Fall was here and I was still waiting, hoping that some miracle would happen. Maybe my kidneys would regain function and I would not have to do dialysis. I know what the doctor said that I was ESRD and my kidneys would not regain function but still was anything possibly or maybe I would get a call from my transplant center telling me that they had a kidney for me.
These were the thoughts that tended to go through my mind on a regular basis but since the days got shorter and the nights were longer they were more often. So what was there to do in the fall? Where I live in Virginia we have beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, and during the fall it is absolutely beautiful with the reds, oranges and yellow leaves on the trees and you could see these sites by driving on the parkway or hiking the mountain. There is also a apple festival that happens in one of the local towns that can be enjoyed but with all these wonderful things that were around I was still on dialysis and to find the time to do these things was difficult.
I remember going into dialysis and wondering what else could I do? I had listen to all my music on my phone but needed to keep my mind busy. There was word searches and sudoku and many other things that other patients did to keep them busy but I wanted a challenge. For some reason before one treatment I decided to bring a note book. I still can’t remember why I did, but near the end of the treatment I started to draw. Now when I was younger it was something I had enjoyed but as I grew older there was not a lot of time to do this but when you are in dialysis and you have 4 hours or in my case 3hr and 45min to do nothing, you find out you have all the time in the world. After that treatment I went straight to the store and bought me a sketch book some inexpensive drawing and coloring pencils, an electric pencil sharpener, eraser and such.
Then began my re-found hobby drawing. I would draw many times in dialysis some drawing took me an hour some two or three treatment. Now I do not claim to be an artist nut it was something that passed the time and it was enjoyable. I am a cartoon geek and loved to sit and draw different characters from DuckTails to Smurfs and generally to anything thing I felt like. I would take my phone out and find something online and start to draw from the pictures. This is where KB the Positive Kidney was born. One treatment I was drawing and started to draw a kidney then I added eyes and a smile even though he was not what he is today, it was where he came from.
I would draw for hours. Not only would I draw but my music would be playing such as jazz, classical, or gospel. It was during these time that I did not concentrate on dialysis but what I was drawing and it made me happy. I have a quite a few sketches books full of drawing and still look at them from time to time.
As I would draw I would also listen to the motivational talks like those from Jim Rohn, Les Brown, Zig Ziglar just to name a few. By combining theses two things, it was a great help to me and it did not matter the season it would pull me through some of the hardest of times. Sometimes the staff would ask me to draw for them I would attempt it, sometimes it came out great others never made it out of my sketch book.
No matter what, drawing and listening to my music and the talks gave me the boost that I needed so much and kept my mind off those questions I asked at the first of the blog.
Tune in next time as I write about how I handled the holidays. Such as making treatments, eating the right food and doing what I was supposed to do to be dialysis healthy and more. By the way don’t forget to subscribe to this blog, you never know what new exciting content we may have in store for you. Also look for us on Instagram @kidneytrails and as always keep traveling on the peak of success. Until next time………
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