I’m still awaiting on the actual photos of my removed polycystic kidney. But I have had enough weigh-ins at dialysis now to guess that my kidney had weighed 8-10 pounds. I’m 11 pounds lighter than I was back on January 18. I’ll attribute the other pound or two to a decreased appetite post-surgery. (Before surgery, I was about 10 pounds lighter than I had been a year earlier and about 20 pounds less than my peak weight.)

I’m posting a photo of myself because I genuinely feel like I look better now than what I’ve seen the mirror over the past couple of years. Comments off, because I’m not looking for validation. This instance of self-validation is fragile enough. (And peritoneal dialysis is supposed to put weight on you, what with the peritoneum carrying around an extra couple liters of sugar water…)