Its hot today: 32 °C (90 °F), which is normal, because summer started here just over a week ago. Melbourne has a temperate climate, mostly a comfy 22° (68°F), with the occasional dip and blip as the seasons dictate. Until yesterday we had delightful spring temperatures of 17°C to 22°C (63°F to 68°F); so it has been a big and a quick change. But no problem! I will be acclimatised within a couple of weeks and this will be the new norm.
Things were different before I went onto the BigD. I would have begun complaining about now that it was too hot, and not stopped until autumn arrived with some blessed low temperatures.
Not so now that I am a member of the BigD club. One of the founding directives of the club is that you don’t drink more than about a litre a day of any fluid. This includes not only water, coffee, tea, fizzy drinks, beer and whisky, but also watermelon, jelly, porridge, rice pudding and any other high fluid food. This is because without kidneys or kidney function, the fluid has no way to leave the building. So it stays in your blood, rests in body fat, ankles, lungs and anywhere else that gravity and body cavities allow. The result is bloat, which is unsightly, uncomfortable and dangerous. It becomes difficult to breathe, and the added load on your heart can be – and often is – fatal.
I have always liked to guzzle water (or an icy soft drink –not to mention beer – mmm… er, sorry). From a young age I loved gulping water direct from the tap: cold, wet and plenty of it. Perhaps I knew that kind of joy would be denied me later in life, so I drank as much as I could before the kidney bell tolled – who knows. Anyway, now it’s a litre a day, and has been for so long that it is second nature. I always reach for the smallest glass, half fill it and leave a little in the bottom when I finish.
Most BigD-ers can tell is they have drunk too much. I know by my wedding ring, which doubles as a body fluid indicator. Immediately after dialysis, when I’m at my base weight, my fingers are really thin, with very little flesh. When I interlace them, I can feel the bones and not much else, and it’s possible for me to gradually slide off my wedding ring. After a day’s break from dialysis, my hands become fleshier, and it sort of feels normal (softer) when I interlace my fingers. There is no way I could get my ring off. If I have drunk too much, they become quite plump, and I can barely find my wedding ring.
So why do I like summer? On a hot day, in the sun or the shade, we sweat. A lot more than we imagine. I usually have a drink or two of water or tea in the morning and the same in the afternoon. In summer, each drink seems to evaporate as you swallow it. On a really hot day, a drink an hour may not keep up with evaporation. So guess what? Guzzle time. Every few hours through the heat of the day: a whole can of lemonade (Coke, with all that potassium is a bridge too far), or even the odd icy beer. Just like before this BigD business began. Bliss.
Just writing about this has made me thirsty, and I happen to know that there is a small can of lemonade with my name on it in the fridge. Roll on summer. Cheers!
