds. The previous day I had met Dr. Condon for the first time, and she had informed me that I had undergone renal failure and from this time on would require treatments on the [...]

By Jack Reynolds, DPC Board Member and Patient Ambassador My Grandma Mae lived to be 96 and she had a saying, “One has to learn how to suffer." I think what she really meant was that a person must learn how to handle or manage their suffering whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. Over time most ESRD patients are confronted with a host of these challenges or sufferings. Frankly, I have been spared many of the hospitalizations and complications that many dialysis patients experience. For example, I have a right lower-arm fistula that I have used as my dialysis access [...]

By Jack Reynolds, DPC Board Member and Patient Ambassador This Christmas of 2014, I will have completed four decades of in-center hemodialysis. As this amount of time surviving with a kidney machine as a life partner is fairly rare, I feel that it would be a good idea to discuss or maybe vent my soul about my experience as a dialysis citizen and how it has affected my outlook on life. I plan to keep my blogs fairly short and to only touch on one or two points of interest or boredom, as the case may be, for anyone who reads [...]

Meshia Adams By Meshia Adams, DPC Patient Ambassador If you asked me if I was an engaged patient, I would tell you yes. I can tell you what my last lab values are; I am compliant with taking my medications and see my doctors on a regular basis. I consider myself to be a responsible patient who is closely involved in my healthcare needs. I haven’t always been active in my care or engaged as a patient. In the beginning, I was in a state of denial and was convinced my doctor had it wrong. Over the years, [...]