My husband’s kidney disease is wearing on him. He is always mentioning how he is going to have to go on dialysis if it fails. I think he is more worried about that than he was with his cancer. Now I understand the idea of dialysis or kidney transplant are scary, believe me I get it. If you have never checked out my cancer blog I can tell you that what a doctor says to you sticks with you and causes a lot of stress. In my case when my oncologist met me for the first time and said he could treat me this time but next time he could not. Things like this tend to stick with people.
When it comes to my husband and his kidney, the doctor said if he does not control his diabetes and blood pressure he would lose about 10% of his kidney function in a year. So basically in 5 years or so he would be on dialysis or kidney transplant list. IF he takes care of his blood pressure and blood sugar he would lose about 1 -2 % per year so he will get a great many more years out of it. My goal as a wife is to keep him off dialysis for as long as possible. So I may be driving him crazy with the constant keeping him in check with his eating and drinking. Sometimes it feels like I am being a little motherly but I really would prefer to have him around for a good long time.
I am not really sure how to balance being a wife and my mothering. I do not want him to get mad if I get knaggy but sometimes he forgets or just reverts back to his eating and drinking habits. I know how hard it is to cut foods out of your diet that you really like anyone who has ever been on a diet knows that but if it is a dark colored soda and dialysis or light colored soda without phosphoric acid and longer more productive life the choice should be simple.