127 days ago, I stared at that button for 20 minutes.
'Whatever doesn't work, I'm the only one who falls for it again. I can't survive another disappointment.
My eGFR was 39. My creatinine was climbing. My nephrologist had the dialysis referral ready at every appointment for two years.'
But I also thought: I can't keep going like this.
So I clicked. Hands shaking. Distinctly certain I was making a mistake.
Day 7, the swelling in my ankles was down for the first time in two years. I didn't know what to do with that. I checked three times.
Week six. Climbed the stairs at the office. Two flights. Reached the top and stopped. No exhaustion. No swelling in my legs. Stood at the top for thirty seconds just... standing there. Texted my sister: 'I just walked up two flights of stairs.' She knew exactly what that meant.
Twelve weeks. Full labs. eGFR 54, up from 39. Creatinine down. Protein cleared. On the same blood pressure medication I had been taking for six years. My nephrologist looked at the panel. Then at me. Then at the panel. 'Whatever you changed — keep doing it. I'm not writing the dialysis referral today.'
It's the small things that get me. Not calculating the risk of every meal. Not dreading the next appointment. Not managing three separate problems that were always one problem.
I don't know where you are right now. Maybe the same tunnel I felt. Maybe you're thinking 'she got lucky, but it won't work for me.'
I thought that too.
127 days ago I clicked that button. Today I'm living a life I forgot I could have.
Whatever you decide, I'm waiting for you.
— Sarah