Here I Come Congress

You never know what life has in store for you. I got a call a couple of weeks ago from the National Kidneys Foundation asking me to speak in front of Congress in Washington, D.C. about home dialysis. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. I am so excited to have my voice heard. From my experience with dialysis here in Jonesboro, doctors are not very open to the idea of letting a patient do their dialysis at home. It just does not make sense. Being on home peritoneal dialysis (PD) is much better for the patient and costs less than hemodialysis. Since being on PD, I feel like I have my life back. I can go to work (some) and be a contributing member of society. I was dead to the world on hemodialysis. And you may remember me talking about what a struggle it was here in Jonesboro with that dialysis clinic to get the chance to do PD. They made it very difficult for me. Since then, I have learned they make it difficult for many other patients too. So hopefully by speaking before Congress, we can change that process for future dialysis patients. It is and SHOULD be the patients right to choose what type of treatment they will receive.