Kidney School™—a program of Medical Education Institute, Inc.

Module 5—Coping with Kidney Disease

House

To help you understand the common feelings you might face with kidney disease, imagine that you own a large house with many rooms. Each room serves a different purpose. Some rooms hold things that you've wanted to throw away for years. Other rooms you've avoided because the contents or décor make you sad, angry, or afraid. There are two key things to remember about each of the rooms in your house:

  • Each room brings out a different feeling. But there is nothing in any of the rooms that can hurt you. So you need not be afraid of going in.
  • The doors to each room are always open. You can come and go from one room to the next as you please. You may even be in more than one room at the same time.

Let's take a closer look at the floor plan. Here are the rooms in the order we will walk through them:

  • The Red Room (Crisis)
  • The Empty Room (Isolation)
  • The Woodshed (Anger)
  • The Blue Room (Depression)
  • The Workshop (Rebuilding)

So, let's get started.

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