Optimae Stories | Tyrell
Watch Tyrell’s story: https://youtu.be/MRud0HOjCfw?si=gakJbRWoOCkUflGl
Tyrell Bosket has visited a dialysis center three times a week for nearly four years. At four and a half hours per visit, that’s more than 2,700 hours in the dialysis seat, waiting as his blood filters through an artificial kidney.
“It was tough,” Tyrell says. “It was tough at first. Lot of cramps in my body, my legs and stuff. It took a lot out of me.”
Around the time Tyrell started dialysis, Samantha “Sam” Buchman started her new job with Optimae Home Health Services, a division of Optimae LifeServices. As a registered nurse, she began working with Tyrell right away.
“I go see Tyrell once a week, and we just have 45 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, and go over how he’s feeling and stuff like that — check vitals, do his medications, things like that.”
When Sam first started with Tyrell, the possibility of a kidney transplant hadn’t occurred to anyone.
“I think we were kind of just going through the motions for a while,” Sam says. “Then, we got to a point where I notified him, educated him that he could get a transplant eventually down the road, and we could be done with dialysis someday.”
Sam worked with other medical providers, the dialysis center and Tyrell’s care team at Optimae Community Services, another division of Optimae LifeServices providing residential and hourly community-based services. The wheels were set in motion.
Education and encouragement
Preparing for a kidney transplant required major lifestyle changes, including losing weight.
“I feel great,” Tyrell says. “I’m not really heavy like I used to be back then.”
Tyrell started at 400 pounds. Now, he weighs 281.
“We provided education for him and encouragement and tried to educate staff,” Sam says. “He did a lot of the work — like less fast food, things like that.”
“It’s hard — it was tough. But I did it.” Tyrell says, admitting with a smile that he enjoys a cheat day and chocolate once in a while.
“He’s been working really hard,” Sam says.
“Too hard,” Tyrell jokes.
Tyrell adjusted to healthier eating with the help of his roommates at an Optimae site home, where he has lived since 2007. Recently, he and his housemates decided to begin using a meal planning program. Together, they select recipes, purchase ingredients and prepare meals at home.
“It’s pretty good,” Tyrell says. “They help me up and stuff; I help them. It’s a pretty good support system.”
It took Tyrell just over a year to reach his goal weight under 300 pounds — a requirement to be on the transplant list. These days, he’s working on getting his breathing under control, and he’ll need surgery before he’ll be ready for new kidneys. He has other goals, too.
“I want to go back to work,” he says.
Before taking a pause to manage his health, Tyrell worked at Plain Talk Books & Coffee in Des Moines. Plain Talk is one of nine microbusinesses created by Optimae LifeServices to provide supported employment opportunities for individuals like Tyrell.
Tyrell says he also hopes to visit his family on the east coast, whom he hasn’t seen since starting dialysis. He also looks forward to hanging out with his friends without huffing and puffing from the extra weight.
A wake-up call
While the future now looks bright, it wasn’t always this way. Before embarking on his weight-loss journey, Tyrell’s situation had become serious.
“He was kind of stuck and plateaued in a place and things weren’t going great, I don’t think, for a while there,” Sam says. “He wasn’t feeling good and all this stuff, and blood pressure was getting higher and higher.”
“It was a wake-up call,” Tyrell says. If you had told him years ago that he would be here today, he says he wouldn’t have believed you.
“I’d probably be in the hospital, probably very sick or dead.”
Instead, today, Tyrell is thriving on the road to better health. His advice?
“Just don’t give up. Keep moving. Be positive. And don’t quit.”
Tyrell has received services from Optimae LifeServices since 2005 and lived in residential sites through Optimae Community Services since 2007. He has been working with, Sam, a registered nurse with Optimae Home Health Services, since 2020.