Liquids are driving me to drink -- I wish!!

Many if not most kidney failure patients suffer from the loss of the ability to urinate.  In my case, the sensation is still there.   What little urination there is generally occurs when I poop.  Every once in a blue moon I pee a halfway decent stream and think that I am on the mend; I realize that, barring a miracle or a transplant, this is not the case.  (I'm not too keen on the idea of a transplant right now because there is always the chance that the transplant will fail, leaving me right back here.)

Anyhow, this leaves my body with the following methods of dealing with whatever liquid I drink:

• sweating it out (my workouts are just starting to make me sweat -- I look forward to running in warmer weather);
• pooping it out (a decidedly unsavory option);
• putting it in my tissue structure or my cardiovascular system (one is uncomfortable, the other is unhealthy); and
• removing excess liquid through dialysis.

The goal is to keep my weight as close as possible to my "dry weight" (what I weigh after a dialysis session - currently 90 kilos or 199 pounds).  To make things easier all the way around, my doctors recommend that I only drink a liter of liquid per day, and less in emergency situations -- for example, if I have to miss one or more dialysis sessions.  This is not easy.  Try limiting yourself to a liter of liquid today.  Suffice to say, it can be done, but it isn't any fun.  Ice cubes count; ice cream counts; the cream in your coffee counts (not to mention the coffee); fruit pops count; the water you may swallow in the shower or while brushing your teeth counts.  Even when I intially gave it a good effort, I was pounding two liters a day or more.  I tried to justify this with the "I'm a big guy" defense; I can still see my nutritionist Lou giving me that "fish-eye" look when I mentioned this.  Lou broke it down for me into terms that I can work with:

1.  I can drink a cup of liquid with every meal; this leaves me with one cup for the rest of the day.
2. The "rinse and spit" technique helps a lot.  Of course, this can't be done at the dinner table, but since I can sip and swallow during dinner it never comes to that.
3. Sucking on ice cubes (or drinking the melted liquid from them) is much better than drinking down a glass.

I also find that a piece of candy can help resist the urge, and that taking a tall glass with a cup of liquid and filling it with ice cubes makes it look like I'm getting more than just a measly cup of liquid.

Even after all this, sometimes the urge to drink a liquid -- any liquid -- will be there, just like I'm dealing with the occasional urge to smoke (two months smoke-free and counting, by the way).  This is where my long-lost buddy Will Power saves the day.  And when I am tempted to imbibe, I call on Will's friend Common Sense.  I'll have a shot or a small mixed drink every once in a while.  No beer, though -- I won't take that chance.

All right!  The clock just struck 12 noon.  Time for lunch -- today I'm going light.  Yogurt and toast I think.  I'll make up for it at dinner; tonight it's oxtails with onions and asparagus and zucchini on the side.  And maybe a few onion rings.