Well the doctor called me this afternoon to deliver details about my kidney problems. He said the kidney tests showed that roughly 90% of the tissue in my kidneys have been reduced to scar tissue (apparently due to my diabetes). He said there is no way my kidneys can be restored to their prior function and that I need to prepare for the inevitability of dialysis and eventually transplant. He said on the upside that I was in pretty good health overall which made me a good candidate for transplant within 2 years. He will come by again tomorrow afternoon and go over my long term care options. I guess I'm trying to look on the bright side with lots of the uncertainty behind me and knowing my family and Amy's family and all their friends are pulling for me. All for the moment.
Amazing how quickly things can happen when they really get movie. The kidney specialist came by and announced that the lady setting up my dialysis and giving me my options was coming by and she came by shortly thereafter. After I chose the type of dialysis I wanted (hemeo stasis) they scheduled putting in the catheter (similar to a chemotherapy port in my chest until the minor surgery can be done on my arm to put in the more or less permanent ports to filter my blood) for originally tomorrow morning but they then moved it up to this afternoon. Now I have the catheter in my chest and my first session of dialysis is supposed to be tomorrow!. They say I'll be released tomorrow!!! I'm going home. This experience that began last Thursday morning with my Kidney biopsy last Friday morning will be over at least for the immediate future tomorrow God willing. Of course .now I've got to go to the dialysis clinic in Camden three times a week (starting Friday I suspect). But that seems doable to me. At least now I'll see Murphy after the longest time away from her since my great toe on my left foot was amputated in early 2017. All for the moment.
hemo where the blood is filtered directly at a dialysis center. The kind I'm getting. It has the advantage of being done only three times a week normally. peritoneal dialysis where a tube is put into the stomach and the stomach lining is used in part to filter the blood. home dialysis (which can be either hemo or peritoneal) which of course you do at home. It has to be done basically seven days a week. Most often while you sleep at night. Home dialysis has several disadvantages including being more difficult to keep the environment around you adequately clean. on the other hand given it is more regular and near continuous much like natural dialysis it is much less hard on the body. Also you can't have a pet sleep with you with peritoneal dialysis due to sanitary issues.
Had my first dialysis today. One of the doctors told me I would be discharged after my dialysis tomorrow morning. My next dialysis will be at the clinic in Camden on Tuesday after that. My schedule will be for dialysis on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. That will complicate our schedule for when we go back home and visit Amy's family and of course do any work on our house but I'm sure it isn't anything we can't work around ultimately. And of course best of all I'll get to see Amy and Murphy tomorrow (Annalee comes by today after she gets off work at 3:00 or so. ) All for the moment.
Home at last! Home at last!! Home at last!!! Murphy was happy to see me of course though fortunately she was much more reserved than I worried she would be. Amy was very tired after arriving in Little Rock so after we ate at Chili's I drove us home. Amy was very grateful for that and of course we made it without incident. I still have some bouts of dizziness when walking and twisting and turning but fortunately none of that occurs when I'm seated in a vehicle. My second dialysis session went well enough. Fortunately my sessions go faster for some reason that most peoples. I've really got to be careful about my diet so not put any addition pressure on the dialysis machines. All for the moment.
Three down, 777 to go. That is I had my first three dialysis sessions this week at Camden (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday) and I'm calculating at least five years of dialysis at three times per week. So I've gotten three completed out of hopefully no more than 780 total before I get a new kidney. I felt truly awful during the first dialysis. Probably because I didn't eat before hand. I didn't make that mistake on Thursday though I felt awful afterwards. Today I think I got it nailed down properly on both ends. All for the moment.
Try Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis I converted a longest living dialysis patient and she loved it for the freedom of it all. Save the omentum, it becomes used to the system and represents a lot of surface area for dialysis The liquid goes in clear and comes out looking like urine. Continuous so less body shock
My 5th dialysis on Thursday was awful. After the second hour I started feeling terrible. Stomach ache, headache. Dizziness even while sitting down. It was worse than my first dialysis and I figured that was due to not eating that day. But on Thursday it was even worse in all respects. No idea why but they said my blood pressure was plummeting to dangerously low levels. They gave me oxygen and I gradually perked up before it was all over. I found out earlier in the day that my weight has plunged to 204 lbs. From just under 230 before I got sick. I'm now the lightest I've been since I was playing football in the 11th grade in 1983. Nearly 40 years ago. No wonder I'm now wearing 36 inch in the waist jeans. We're leaving after Amy gets out of work tomorrow to go to Sherwood and stay the night with Annalee for Mothers Day. Sunday we're driving on up to Augusta to attend church at First Baptist so Amy can give congratulations cards to the Grisham Twins (Ben & Andrew). They graduate from high school this month and Amy worries that we won't be able get off to attend graduation. The Grisham's are good kids all around. Once they graduate only their little brother Joe will be left in school up there.
Third week of dialysis is over. They finally cut back on the rate of flow of the blood being filtered which seemed to make the dialysis easier on me. I also got a trekking pole (a cane) to help me walk and not lose my balance while walking to the car. Seemed to help quite a bit. We had a good Mothers Day weekend at Annalee's. Annalee's boyfriend told me just as we were leaving that he wanted to ask Annalee to marry him. I expected it so I told him congratulations and shook hands with him. He asked her the next day and gave her a ring. They plan to get married Dec. 31, 2022. New Years Eve has some kind of historical significance to their relationship. Annalee will be 22 then and Brandon ill be 24 or 25 so the ages are good all around. It will give them plenty of years as a young married couple before they decide to have children. Amy and I know we have no input on this issue but we kind of hope they have two or three kids. By then Amy and I will be living in the remodeled house I grew up in with plenty of room for grandkids to visit. All for the moment.
Now had three consecutive good dialysis treatments. Each one better than the last. Overall it seems my not taking my blood pressure medicines the morning before I got to dialysis has turned out well. Straight on until I can get a transplant I suppose.
I have doubts that Peritoneal Dialysis would be good for me as the dialysate (liquid that is put into the body) contains sugar and being a diabetic it might make any kind of control of my diabetes much more difficult if not outright impossible.
Well, I found out that Peritoneal Dialysis would not bother a diabetic such as myself. While the liquid dialactic pumped into the abdomen does indeed contain a large dose of glucose but the glucose is not absorbed by the body. So it would have no effect on me. I've had some very vivid dreams the last couple of nights. Both involved my high school days. Last night I dreamed something centered around the last day of the school year my junior year (11th grade) in high school. I was trying to find a copy of our football and practice schedule that the coach had prepared and handed out. I eventually borrowed the copy belonging to this fat and kind of dimwitted guy in my class who was also on the football team. I remember unfolding it on the school bus during the ride home which is ironic given I didn't ride the school bus when I was in the 11th grade. I remember reading the football guide and noting the final schedule that we had an open day (no game) our 4th week of the season. I also noted head coach Doug Norwood had crushingly bad penmanship. Interpret that one if you will. All for the moment.
I decided not to get my second Covid-19 shot which would've been today. I found out that even after getting it I would still have to wear a mask in dialysis so it seemed like no point. Especially as agonizing as the first one was. Tuesday's dialysis was difficult but in different ways. Though once again plunging blood pressure was the issue caused by them pulling some 10 lbs. of fluid out of my blood in just three and a half hours. So much that my shoes and belt were both feeling looser at the end of it. I barely staggered to the car with the help of my walking cane. And recovery proved more lengthy and harder than usual. My fistula surgery is still on Friday. The car air conditioner compressor has a loose switch so it frequently goes out. The only thing to do is stop, pop the hood and jiggle the wire until you hear the compressor kick in which is not that easy when it is more than 90 degrees. Guess I'll take the truck to dialysis tomorrow. The truck has half a dozen severe dents (daddy put them in it back when it was his truck) but the air conditioner works reliably. Thanks to all the rain, the grass has grown back in the yard at daddys house with blazing speed. Less than two weeks. Amy and I have got to go back and mow the bulk of it again soon. All for the moment.
Had my fistula surgery this morning. My left arm is still three quarters paralyzed from the two nerve blocks they put in it. About the only thing that works in below the wrist so I have to use my right hand to place my left on the keyboard in order to type. The entire thing was absolutely agonizing in all respects. Applying the nerve blocks to my left shoulder was agonizing. I had to have two since my arm refused to completely numb up after the first one. And even worst, the surgery wasn't entirely succ essful. They couldn't get fistula implanted properly due to scaring in the veins. Possibly due to me donating so much blood in the pas ofst. So I'll have to have another surgery. Even the drawing of blood hurt. First they put the IV fitting in my right forearm in a very sensitive spot. Then they realized they hadn't drawn any blood for lab tests so the only place left was my right hand. And my hands are very sensitive to needles. and the pain I've had since getting out of surgery has been agonizing. Even my hydrocodone hasn't made a dent in it. I got home, came in and sat down, Murphy promptly came and jumped in my lap. Now I've got to try to sleep tonight without laying on my left arm any. Any pressure on it sends waves of pain throughout. And I'm afraid that Murphy will jump on me and lay on my arm as she does that every morning. I'll be so glad when all of this is over. At least Annalee is visiting tomorrow for Fathers Day. She is driving me to and from dialysis on Saturday. All for the moment.
Poor thing, you have your problems. Treat yourself to something nice when it's over. No, I mean really nice Well maybe not that nice
Good god, the New Puritanism rears its ugly head, even here. Yes, my doctor won't even give me Medical Marijuana, says someone on a restricted diet doesn't need the munchies.
Well kidneys are hard to come by (from a stranger anyway) so they are big about the idea that the person who gets a kidney "follows all the rules". No tobacco or drug use. Moderation in alcohol, not be excessively obese, Make it to all your scheduled dialysis treatments (and be on time) and doctors appointments. Take your medication reliably. Needless to say I want a kidney so I'm going to do what I'm told. Of course if we were simply allowed to buy a kidney it would be easier. I have more than enough money to do that.
Haven't updated in awhile. Of course all my major news is about my dialysis treatments. The last half dozen have gone pretty well as I've managed to keep my fluid levels under control (I'm not sure how) thus my blood pressure hasn't been crashing in the third hour of dialysis like it had been. I'm looking forward to Saturday. After I get out of dialysis Amy, Murphy and I are leaving to drive up to my grandparents place. My sister Donna, her husband David, their daughter and her husband and three daughters are all going to be up there for July 4th. We haven't seen them in two years and our goal is to spend a couple of hours with them. I'm hoping Murphy remembers Kara as two years ago Kara took care of Murphy while we were up there. Two years ago was when Murphy got loose and we almost never recaptured her. Amy's dad found out he has bladder cancer so Amy has been upset a great deal. He is pushing 84 now. The "revision" to my fistula surgery (port in my arm for dialysis)is now scheduled for July 16th. I dread it. The pain will probably be just as bad as the first surgery was. The surgeon won't give me any painkillers strong than Hydro All for the moment.
The trip from hell. My dialysis on Saturday went just about as well as it ever has and our trip to my grandfathers place to visit my sister Donna, her husband, their daughter, son in law and three granddaughters went exceptionally well. It was so good to see the girls again after two years. After leaving there Saturday evening we left to go stay at Annalee's and to leave Murphy there. Then everything went down the crapper. Sunday started out well enough. We ate breakfast at IHOP and then set out for Fayetteville. Between Russellville and Clarksville the front right tire started going flat. I was close to Clarksville and it looked like I would be able to limp to the Walmart there to get the tire fixed. But I made a wrong turn and ended up headed back toward Russellville. I finally had to stop on shoulder on I-40 but I couldn't get the tire off. The lug nuts were too tight so we had to call Emergency Roadside Assistance. They eventually came and put the emergency spare on for 80 dollars. I then managed to get to the Russellville Walmart but the tire was too damaged to fix so I had to buy a new one. When we finally got to Fayetteville, the places that Amy was interested in eating at had closed. So we had to eat at a Chili's beside our hotel. On Monday things really went to hell. All for now.
