By Miriam Lippel Blum
Tomorrow is the last day left to make your comments to CMS regarding the proposed payment rules. The deadline is December 16 at the end of business hours EST. Make your voice heard! It matters.
It has been an interesting week - 13 people received kidneys in a major swap/donation that took place over 6 days; at the same time this is happening the US Senate is deciding whether to increase immunosuppression funding by reducing funding for dialysis. What the future holds for both US dialyzors and transplant recipients may be decided soon. I find myself frightened for us all as I desperately hold on to my life with dialysis with the same passion as a transplant recipient would protect their new kidney. Who is going to win this battle for funding? Or will we all lose?
Here are the CKD related blogs updated since my last report on 12/12. 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 has the blog report.
- Kamal Shah's Blog recommends Dr. Sethi's new website on Pediatric Nephrology where an article by Kamal appears in which he describes his emotional reaction to watching a child undergo dialysis. (Very moving, Kamal.)
- Kaply, Inc. Tracy's doctor orders her a fistulagram and her friend, Sizzle, orders her a mani-pedi. (I know which one I would rather do.)
- Toastiest Toastie posts a moody black and white photo of a water tower against a cloudy sky, tries not to think about his upcoming birthday.
- Hasten down the wire has harsh criticism for AOL's latest business plan.
- Becky Perry shares an excerpt from Joyce Meyer: A Life of Redemption and Destiny by Richard Young.
- On the Road to a Lupus Cure Congress passed the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010 which contained important funding for lupus research and education; from now until March 15, 2010, 100 percent of the proceeds from each iTunes download of the song “LUCY” by musicians James Scott Cook and Julian Lennon will be donated to lupus research.
- I Am. Are you? Donate Life Illinois launched a new website and invite you to take a look; photos from the Donate Life Float floragraph decorating event.
- The Ins and Outs of Dialysis Now that John is feeling a little better, he and Gayle are getting back into pot...that means making them. They share photos of some of their beautiful creations.
- Lupus and Humor Carla uses Umcka to fight off colds; describes products she uses for pain management. (That suction cup massage device looks pretty weird, Carla!)
- Linda Gromko MD kidneycare Linda and Steve attend a party and find inspiration in this quote from Robert Ingersoll: "The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so." (Wise words to keep in mind, particularly at this time of year.)
- Precious Bodily Fluids demonstrates how he used an
iPhone application to access PubMed and get important information about the impact of IV contrast on residual renal function to his colleagues in a flash. (Don't you just love technology!) - Renal Fellow Network gives a differential diagnosis of disease processes which lead to hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis, AND hypertension; welcomes another new contributor to the blog, nephrology fellow Albert Lam, of Brigham & Women's Hospital, and describes hemoperfusion which is a procedure employed in the treatment of specific intoxications and consists of running a patient's blood through a column containing adsorbent particles to which the toxin binds and are removed from the circulation; a post about atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome(HUS) and a drug recently granted "orphan status" in an attempt to aid its testing in clinical trials for patients with atypical HUS.
- Uremic Frost A study shows that patients with stage 3 CKD and symptomatic high-grade carotid stenosis gain a large benefit in stroke risk reduction after endarterectomy; Australia has lifted its five-year ban on the transplantation of animal cells and organs into humans, bringing concerns from animal rights activists and transplant specialists that the procedure had not been proven safe and could result in the creation of deadly viruses.
- Renal tsar's blog reviews progress made in renal care and goals yet to reach in his Christmas message; answers a question from a potential kidney donor about getting paid leave from their job in order to donate.
- Pediatric Nephrology has an article on enteral feeding of children with CKD; a recollection by Kamal Shah about a child experiencing dialysis for the first time.
- Neophron's Senescence continues describing his vacation, had dinner with interesting people.
- pkdmom2five links to an article on "spiritual abuse" that sounds like what she went through at her last church.
- Kidney Notes - Exploring the Intersection of Medicine and Technology links to an article about the incredible 13-patient kidney transplant chain.
- The Ballad of Billy The Kidney John links to an article describing the terrible lack of dialysis availability in the Australian outback.
- ....And Bells on Her Toes also links to a story about the 13-way kidney swap/donation and calls it a Christmas miracle.
- The inner game of PKD Richie attends a Holiday party given and attended by members of the Long Island Chapter of the PKD Foundation and finds inspiration from all the people with PKD who were there enjoying themselves despite their condition.
- Michael W. Newman Michael gets his H1N1 flu shot; in his understaffed HD unit, when one of the patients experienced chest pain requiring attention from both the patient care technician and head nurse, the rest of the patients were unattended.
- DailyHemo - Home Dialysis Advocates New Video: Massive Transplant Effort Pairs 13 Kidneys To 13 Patients.
- Berns on Nephrology Dr. Jeffrey Berns raises issues about the treatment of anemia in CKD patients since publication of the TREAT study, which advises against use of darbepoietin alfa.
- Encompass Network Partners shares information about Peripheral Arterial Disease; and Chronic Critical Limb Ischemia.
- My Wife Has Lupus is starting to recover from a bout of depression.
- Mushroom's Blog has photos from his recent move from Washington to sunny Long Beach, California.
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