Yesterday I had my appointment with the NHS dietician, who actually turned out to be very good. Certainly better than the picture portrayed by the maverick kidney consultant, mentioned in a previous post. I met the dainty dietician at a health centre in Luton and this is roughly how it went….
While I was in the waiting room I couldn’t help feel out of place and yet I was in exactly the right place. There was a constant stream of young children coming in for vaccinations and some very ill looking folk coming into see a podiatrist. Each one seeing the podiatrist hobbled, each very overweight with awful looking skin.
And then I was called in for my appointment. The dietician introduced herself and straight away said she needed to weigh me and measure my height, as they always record a client’s BMI. Then she confessed how I was not what she expected! Apparently I was meant to be a very short, obese man. I queried this and she explained the letter from the Doctor said I was 1.25 metres tall, which with my weight would put me as being rather fat.
As it happens I’m considerably taller than 1.25 metres. My weight, she said, was perfect and my BMI was 23. Then, we sat down in her room for an extremely pleasant consultation lasting an hour. She tipped and tapped at her keyboard as she noted what I said and what she would need to send to me afterwards.
I explained how I have screwed up kidneys. I went onto say how I have been told I cannot afford to take another hit on my kidneys as that would then be very serious for me. As it is, I hope to live another 40 years or so and I’d like to remain as healthy as possible. What does she think, is that reasonable? She thought it was but agreed I would need to take good care of myself in order to achieve this.
We discussed the food I eat in quite a lot of detail. I had been asked to complete a food diary over a 3 day period and she scrutinised it with encouraging sounds she acknowledged approvingly of me being a vegetarian. In general I am on the right lines and she liked the variety in our diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables. She commented how our recent habit of porridge for breakfast was excellent for a number of reasons together with having some fruit and juice or a smoothie with it. I am told the presence of vitamin C helps the body absorb iron which is available from the porridge. She also seriously approved of the home made bread we have, so much better than the commercial stuff full of salt and preservatives.
Fortunately she had access to my recent blood test results. That was really amazing I thought, for once the NHS is looking nicely joined up! She was able to see my electrolyte levels (which need monitoring in the future), iron levels and so on. Thankfully everything seems okay for now and not bad for someone with such dodgy kidneys.
The dainty dietician said how unusual it was to see someone like me. She remarked how healthy I appear and how I was being proactive in trying to look after myself. Normally people only get to see a dietician when there is the serious need to loose weight or have a special diet because of an advanced illness. She asked about exercise and I said how I like to run. Amazingly she was a runner also – we talked about the need for rest, recovery and good food between runs.
So from an unpromising comment by the kidney consultant to being seen in grotty Luton, it turned out really well. I have confidence in her expertise and experience and look forward to hearing from her with some further tailored information.
Finally she wished me well, shook my hand and said her farewell. As I left I felt thankful, knowing this was a decent step forward.