About
My name is Kathy Alter. Until Nov. 1, 2008, I was a Web content editor at GazetteOnline in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
After over a decade as a Type II diabetic, my kidneys gave up the ghost in early 2007. I began hemodialysis March 17 and by June had decided I wanted to try for a kidney transplant while my health — for an End Stage Renal Disease patient — was still relatively good.
Things can change so quickly.
In January 2008, I began having problems with my right leg and foot that ended in the fall with 3 operations within a month and the eventual amputation of my right leg below the knee.
In June, a flood raged through Cedar Rapids and destroyed our apartment and all our belongings.
It has been and still is quite a trip and quite a learning experience. I hope to let readers into my world and maybe help other kidney patients find some answers to common and some uncommon problems.
To start at the beginning, read from the bottom up.
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Stayin' alive 
Attn: Kathy Alter.
Read your blog today. I’m in Columbus OH but grew up in Cascade, IA, an hour or so east of Cedar Rapids. My dad lives alone in Cascade now & is in his mid-seventies and is a retired general physician.
I sincerely hope that you can find someone in your area to take out the trash for you throughout the rest of this icy weather. Take care – – I’m pulling for you!
-Cathy