@ldclark Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! Thank you for sharing your story here. You're absolutely right, it can be done, but it can take a lot of effort. It's worth it, even when we feel exhausted and befuddled. As kidney patients, we can hold a lot of the outcome in our hands, by adapting our diets and lifestyles to better ourselves. Each of us a the same, but different. There can be different underlying conditions that led to the kidney issues, and those need to also be handled correctly if possible. And if one has other health concerns, those go hand-in-hand with what we do to better our kidney situation. I always tell myself, and my medical team [of which I am part of!], that it is a balancing act everyday.

May I ask you, do you know the underlying cause of your kidney disease? Mine is a very rare autoimmune condition, for which there is no treatment. I am now on daily peritoneal dialysis, and also am an active blood cancer patient. My chemo has been tailored to minimize the stress on my body, and keep me functioning as much as I can on a daily basis.
Ginger