Dialysis & CKD Report 10/16

By Miriam Lippel Blum

Here are the CKD related blogs updated since my last report on 10/13. If you have or know of a blog that should be on the list let Bill know. Comments in parentheses are my reactions or opinions.

• Dialysis from the sharp end of the needle Bill notes that severe cases of H1N1 are already straining ICU infrastructure causing the editors of JAMA worry about what is to come during the rest of the flu season, dialyzors may find themselves on the bad side of the triage process; Bill will be presenting at the Nephrology News & Issues' free webinar Can home dialysis survive in the bundled payment era? on Wednesday October 21, 3PM EDT: Go sign up to attend!; Bill live blogged the CMS Open Door Forum hoping that he (and the rest of us dialyzors) can get a better handle on the bundle; Joyce Jackson, the CEO of Northwest Kidney Centers, wins the 2009 Warren Featherstone Reid Award for Excellence in Healthcare.
• Kamal Shah's Blog Kamal discusses the pros and cons of telling white lies when it comes to work deadlines.
• Kaply, Inc. Steroids are making Tracy hungry all the time; likes lounging in her new flannel pajamas from Costco; did many things this week...and dialysis.
• Toastiest describes his dialysis experience, it has been difficult adjusting,  but they moved him to a different bed so he slept better this time on nocturnal HD.
• Birdman shares photos of his grandchildren.
• Becky Perry has some website links she likes; reviews Leaving Yesterday by Kathryn Cushman (who lived in the same town when they were children.); Psalm 42.
• CHRONIC POSITIVITY - Life with Polycystic Kidney Disease adopts a new dog, photos of their dogs.
• Jack's Kidney Adventure six month post-transplant labs are very good, doctor wants him to start exercising,  he has a telangectasia in his gum.
• Life on dialysis ... and now life after my transplant! Holly has been busy this week doing radio interviews, she likes the Natalie Imbruglia song "Glorious" because she feels that she also has been "smiling on the inside" since her life is so much better with her kidney transplant.
• On the Road to a Cure BioVid Corp. -- a market research firm – is conducting a survey of people living with lupus about their experiences with, and attitudes toward, the management of some health conditions.  There is a small stipend for participation.
• Really, I'm as Old as I Feel? Rob's appointment with his doctor goes well, but his insurance wouldn't pay for his flu vaccination so he didn't get one.
• I Am. Are you? updates on Week 1 of the Donate Illinois Campus Challenge; photos from a video shoot with Chicago Bears cornerback Charles Tillman whose daughter had a heart transplant.
• The Ins and Outs of Dialysis John's DaVita clinic offers respite care for the home HD caregivers so Gayle gets to go visit her 93-year old mother.  (All clinics should offer this service.  It would help avoid caregiver burnout and it's the right thing to do,)
• Chronic Chick Talk has a photo of dog, Mason; shares a link for an attorney service that helps domestic violence victims file the necessary paper work for restraining orders; her Friday Fill-in pst; is amazed at how computer touch screens are now found everywhere.
  
• Precious Bodily Fluids a case study involving a woman with an old type B aortic dissection, recurrent TIAs, a carotid bulb tumor, a bilateral pulmonary embolism, and a belief that anticoagulation is bad (Poor lady!); a study showing that nursing home patients do poorly on dialysis, both in terms of mortality and morbidity.
• Renal Fellow Network Revised diagnostic criteria for hepato-renal syndrome;  RFN readers were posed the question, Which RT modality would you choose for yourself if you had CKD5?  The poll results: Home Hemodialysis was vastly preferred over standard hemodialysis (No kidding?), while CCPD had an edge over CAPD.
• Uremic Frost has a link to the Renal Support Network's KidneyPublicPolicy101,  a forum dedicated to the CMS Proposed Rule for CKD / dialysis. Comments are due by November 16th. Please log on and contribute prior to this landmark ruling.(Your voice matters!)
• Renal tsar's blog reports on a document that sets out to  promote continuous quality improvement in primary care services.
• pkdmom2five has a quote about the origins of oak trees; the definition of hypocrite; the weather is great, looking forward to a baseball game, is being annoyed by stalkers.
• Dialysis and Me comments on the story about the first grader who was suspended from school for bringing his Boy Scout camping utensil to school; videoblogs about feeling down (We all have days like that.  Hang in there, tomorrow will be better.); reviews the Space Wolves Codex: Dark Angels vs. Space Wolves.
• Kidney Notes - Exploring the Intersection of Medicine and Technology The Electrolyte Composition of the Red Sea.
• Lemonade and Kidneys Ruth gets the "honest and scrappy" award and shares ten honest things about herself; her husband is out of town, hopes for quiet times and good karma.
• The inner game of PKD Help with keeping your emotions in positive motion.
• LightLizard's Lair had charlatans offer to cure his CKD5, he's glad he accepted his disease and went for traditional western medicine which he credits for saving his life.
• DailyHemo - Home Dialysis Advocates New Video: Machine Eases Fatigue, Long Waits; ESRD Proposed Bundling Rule Presentation; UBS Global Life Sciences Conference.
• Biologically Safe Water Filters a new  EPA rule gives airlines 24 months to comply with the new testing and disinfecting schedules for aircraft drinking water. Nephros DSU, point-of-use, filter can filter biological contaminants well beyond EPA drinking water requirements.
• Encompass Network Partners has an article on foot pain and diabetes.
• Renal BizBlog suggests that one way to address the CROWNWeb's problem of inability for smaller dialysis providers and clinics to batch submit data is to have one person enter the data for multiple clinics within a provider.

Comments

[John Daley]

Gday Miriam

As usual the amount of work you put in to this is staggering. Well done! Also, I notice that lately you're using the personal names of writers - a nice touch.

Cheers!

John