Wilkie Wages War: June 2007
Wilkie Wages War: June 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.
June 2007
Well, first off, we hit our 50th wedding anniversary . . . and celebrated with a dinner that
included, for me, a ribeye steak. A serious No-No when dealing with kidney disease
or perhaps, it could be argued, health in general. Nonetheless, it was delicious and I
relished every bite . . . now back to greens. The timing was not excellent, as the blood test
happened within a few days of the celebration, which I think may account for the
increased reading in the creatinine. We’ll see what next month brings. Of course, it could
simply be the easily recognizable sign that the kidneys continue to fail, despite a
generally excellent renal diet — certainly a diet far superior to the one Kaiser gave me,
which would kill in a flash an already chemically injured patient. IF only Kaiser would
generally recognize chemical injury. Maybe so many patients wouldn’t wind up with renal
disease. Asthma. ADD. Cancers. Parkinson’s. Alzheimer’s. Heart disease. Strokes.
Obesity. Reproduction problems along with fetal development troubles. — barb
| High or Low | Blood checked for | Reading is: | What should be: |
| H | BUN | 73 . . .Up, and much too high to please me, but not a surprise, considering our anniversary weekend celebratory dining. (BUN increases as kidney function decreases.) | 10 – 20 mg/dL |
| H | Magnesium | 2.4 . . . Down a couple tenths of a point again. As I understand it, too much magnesium can adversely affect heart just as can too much potassium. | 1.7 -2.3 mg/dL |
| Calcium | 8.6 . . . Normal, but it has decreased a little. | 8.5 – 10.3 mg/dL | |
| L | CO2 | 18. . . . Up a point, but still too low. Doctors, however, don’t seem to care about this number reading low. | 24 – 33 mEq/L |
| H | Creatinine | 6.09. . . UP . . . but then, What was I to expect having had a rib-eye steak on our anniversary? Plus, the other celebratory meals that weekend . . . Well, let’s see what July brings. | <1.2 mg/dL |
| H | Phosphorus | 5.4 . . .This too took a jump . . . a half a point. | 2.7 – 4.5 mg/dL |
| N | Potassium | 5.0. . . Still “normal.” Yeah!!!! Boy does it cause trouble when it goes high! Kaiser is afraid I’ll heart attack out . . . but what would be so bad about that. As far as I’m concerned, it would beat having to go on dialysis. | 3.5 – 5.3 mEq/L |
| L | Sodium | 131 . . . Same as last month and still low. | 133 – 145 mEq/L |
| L | GFR | 7 or 9 . . . still have muscle mass so I’ll take the 9. With the increase in creatinine, the GFR drops. 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. | >59 mL/min |
| L | Hemoglobin | 8.0 . . . Down another three-tenths of a point from last month. Apparently, 8 is the magic number I’m supposed to remain above and with the help of Floradix, I’m sure trying to get back up around 9 . . . while hoping for higher readings! | 11.5 – 15 g/dL |
| L | Hematocrit | 24.4 . . This time down 1.4 points. Damn! I’d not mind the creatinine going higher with the meat meals, IF the blood had stayed up there too. But it dropped as the creatinine rose. Double damn!! | 34 – 46 % |
| PREVIOUS | TOC | NEXT |
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...