Gaming & Caregiving: An Interest of Conflict

I only alluded that I was deep in some medical situation last year without revealing what it was because I was not comfortable to be open about the details then. I didn't know how long it would last, and I didn't want to assume anything in regard to its continuance. But here we are in 2025, and I am still doing it so I may as well be out with it since this is probably going to be a part of me for a long time to come. As you may have guessed from the title, I am currently a full-time caregiver but not just the watching the elderly kind. I am a home dialysis care partner, which means that I manage the home dialysis for a loved one. In case you are not familiar with dialysis, it's that medical procedure for those with renal failure that involves pulling blood out of your body to be cleaned by a machine before the blood goes back into you. It all sounds pretty gnarly, and I guess if you can't handle the sight of blood, it probably is but I am so used to all of it now. I do this five times a week. In our case, each treatment takes 3 hours and 25 minutes to finish but that doesn't include preparation time and whatever galaxy forsaken issues that may pop-up along the way plus inventory management, inventory pickup, and post treatment clean up, et cetera. So yes, it's a fulltime job. If you look back to my gaming livestreams post-February 2024, you may have seen me stopping dead in my tracks having to take care of mid-treatment troubles. I want to make it clear however that I am happy to be a care partner. That is not an issue. The problem is that since home dialysis takes a lot of my time, it is causing a conflict when it comes to enjoying my games, which is something that I am struggling with in an ongoing basis ever since this whole thing began.

This is where the cleaning magic happens.

Weight Goal Achieved

I have written last year that I started practicing calorie counting as a way to help me lose weight, and this past weekend, I finally reached my weight loss goal. It was quite a surprise too because I was projecting it to arrive sometime mid-month. I felt so good about the accomplishment and then I saw the picture that I posted in the aforementioned article, and I felt even better. In total, I have gotten rid of close to 50 pounds off my body ever since I started my weight loss journey, and all of this was accomplished by merely watching what I put into my mouth and monitoring my calorie intake. There were no exercises involved even though I am itching to get back into yoga because truth be told, I am starting to notice that it's getting harder to open those tightly secured lids. No weight loss medication, no voodoo. Oprah, it was all pure human spirit and self-control, something that you used to believe in.