Missed Days on a Challenge | Orange Yellow Green Days

Camera: Sony Xperia Z2 (D6503)-smartphone
Exposure: 1/32 sec
ISO: ISO-125
Focal length: 5mm

The Missed Entries on the Daily Color Challenge

I have missed the Day 2 and Day3 of the color challenge, the days for orange and yellow and now on Day4 that would be green. I have been feeling under the weather since my dialysis session last Tuesday, that's why. It was four hours of torture, I was chilling like crazy but I did not have fever or anything. I just felt too cold and my body was shaking. Afterwards, my body was cramping randomly everywhere. I got too tired after the ordeal. This thing happens to me on dialysis but not all the time. I do not know what triggers it, the doctor said it's a lot of factors and it's just too much to think about so I just deal with it when it happens. If I make a big deal of it, then it will cause me anxiety attacks like it always do when you overthink or when you are afraid. So, nah... just deal with things when they come, that's easier that way. Don't anticipate bad things to happen. Don't overthink.

For my entry today, I'll have all 3 colors, for the days I missed and today. That will be orange, yellow and green. LOL Plus, a story behind that picture and me. For you all to know a part of me and the country I am in. I am hoping you'll learn something from my experience.

The Tale of These Fruits and Me

The picture above is taken from the fruit vendor on the sidewalk near the gate of the hospital I go to for my dialysis. In the Philippines, where I am from, people sell things on the sidewalk. You'll see fruits stands, streetfood carts, food stalls, promotional stuff of anything and just everything under the sun. It's a common sight in almost all cities in this country.

Whenever I pass by that fruit vendor's display, it gives me mixed emotions. It's so inviting but I have to stop myself because dialysis patients can't have too much fruits into our diet. It's because of Potassium, most fruits have high Potassium. A dose of Potassium is needed by the heart to function, it's a necessary mineral for all of us. It's presence in the body is partly regulated by the kidneys. Now that I have kidney failure, my body cannot regulate Potassium anymore, so I have to be the one to manually estimate how much I had on a daily basis. It does not mean that I am too conscious about it, no, it will drive me nuts calculating it. But what I do is avoid the high-potassium foods like fuits and some vegetables. I have to avoid other drinks as well other than water because most of them are infused with electrolytes and Potassium is one of them.

Luckily, I can have apples, it's not so high in Potassium. If I haven't eaten veggies and fruits in a day, I can have half of an orange, just half because orange is high in Potassium. That half of an orange would be eaten while I am on dialysis, for the machine to still be able to clean my body if in case I got too much Potassium from it. The other half I'll keep it and have it the next day to not waste it. I am allowed to eat some forbidden stuff during dialysis, that's just my belief and other patients before me. That's one thing that makes us happy during treatments. I won't lie, when I have my session, it kind of feels like a picnic. LOL. I usually have fastfood, a glass of Sprite(because it's low in Phosphorus) or Pineapple shake (low in Potassium), some breads and a fruit.

Too much Potassium in the blood is called Hyperkalimia and too little of it is called Hypokalimia, both are deadly and can cause the heart to stop or cardiac arrest. I have experienced both hyper and hypo and I don't want ever to experience them again. Hypokalimia makes me feel like I'm drained of batteries and I can't even stand. Hyperkalimia makes me feel dizzy with a small movement, I go deaf and I can hear my heartbeat like it's thunder inside me. Both makes me fade in and out of life like I would pass out any moment. These episodes are very scary. You'd understand why I have to have a lot of self control around these fruits in the picture. It's fascinating that when we visit someone sick, we gift them a basket of fruits for that's the good healthy stuff. In a dialysis person's perspective, it's quite an irony. Have this in mind when you meet someone with kidney failure, ask them what they can and cannot eat before giving them any kind of food.

Dialysis is a life support treatment, something I need to do to live. It is so cumbersome and life-threatening but I live with it by looking the other way and finding reasons to love about it. I'll hate it and love it but I have to do it because I don't have a choice. Just like what people say, can't live with it, can't live without it. I'm still grateful it keeps me alive anyhow.

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