Kidneys

Riñones have become a pretty big part of my life in the past couple of years. What they do, what they stop doing, what diet is better for them, how important they are.

My Grandpa (maternal grandfather) essentially died from kidney failure. His heart couldn't handle dialysis anymore after 8 months and so the doctors did their last dialysis and in less that 5 days he left this life. (Dialysis is a magical fascinating thing that sucks your blood out of your body and puts it through a machine that acts like a kidney and filters the icky stuff out of your blood, and then it gives your blood back = pretty intense process!) Let me also add a random fact--that my grandpa was just randomly born with one normal sized kidney and one smaller one.

My Grandma (maternal grandmother) had cancerous matter in one of her kidneys so that one got taken right out about 3 years ago and the other one has been "the kidney-that-could" since then. Its finally ready to take a break and is asking for that magical and yet straining machine to do its job for it. So, most likely my Gramsey-goo will be starting dialysis soon.

My Papa (paternal grandfather) is having part of his kidney removed on Tuesday because of some sketchy tumor. (Prayers!)

So all of this makes me think about kidneys and how important they are. They take the pee out of your blood. What a hard job and what an incredibly necessary job.

Click here to read some great info about kidneys!

I've also looked up tips on keeping your kidney's healthy and found a couple hard to pronounce vitamins that we should all take, but I think that just general health is advised.

Good thing I'm going on an "Urban Biking and Kayaking" day tomorrow on a nearby island called El Tigre.