How to explain to your housemates why you pee in a pot

So I did it I flew the nest, I moved the the grand total of 3 and half hours down the road to Lincoln, dragging my dodgy kidneys along with me. A big win for me, after 6 months without a relapse I felt ready for the freedom and strong enough to take back control and do what I wanted, I don't wanna be scared of this stupid syndrome anymore it can't be a defining feature of me or my life anymore.

Well here I am nearly 6 weeks into my return to education and I honestly and starting to settle and slowly get used to reading more than I've ever read in my life. Enough about my course this is a kidney blog. the weirdness of my situation hit me on the first day when I unpacked and put my wee jug and dipsticks in our shared bathroom. The crazy world of a nephrotic. But anyway I've been well since I got here I'm protein free seeing yellow on a dipstick is one of the most relieving things when your 120 miles from home.

My Housemates have been the most supportive people and I couldn't of been luckier I've landed on my feet with these guys, Ive explained so much to them and they've understood and been so helpful especially when I've not drank or felt panicky in certain situations, they've calmed me down and not judged me.

The awkwardness of the dipstick pretty much died off when I explained everything to them and how the worked. Actually its become a bit of a house ritual that we all have a quick dip if we don't feel well, so far discovered a water infection and bit of protein so I guess they've helped us all.

They really are the best housemates me and my kidneys could of asked of.

Scar tissue

This is probably one of the hardest posts for me to share especially now I've made my blog more open- but I'm convinced this might be an issue for a lot for a lot of my fellow NS sufferers.. Scars and stretch marks. 

It's not something I've really come across people talking about, I guess it's not really something people want to talk about. I mean we don't exactly live in a culture that promotes blemishes of any kind on a women, no wonder for the last year and a half I've been frightened too show the marks nephrotic syndrome has left on me. I don't want to rant but, scars on a man are seen as a sign of strength and maybe it's time I started looking at mine in a similar light. 

I felt inspired by the Instagram campaign #loveyourlines all these brave women sharing there stories of how there marks and scars have made them who they are today- I mean no one goes through life with no bumps or scrapes just some peoples are a little more permanent. Although my scars maybe ugly and when I wear shorts I've heard people whisper, they are part of me and part of my fight against NS what else do you expect when you've been blown up like a balloon 5 or 6 times gaining a load of weight you'll loose in a couple of days. My best friend calls me a tiger who earned my stripes and I think I'm starting to listen too her, why should I be ashamed of something I've gained when fighting my hardest too get well and feel good again. 

I hope this means that my attuides starting to change this post is the first step to me accepting my now slightly fading scars. I want to give a big thanks to the women of Instagram who made me feel pride in myself. For anyone out there with NS who has stretchy steriods scars like me- if you can deal with nephrotic syndrome everyday you don't need to let a few marks get you down.