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Spilling the Tea on My Personal Kidney Journey
The Struggle is the Story
When I was first diagnosed with End-Stage Kidney Failure (EKD to the cool kids), I was clueless. I bumbled through the process of scavaging as much real-life information as I could. I hope that this new blog will serve as a useful source to those seeking inspiration, help, or advice in thier own jouney. Take some time to explore the blog, read something interesting, and feel free to reach out if you would like to learn more, have a comment or have a spare kidney burning a hole in your pocket.
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The Struggle is Renal: Angie's story
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Welcome to The Struggle is Renal: Angie's story, my very own passion project aimed at educating people about the reality of CKD and a vehicle to help me find a living donor. Explore my site and gain first hand insight into what it's like to live with end-stage renal failure; perhaps my blog will find me a kidney donor, maybe not. Either way let me guide you through the wild world of terminal illness and perpetual fatigue...maybe we'll share some laughs and tears along the way.
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My Family
My name is Angela Knowlton-Reiche. I'm a 41 year old mom to 2 special needs children.
I live in Midland, Ontario, with my husband Andrew and our kids Cash (age 11), and Nahanni (age 10).
I have a bachelor's degree in History from Laurentian University. And I've completed most of my Master's in Canadian Studies at Trent University.
I'm currently not working, on long-term disability while I balance renal failure, dialysis and managing my circus at home.
When I was working, I was a devoted social justice warrior specializing in Indigenous Social Service.
Although I grew-up in the big city of Midland, I'm also First Nations from the Red Rock Indian Band on Lake Helen in Northern Ontario.
In May 2018 I had a heart attack, a week later I had quadruple bypass surgery (open heart). It's likely then that my kidneys sustained the damage that began their deteriation.
My son Cash was born on Canada Day Long weekend in 2009. He was born clinically dead (no heart beat, no resperation) and it took 7 minutes to get his little heart beating. He was hospitalized at Sick Kids in their NNICU for a month before being transferred to a lower stage NNICU in Orillia for almost two months. His early prognosis was bleak but my miracle baby beat the odds. He is on the autism spectrum and has mild Cerebral Palsey. Cash has the most amazing imagination and his creativity is going to take him far one day.
My daughter Nahanni was born in March 2011. She is my mini-me in so many ways. She is brave, sweet and sassy. She LOVES animals- especially dogs and horses. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor five years ago after suffering with absence seizures since she was 9 months old. She has some speech and language issuess but she can still talk your ear off.
So that's us in a nutshell. I hope this snapshot gives you an insight into who we are, what our challenges have been and what we are about.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if you want to talk more.
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I Flew Over the CuckCoo's Nest
Greetings and felicitations Readers! Its been a minute since I last posted. I have about a half dozen partly finished entries that have...
Unpregnant Pause: women's rights, difficult choices and the sh!t sandwich that is adulthood
At the point of the publication of this post, it's been exactly a year since I've began writing this entry. Why has it taken so long?...
Love in the time of COVID
As some of you may have observed, I've been MIA recently. My only excuse besides my own persistent writer's block, has been the crippling...
Scars Mean You're Beautiful?
So you find out you have CKD ad need dialysis. You're likely prepared for the prospect of strapping yourself to the dialyzer for four...
Unreasonable and NOT Accommodating
From the time we are small we start dreaming about what we will be when we grow up. We're still too young to fully be able to understand...
Polishing the Silver Bullet
Once I receive my shiny new (to me) kidney, I'll be cured! Right? RIGHT? Wrong. An organ transplant is not a cure. It's a effective...
Antibodies, shmantibodies 💁
A key part of being screened for the organ donation process is an antibody screening test. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) testing is a...
Until Death Do Us Part
A plump wild turkey stood alone in the middle of a green field. Plumage fluffed out, face raised skyward. It sunned itself in the rays of...
In Sickness and in Health.
So how do you preserve the romance in the relationship when your partner has been put in a caregiving role? On a balmy, St. Patrick's Day...
But, think of the children!
One of the most common questions I get is, "have you thought about updating your Will?" And like any responsible parent, my answer is; of...
Death, stress and the Dark Arts
Noo, I'm not talking about Satanic worship. There will be no pentagrams or blood ceremony in this article. I'll save that for October's...
Water, water everywhere...and not a drop to drink
As any one of my friends or family can attest, one of my greatest pleasures in life is drinking an ice-cold Diet Pepsi. Beverages in...
You know what really burns my ass?
My dialysis chair. Literally. One of the harsh truths about receiving hemodialysis treatment is that you, more often than not, find...
I'm Dying To Know 💀👻
So you just found out that you are in END-STAGE renal failure. If you're like me, it happens in a flash. I'd been admitted to the...
Does this kidney make my head look bald?
Pssst. Let's talk about an under discussed CKD and dialysis side effect that affflicts many female patients: hair loss. It's a sensative...
Are you my type? Blood types and live organ donation
One of the first testing factors that affect Live Donor matching is blood type compatibility. Many people are unsure of their blood type...
What's the deal with Live Organ Donation??
First, live donating means that the organ is harvested from the donor and directly brought to the recipient. This means the biological...
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Thanks for your interest in The Struggle is Renal: Angie's story. For more information, feel free to get in touch and I will get back to you soon!
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