Welcome!

I'm Rachel T. the other half of Rachael & Rachel. :) I'm excited and nervous about starting this blog. Excited that I will be writing with my friend Rachael about our experiences on PD; nervous because of how much I'm going to share and how much I'm going to have to push myself out of my comfort zone in order to share.

A little bit about myself: right now I'm an ESL teacher. I live in southern Alberta, but grew up in Saskatchewan. I spent 6 years living and working in Tokyo, Japan. I love/enjoy reading, education, music, psychology, basketball, baseball, road trips, walking, and hanging out with friends & family. I am 39, but I would like to lie about my age, so please pretend I am 31. That will make me feel better. :)

I began my dialysis journey 8 years ago, 4 months after returning to Canada. In some ways I still think I'm in a bit of denial about actually being on dialysis, so the purpose of this blog is to write about the challenges, the   highs and lows, the realities, and accepting it all and realizing that it doesn't make me any less of a whole person to have a chronic illness. PD was my choice after spending 9 months on hemodialysis and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. Well, maybe if you paid me A LOT. My goal here, though, is to be totally honest about whatever it is we write about.

I want to invite you on our journey of living well despite having as Rachael put it, "a major medical condition." If you have questions, ask. We will answer to the best of our ability. And if we don't know, we will find out.  I hope I am able to convey to you LIFE and positivity and encouragement in the midst of trials. So from me to you, welcome! :)