From Sara...

I have dreamed of writing a cookbook for people on dialysis so the opportunity to join Dorothy in writing this cookbook was a precious gift for me.  I met David and Dorothy while working as a renal dietitian at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center Dialysis Unit. Shortly after David started dialysis in 1997, Dorothy came to me with detailed, hand calculated recipes for review.  I was amazed at the time and effort she put into planning her husbands meals.  I said to her: "I want to develop a dialysis cookbook myself when I have the time. Why don’t you start a cookbook with your recipes?"  A week later Dorothy provided the beginning recipes for this cookbook.  She had the time and talent to create recipes that were tasty and nutritious. I had the resources and knowledge to help make the recipes acceptable for a dialysis diet.  Fortunately, we live in the same city.  We started meeting at Dorothy's house each week to work on the book and test new recipes.  David was our chief taste critic.  His opinion determined which recipes were suitable for the book. After three years we finally produced the cookbook envisioned earlier.

I value the bond created among us during this time.  We became close friends. Dorothy and I spent countless hours at the computer calculating and editing recipes, sharing our daily lives and supporting each other through rough times.  David assisted with each computer crisis and helped edit our works.  He has made some remarkable come backs from several health complications.  I have become a better dietitian from observing a person living with kidney failure.  When a loved one suffers from kidney failure the restrictions placed on the entire family are enormous.  It has been an enlightening experience to see the family using the diet therapy I teach, and the positive effects the diet has made in the quality of their life and health.  I have learned more about food composition, organizing meals and what really works than I knew previously.  I saw in a new light the difficulties and successes of following this complicated treatment regimen.

Many thanks from the bottom of my heart to the whole Gordon family.  Thanks go to the staff and patients at UCI Renal Dialysis and Davita's Norwalk, Lakewood and Downey, California Dialysis Centers. I appreciate the encouragement from all my friends and colleagues who have supported the creation and completion of the cookbook.  My hope is to help those faced with dialysis to create and enjoy appetizing and delicious food despite the challenging diet restrictions.