good thing I opened that packet of paperwork before my doctor's appointment next week. Apparently I was supposed to get bloodwork done before showing up. Guess who's leaving for a 1:40pm blood draw today.

the last kidney doctor I went to was like:

"How you feeling?"

me: "alright, I guess."

doctor:"Good, give me blood and urine. See you in six months."

This is the same dude who I had been seeing before my primary care physician got acess to their lab work and discovered I was in the middle of CKD in December, nearly a full year after I started seeing this dude.

@da_667 Yikes!

@mattblaze life sucks, I didn't know how bad it was, but I'm more well-informed now. At last check, it was at stage 3 (stage 5 is full kidney failure, and requires dialysis). Which means the damage is manageable with extremely close control of diet, and in general being healthier.

I've lost 56 lbs since December, and have taking a much more active role in eating healthier things. So, I'm on the right track, and just hoping it isn't too little too late.

@mattblaze according to internet resources, the biggest thing I have to do aside from already managing calories, sugar, and fat to help improve my A1C and Cholesterol numbers, is managing sodium, phosphates, and excessive potassium. Sodium is the biggest hurdle, requiring a lot of preparation and planning to get no salt added variants of things that I enjoy eating.
@da_667
Low salt is the hardest. Its. In. EVERYTHING. As you already know. We Americans really like our salt.
@mattblaze
@chillybot @da_667 @mattblaze My sodium levels started going down when I started eating potatoes without regret. I read somewhere that it has to do with all the potassium but IDK. Point is that it's all weird and kudos for putting in the work to find what works for you. 🍻
@cR0w @chillybot @da_667 @mattblaze the crows learning to prey on potatoes wasn't on my 2026 bingo card but that's on me