Happy World Kidney Day 2010!

Once again the second Thursday in March has rolled around, bringing celebrations of all things kidney with it! World Kidney Day, for ye of little faith, is a real event (go ahead and click the link if you don’t believe me), but it really needs better PR.

This year’s theme reminds folks to protect their kidneys by preventing and controlling diabetes, a disease near and dear to my heart both personally and professionally. Today should be doubly festive in my household.

And that is the problem. We have no generally recognized festivities for World Kidney Day.

No songs.

No gifts or cards.

No activities or foods.

In the spirit of the day, I invite people to suggest ways to make the second Thursday in March more festive. Christmas has candy canes and cookies. Easter has Cadbury eggs and Peeps. What special foods should we have for World Kidney Day? Please do not suggest anything containing actual kidney; that would be (1)too literal to be clever and (2)something I do not like (and yes, I have tried steak and kidney pie; IMHO, a waste of steak).

Next week a whole bunch of people will become Irish for a day; beer would be an appropriate beverage for today without even dying it!

Come on! We have a year to make World Kidney Day 2011 unforgettable!

Pee on Earth, Goodwill to Urine!

Top image created by Pascale Hammond Lane.

Other images courtesy of PhotoXpress.

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Birth and Kidneys

Another month is upon us. Time flies whether you're having fun or not!

The second issue of my "child," ASN Kidney News, is at the printer. The whole process of starting this magazine is sort of like giving birth every other month without the benefit of drugs. It is a labor of love, though, much like childbirth. It has been fun to explore issues and updates outside of my usual scientific and clinical relm. The March issue will feature dialysis issues. For those of you who don't practice nephrology, the folks at Medicare (which pays for most dialysis treatments in the US) have come up with new "conditions for coverage" which must be met if we want to be reimbursed for providing treatments. The stated purpose of these new changes is to improve patient care and outcomes. The secondary purpose seems to be killing more trees to generate all the required paperwork. So far, my life hasn't been affected too much (and it is all about me).

On a more uplifting note, World Kidney Day is coming up (see logo above). WKD started to educate everyone about the rising risk of kidney disease. This year it falls on my birthday, so I feel it will be a truly magical occasion. Go kidneys!