ShoeString · DATA Holiday Houses 4 Keep Your Bones Healthy 5 Facts about Junk Food 6 Facts about Junk Food 7 XMAS in July2020 Pandemic Style 8 Coping with Covid19 Judy Smith’s

Newsletter of the Dialysis & Transplant Association of Victoria Inc.

JULY 2020

Volume XLVII Number 4

ShoeString Registered by Australia Post, Print Post Publication No 100001778

Registration No A0012114V

ABN 40 628 284 998

Inside this issue:

President’s Report 2

Minister of Health Reply 3

DATA Holiday Houses 4

Keep Your Bones Healthy 5

Facts about Junk Food 6

Facts about Junk Food 7

XMAS in July2020 Pandemic Style

8

Coping with Covid19

Judy Smith’s Story

9

Coping with Covid19 Ange-

la Lindsey’s Story

10

DonateLife

The Bookworm

11

Executive Committee teleworking Clockwise from top left.

Joan Eastwood -Vice President, Sue Hatzimichalis -President, Char-

lie Ball -Secretary, Vicki Abbatangelo -Treasurer

Angela Lindsey by phone.

XMAS IN JULY Pandemic Style 2020

Thanks to Kaitlin for going to

so much trouble. I would

think that she enjoys Christ-

mas at any time of year

See Page 8 for some more

pics of Xmas in July in Days

gone by.

Have a look at how others

coped with the COVID !9

lockdown on pages 9 & 10.

Thank you to all who contrib-

uted to this issue of Shoe-

string

President’s Report

I must say that on going to Yarra-

wonga I was sad to find some dam-

age to the place. We needed to

swap the double bed for a queen

size bed, although I must admit I

slept quite well on double bed

whilst there. but we had to change

everything around when we pur-

chased the queen size bed. We put

the double bed in what I would call

the third bedroom but to do this

we had to remove the single beds.

This is where, sadly, we found the

damage. A bed base broken and a

hole in the wall. These things

don’t happen by themselves, and

my disappointment is that the

house secretary was not informed !

I can overlook the damage as acci-

dents do happen, what I can't over-

look is the fact that we were not

informed and stuffing a plastic bag

in the hole and presuming no one

would notice, blows my mind!

Please, please, please let Amanda

Pratt know of any damage to the

house inside or out so she can ar-

range someone to fix it. We have

good people at Yarrawonga who

can help us.

So if anything goes wrong at the

houses just let Amanda know even

if you had nothing to do with it.

On the other hand the roller shut-

ters look good and so does the

bathroom! Sue.

Page 2 ShoeString Dialysis & Transplant Association of Vic Inc

DATA has been able to help the Central Dialysis Unit

at Austin Health by purchasing a Blanket warmer. We

received this photo and email in appreciation.

‘Please be advised that the blanket warmer unit

arrived and was installed today, photo attached.

Allyson will soon have the DATA emblem to

acknowledge their generosity and thoughts for our

dialysis patients here in CDU. Thank you so much.’

Kind regards, Vilma Lleva Nurse Unit Manager

Central Dialysis Unit / 7ND

Medical Services Division

Hi everyone from my lockdown

hotspot Municipality - Moreland.

Like everyone I’m not doing much

but I have started sewing again.

More on that in next ShoeString, but

my family and I are keeping well

and I am keeping out of mischief as

much as I can! I heard on the news

the police were pulling over cars in

Fawkner and asking them where

and why they are out and about..I

didn’t think they would be able to

control this but it seems that they

are very very serious and so we all

should be.

The Data office at Forest Hill is still

closed, and will be for a while yet.

We have closed the houses again,

sorry for that but the Executive

Committee thinks it is better to do

this than risk anyone getting

sick! The same with the social

events - we cancelled them but will

keep you updated in our next SS.

Its one little step at a time so until

next Shoe String, stay safe and well

and call us if you need us!

I would like to thank the Executive

Committee consisting of Joan (& Ros

on ShoeString), Vicki, Charlie, and

our Minute Secretary Angela for do-

ing such a great job of keeping DA-

TA up to date through this

"pandemic" and hope we return to

normal as soon as possible.

Cheers from

Sue

Yarrawonga House

Holiday Chair at Rosebud Hospital

DATA did write to Minister of

Health, Jenny Mikakos but had no

reply.

Fortunately DATA members Morrie

& Janice Goodman wrote to the

Minister and they did receive a

reply. DATA thanks the Goodmans

for allowing us to reprint it here.

“Thank you for your email of the

1st March addressed to Jenny Mi-

kakos MP Minister for Health, Min-

ister for Ambulance Services, as a

member of the Dialysis and Trans-

plant of Victoria (DATA) regarding

holiday dialysis at Rosebud Hospi-

tal. The minister has asked me to

respond on her behalf.

I am sorry to read of your incon-

venience experienced by dialysis

patients arising from the removal

of the holiday dialysis chair at

Rosebud Hospital.

As you are aware, Peninsula

Health has advised that the dialy-

sis chair at Rosebud Hospital has

been discontinued for holiday use.

This decision was taken 2 years

ago, in response to a number of

factors including significantly in-

creased demand for permanent

dialysis access for clients at Penin-

sula Health, and the inability for

Rosebud Hospital to expand dialy-

sis service.

Currently, holiday access is being

managed via a waiting list. I am

advised that places are allocated

within Peninsula Health Renal

facilities when available, based on

permanent demand at the time. If

Peninsular Health renal facility

has a free chair available, or be-

cause a new permanent patient has

not yet commenced, it can be used

to accommodate holiday bookings.

This may not be known until quite

shor t no t ice , whic h they

acknowledge may be difficult for

patients.

Peninsula Health also suggests

that dialysis clients may try to or-

ganise patient swaps between dial-

ysis units (which can be arranged

through Kidney Health Australia,

tel. 1800 454 363) which has been

successful for some clients.

Should you wish to discuss this

matter further, please contact Sue

O’Sullivan, Manager, Ambulatory

Policy, at the Department of Health

a n d H u m a n S e r v i c e s o n

0 3 9 0 9 6 8 9 5 8 o r

[email protected].”

————o0o————

It’s disappointing that this happened

2 years ago and DATA was not noti-

fied by the unit at that time.

Has anyone had a dialysis holiday at

the hospital within that time frame if

so please let us know how bookings

went. Thanks Editors


It’s that time of the year when the annual membership fee becomes due. Those who are registered

on-line via our website will have already received a renewal notice by email and many of you have

paid your $15.00 to secure membership for another 12 months. We are grateful for your prompt pay-

ment.

We are still locked out of our office and this has presented some administrative difficulties. As a con-

sequence, we are not able to send out paper renewal forms with this edition of ShoeString to mem-

bers who are not registered on-line. Forms will be included with the September edition. If you want

to pay over the phone, leave a message on our answering service (03 9894 0377) and a Committee

Member will call you.

Membership Renewals

DATA Holiday Homes The Rosebud & Yarrawonga holiday homes are for the use of DATA mem-

bers and their immediate family, with a member present on all holidays

booked.

Both houses can facilitate haemodialysis machines. For those members on

home dialysis, please contact the House Secretary to discuss if your hos-

pital technician can supply and install a dialysis machine in the house for

your holiday.

We are sure you will appreciate that members on haemodialysis find it

very difficult to holiday, so we often prioritise them over PD and transplant mem-

bers. But there are always vacancies so please don’t hesitate to ring and

check.

Friends and extended family are welcome to join the DATA member

and they must pay $20 per person per night.

Rosebud It’s a terrific place to holiday so take full advantage of the vacancies and book in

a week or even just a weekend to get away. Cost is $200 per week. Extra guest is

$ 20 per night.

Bookings at the Rosebud Hospital Renal Unit must be done online email to:

[email protected]

For HOUSE bookings please ring

Rosebud House Secretary

Amanda Pratt Ph: 9589 4894

Yarrawonga Why not enjoy a holiday in a great part of Australia just metres away from

Lake Mulwala.

Cost is only $200 per week for you and your immediate

family. Call as we do get vacancies.

Bookings at the Yarrawonga Renal Unit Ph: 5743 8189

For HOUSE bookings please ring

Yarrawonga House Secretary Amanda Pratt 95894894


DO NOT FORGET

If you need to dialyse at either the

Rosebud or Yarrawonga Renal

Units, please do the following:

Contact the hospital to

check the availability of book-

ing a chair

Check the vacancy dates of

the Holiday House.

Then, contact the hospital

to confirm booking.

Finally, ring to book the

Holiday House


Kidneys have a huge role in keep-

ing your bones healthy. When kid-

neys fail, you need to pay atten-

tion to your body’s chemistry. In

the early stages of renal failure

low calcium and vitamin D may

cause cramps and muscle weak-

ness

When you’re on dialysis (which

does not remove phosphate from

the blood, unless you dialyse for a

longer period of time such as

overnight) your kidneys can’t acti-

vate vitamin D from your food any

more. No active vitamin D means

less calcium gets absorbed from

your food, so your blood calcium

levels drop. Additionally, phos-

phate builds up in the blood when

you are on dialysis. Normal kid-

ney eliminates 99% of phosphate

in the urine, but that doesn’t hap-

pen as kidneys fail. This high

phosphate level causes your body

to pull calcium from your bones,

weakening them and making them

easier to break. High phosphate

can also result in itchy skin.

Your parathyroid gland , located

in your neck is affected by low

calcium as well. When the calcium

level is low in your blood stream,

the gland makes more parathyroid

hormone (PTH) which results in

raising calcium levels. This PTH

causes calcium to be released

from bone, also making them

weaker.

Those on dialysis for several years

may find their parathyroid gland

may enlarge and produce exces-

sive amounts of PTH. This results

in, calcium, phosphate and PTH

levels all rise and the situation be-

comes much more difficult to con-

trol. Some people will require a

partial parathyroidectomy.

Thus, certain drugs are used to

combat these complex problems.

Phosphate binders Calcium, mag-

nesium, or Renogel. Take these

when you eat. Phosphate is pre-

sent in most foods, but especially

high in milk products, cheese yo-

gurt ice-cream and fizzy drinks,

especially, Coco-Cola.

Calcitriol and Ostalin (vitamin D)

helps absorb the calcium in your

food and absorb it into your

bones. Children who have low

calcium and vitamin D can devel-

op a disease called rickets.

Your doctor will constantly be

monitoring the calcium and phos-

phate levels in your blood and

prescribing you the appropriate

medications. Although you will not

feel any symptoms (except itchy

skin) of all this happening to you,

you must take your tablets as pre-

scribed and be guided by your

dietician about the food you eat.

PS from Ros: ‘After a bone density

scan ordered by my GP, my diag-

nosis was osteoporosis.

…And something I found doctors

don’t tell you - EXERCISE. This

helps the calcium in your blood to

be deposited back into your

bones.

Keep Your Bones Healthy - A Balancing Act

Joan went to a pet shop and immediately spotted a large beautiful parrot. There was a sign on the

cage that said $50.00. "Why so little?" She asked the pet store owner.

The owner replied, "Look, I should tell you first that this bird used to live in a house of ill re-

pute, and sometimes it says some pretty vulgar stuff."

Joan thought about this, but decided she had to have the bird any-

way. She took it home and hung the bird's cage up in her living room and

waited for it to say something. The bird looked around the room, then at

her, and said, "New house, new madam." The woman was a bit

shocked at the implication, but then thought, "That's not so bad."

When her two teenage daughters returned from school the bird saw them

and said, "New house, new madam, new girls." The girls and the

woman were a bit offended but then began to laugh about the situation.

Moments later, the woman's husband, Peter, came home from

work. The bird looked at him and said, "Hi Peter."

The Fifty Dollar Parrot



Xmas In July In Days Gone By


Xmas in July2017 Xmas in July2017

Xmas In July 2019 Xmas In July 2019

Xmas in July 2013

1998 The Last Xmas at Watsonia Army

Barracks—Adam Hatzimichalis & his Dad Nick


Ed. Judy was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythema-

tosus (SLE) over 22 years ago. Here’s just some of her

story.

Years passed and gradually the Lupus took over Dial-

ysis began and did not go at all well and I had many

hospital visits throughout that time. Phillip, my hus-

band decided to try and see if he would be a compati-

ble donor as the list wait was of course unreasonably

long.

On 8th June 2017 our operations were performed. Fol-

lowing the transplant, I spent a week in ICU in an in-

duced coma as my body went into septic shock due to

an antibody which presented itself

Eighth of June was my third kidney anniversary and

Phillip was my donor.

I have an annual kidney biopsy every 12 months in the

new kidney and unfortunately the last one 3 weeks

ago showed increased Lupus activity, an outcome we

always knew would happen but just hoped it wouldn’t

occur quite so quickly. It took 19 years to get to the

transplant stage, so we pray that it just takes it time

again.

We had two holidays, one to Bali and another to Ha-

waii booked for this year both of which will not be go-

ing ahead but as things have been health wise it has

probably worked out for the best. Now to get refunds

hopefully.

Phillip has been busy constructing a new Greenhouse

and tidying his garage, a very much needed job to be

done! And I have pottered about cleaning out cup-

boards, cooking a bit more and attending to overdue

paperwork so I feel quite pleased with my achieve-

ments. Like Ros I have also caught up on quite a bit of

TV, something I rarely get to do normally. My View

Club and our Probus and Phillips bowls are of course

cancelled. It’s amazing the time we obviously spent

working within these groups.

My mums nursing home is in total lockdown which

makes it difficult but at

94 she is doing well and

I talk to her a couple of

times a day. I have cer-

tainly spoken to my

friends more often on

the telephone than nor-

mal, again, time has

permitted this.

Life has certainly challenges to me over the past

twenty two years however I have always tried to keep

an extremely positive attitude and keep myself as

busy as possible. We had hoped that we could do

some more overseas travelling, and we had two cruis-

es booked for this year and a family cruise with our

kids and grandchildren in January for our 70th birth-

days however with all that now off the horizon we went

out three weeks ago and bought ourselves a second-

hand caravan.

We have had lots of fun and some frustration cleaning

and buying goodies to set it all up to our liking and, as

first time caravanners, plan to go off travelling firstly

close to home and then further afield around Australia.

It has been Phillip’s dream for a few years, so his wish

has finally come true. My only insistence was that it

had a bathroom with a shower and toilet and in fact it

is very spacious. We have a lovely oven, grill and

cooktop and large fridge so we will be very comforta-

ble.

Last year we travelled for four weeks to Lightning

Ridge and across to Hervey Bay stopping in cabins

along the way as we have the back of our Mitsubishi

Triton decked out with drawers, a camp stove, table

and chairs etc and a fridge/freezer but the best part

about our purchase will be no more carrying bags and

luggage in to accommodation every night.

Thank You for your story Judy and Phillip.

Judy’s Story


Angela’s Activities During Covid19 Restrictions

When things are bad

REMEMBER It won’t always be this way

When things are good

REMEMBER It won’t always be this way

Enjoy every great moment

My 4 year old granddaughter asked in a sweet voice

"Nana can you make love heart pyjamas for Bobby?"

Bobby is a little rabbit she takes to bed with her when

she goes to sleep. Her 6 year old sister piped up and

asked "Nana can you make star pyjamas for Brucey?"

I went to Spotlight, bought 20cm of each material,

made the pyjamas and because I

had material left over made

blankets for Bobby and

Brucey.

After they got their soft toys

back my granddaughter

rings me. Once again in her

sweet voice she said "Nana,

Bobby loves his pyjamas but

he needs a mattress". It seems

logical that Bobby needs to be

comfortable when he goes to

sleep. Yes I made the mattress but had to buy more

material.

My son in law picked the soft toys up when he

was working in the area.

I have made four handbags from the bits of

material that I had left over from

other things I made, two for me &

two I gave away.

For my granddaughters during

lockdown I made:

- sleeping bags for their soft toys

- word find, easy for the youngest

one & harder for the oldest one (they range in age

from 4 to 8)

- stuck their baby photos on some cardboard then cut

them out into a jigsaw puzzle & posted it to them. I

found an old photo of myself with long hair &

sent it to them, also a photo of their

mum & dad in school uniforms

(my daughter & my son have

two girls each).

Ed. Not only is Angela doing

craft work, she has also

taken to walking.

Here are her stats … well

done.

For my 10,000 steps & 70

heart points daily I have

done 49 days in a row,

tomorrow will be my

50th day.

It's about 8 km, it takes about one and a

half hours. So far it's 50 days in a row.

- 10,017 steps,

- 7.15 km

- 1hour 22 minutes (I walked briskly)

W o r l d H e a l t h O r g a n i s a t i o n

recommends scoring at least 150

heart points each week. Heart points

are scored by doing activities at a

higher pace, like taking a brisk

walk..

From Angela Lindsey

Ed. Thanks ANGELA Busy lady!

My computer is frozen.

How did this happen?

You must have left windows

open!

How did you fix it?

I logged into hot mail.


Service of Remembrance 2020 In a recent issue of shoestring we claimed the Service of Remembrance had been cancelled.

Thanks to Darren (committee member) it was discovered there was a tribute on Donate life’s website. Below is

the required information to view this site.

“Light up a candle at home and join us for a special tribute to all organ and tissue doners.

From Donate Life: ‘This unique online tribute includes speakers from across the country representing donor

families, transplant recipients, DonateLife agencies, and the Organ and Tissue Authority” Our tribute is

pre-recorded, so if you miss it you’ll be able to watch it back on our Facebook page or at donatelife.gov.au, at

any time

To view this site in your web browser go to: .donatelife.gov.au , then News & Events,, then News, then

National Donate Life –Service of Remembrance

The Book Worm

THE ROAD TO GANDOLFO

Enter The Hawk Robert Ludlum

Grafton ISBN 0 586 04375 6

Review

As a fan of the Jason Bourne series I snapped up this

book, despite the not so catchy title. It may be a Rob-

ert Ludlum but it is NOT a thrill a minute adventure.

When it finally gets around to it, it turns into a laugh a

minute farce, but it’s a slow burn.

General Mackenzie Hawkins, aka The Hawk, is a dis-

graced General that upsets a trade deal between the

US and China so is thrown to the wolves. Major Sam

Devereaux, desperate to escape the army and return

to his private law firm, is told to appease the Chinese

or risk serving another two years.

Keen to oblige he negotiates a compromise that sees

The Hawk return to the US to be discharged from the

service rather than serving the 4,750 years of contri-

bution in Mongolia the offended Chinese Communist

Party has decided on but is too quick to congratulate

himself on his powers of persuasion. The Hawk has

hopelessly outwitted him and has him in over his

head as Attorney, Secretary and Treasurer of The

Shepherd Foundation, funded entirely by the black-

mail of dubious characters.

And why, you ask? Well, The Hawk has a plan. He

intends to kidnap the Pope and earn a cool

$400,000,000 by having every Catholic in the world

pay $1 each. Piece of cake for a man of military pre-

cision, but the Vatican has other ideas.

The Book Worm

Office Bearers

President

Sue Hatzimichalis 0412 469 738

Vice President

Joan Eastwood 0402 097 331

Secretary

Charlie Ball

Treasurer

Vicki Abbatangelo 0408 103 571

Committee Members

Angela Lindsey Minute Secretary

Darren Hennessey (03) 9878 5483

Elaine Hennessey (03) 9878 3211

Ron Hennessey (03) 9878 3211

Margaret Hagedorn (03) 9798 2835

Neane Collis 0439 990 963

Steve Shuster 0427 517 770

Edwin MacKrill 0404 329 747

Katie Kaupert 0404 042589

Holiday Homes Secretary

Yarrawonga and Rosebud

Amanda Pratt (03) 9589 4894

Shoe String Editorial Committee

Joan Eastwood 0402 097 331

Ros Ball (03) 9439 8866

Fay Rawson (03) 9723 3019

Simon David 0411 132 236

Edwin MacKrill 0404 329 747

The views expressed in the editorial and the

contributed items, are those of the authors and

are not necessary the opinions of D.A.T.A. Vic.

Inc.

‘ShoeString’ denotes the feeling

of life when it is turned up-side-down

and that, with Kidney failure, Dialysis

or Transplant, you sometimes have to

pull yourself up by the shoe strings to

get going.

CONTACT US ON EMAIL: [email protected]

Our Editor, Simon is still having considerable problems with

his health issues. He has had several stays in Hospital as an

inpatient, mostly kidney related.

We hope you are feeling better, Simon. We are still battling

on without you, but we miss your organisational skills. Hope

you are feeling 100% better. Best wishes from all of us at DATA.

I must apologise for the mistakes in May Shoe String. (Mostly

dates and page numbers). I tried to bypass a few important

people like Proof Readers which did not work ! So please

accept my humble apologies. Joan Eastwood

DATA is looking for a new editor

It is becoming more difficult to continue with stories from

members who are not editors. (See last shoestring). This may

results in Shoestring only being printed four times a year and

not six and a smaller publication. The same editors have been

producing DATA’s newsletter for some time. We need new

blood to keep this newsletter going, we will guide you through

this process until you feel confident . If you have an interest in

our newsletter Shoestring and would like to help the Editors,

please let us know. (phone numbers on this page top left).

Cheers Joan & Ros

From The Editors

The Dialysis and Transplant Association of Victoria Incorpo-

rated (D.A.T.A.) is a patient self help group made up of people

with kidney failure and their families and friends. Social days

are held at regular intervals and the year culminates with the

annual Christmas event.

We own and run two holiday homes for use by our members—

One is at Yarrawonga, the other at Rosebud.

PO Box 159,

Forest Hill Vic 3131

Phone: (03) 9894 0377

Email: [email protected]

www.datavic.org

Dialys is & Transplan t

Assoc ia t ion o f V ic tor ia Inc .

Stay safe

DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE 24 AUGUST 2020

Documents

ShoeString · DATA Holiday Houses 4 Keep Your Bones Healthy 5 Facts about Junk Food 6 Facts about Junk Food 7 XMAS in July2020 Pandemic Style 8 Coping with Covid19 Judy Smith’s