Wilkie Wages War: December 2007
Wilkie Wages War: December 2007
Environmental Health Network leader Barbara Wilkie discovered in July 2005 that her chemical injury/multiple chemical sensitivities had suddenly manifested as stage 4 (later stage 5) kidney disease (kidney failure). Despite dire warnings of death within a year, she eschewed dialysis and Western Medicine drugs and took a route of alternative medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and strict dietary changes. She lived well for six years, far beyond the doctors’ predictions. Barb died at home, surrounded by friends and family, on May 31, 2011.
During this time, Barb documented her journey. From diagnosis through June 2008, she created one huge website page packed with details, plus some side documents on diet and other topics. We have divided these works into smaller pieces, by date or topic, to make it easier to read and find things. For dates after June 2008, we have letters, online posts, and other documents.
Barb intended her work to be read and used. We hope this presentation will help you do just that.
Wilkie Wages War on Kidney Disease
(aka Renal Disease or Failure)
OR, AS I SEE IT: Life with yet another facet of living with MCS.
I want to live life while dying.
December 2007
| High or Low | Blood checked for | Reading is: | What should be: |
| H | BUN | 79 . . . Up 20 points over last month! (BUN increases as kidney function decreases.) Again, I have no built in excuse, except of course, worsening kidney disease. BUN also reflects one’s state of hydration. | 10 – 20 mg/dL |
| Magnesium | 2.2 . . . Down .1 pt. Normal. Me! As I understand it, too much magnesium can adversely affect heart, just as can too much potassium. | 1.7 -2.3 mg/dL | |
| L | Calcium | 8.4 . . . Down .5 point from last month and now, also, it’s below normal. | 8.5 – 10.3 mg/dL |
| L | CO2 | 17 . . . Down 7 points. | 24 – 33 mEq/L |
| H | Creatinine | 6.89 . . . Up .71 of a point from last test. | <1.2 mg/dL |
| H | Phosphorus | 6.0 . . . Up 1.1 points. I eat no dairy, no nuts, what did I do wrong this month??? Too much phosphorus in the blood and bones can be leached of calcium, causing them to become brittle. | 2.7 – 4.5 mg/dL |
| Potassium | 4.6 . . . Down and in “normal” range without half trying! Yeah!!! | 3.5 – 5.3 mEq/L | |
| Sodium | 137 . . . Ah, ha, another “normal” range number! What am I doing right???? | 133 – 145 mEq/L | |
| L | GFR | 6 or 8 . . . Down one point for each reading this month, because the creatinine went up. The larger number is assigned to African-American women, as they are seen as having more muscle mass than caucasians. You can see how “painting with a broad brush” can cause errors. White women aren’t supposed to have muscle mass? Ridiculous! My ethnic origins were quite muscular, as am I. | >60 mL/min |
| L | Hemoglobin | 7.3 . . . Held same as last month and that is the relatively good news. The bad news is I’m below 8, which is the magic number I’m supposed to remain above, even though that is also too low. Hemoglobin is supposed to fill the red blood cell and the amount in your red blood cells is an indication of how well your blood can carry oxygen. | 11.5 – 15 g/dL |
| L | Hematocrit | 22.3 . . . Held same as last month. Hematocrit measures the amount of space taken up by your red blood cells. By both counts, hemoglobin and hematocrit, I’ve got the typical severe anemia that comes with kidney disease. And, I’ve had it for some time now. However, I don’t suffer the fatigue or any other such symptoms of severe anemia. | 34 – 46 % |
| WBC | 3.8 . . . Dropped 1.3 points but still within range. | 3.5 – 12.5 | |
| L | Red Blood Cell Count | 2.36 . . . Up 2 points. Red blood cells are running low in this test too. | 3.60 – 5.19 |
| RDW, RBC | 13 . . . Held same as last month, and in range. | 11.9 – 14.3% | |
| MCV | 95 fl. . . . Held same as last month, and still in range! “Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is a measurement of the average size of your RBCs. The MCV is elevated when your RBCs are larger than normal (macrocytic), for example in anemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. When the MCV is decreased, your RBCs are smaller than normal (microcytic), such as is seen in iron deficiency anemia or thalassemias.” http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cbc/test.html | 80 – 100 | |
| Platelet Count | 250 K/uL . . . Dropped 12 points. “Platelet Count measures the number of platelets, which are involved in blood clotting.” http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/cbc/test.html | 140 – 4 |
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