Ya know,,, when life throws you lemons you can sit and cry and whine about it, asking questions like why me? What did I do to deserve this?,,, etc, etc... or you can suck it up and know there is a reason for everything, and someone, somewhere in your life, you,, your spouse,,, a friend.... someone has something to learn from what you are going through.
My husband continues to amaze me with his strength to just suck it up and carry on. Forgive me if I have shared this before... his morning routine is,,, get up, get his balance, throw up or dry heave, whichever his body sees fit to do, *yes every single morning*,(the joys of nerve damage in your stomach), use the bathroom,, try to make it back to bed without passing out, or downstairs depending on how bad the dizziness is, to do a few chores. EVERY SINGLE DAY,, and every so often his body decides to mix things up and throw in an infection just for fun.
His dialysis catheter has had an on again off again infection since May of 2014,, antibiotics won't kill it off. It is a rock hard lump, almost cyst like, right near the exist site of his cath. It oozes, and bleeds thick red blood at times, and at other times, it just sits there. It goes away and the swelling subsides while he is on antibiotics but withing a month of finishing them, and I am being generous with the timeline, it comes back. It is hot and painful to put any pressure on.
We put a call into his nephrologist in st george, who got in contact with his nephrologist here in SLC, (we had to switch dr's) and they decided to operate and move the catheter and take out the infection. YAY!,,, this decision was made on Monday,, and surgery was scheduled for Wednesday,, no messing around here.
We were at the hospital at 6:45 am, surgery scheduled for 8:15,,, they finally took him back at 9:00,, it was supposed to only take an hour - an hour and ten minutes, however,,, *and this makes me sooo freaking happy* The surgeon was sooooo careful about not spreading the infection, that once she was able to get the old cath out, and that in and of itself was a challenge.. the infection was actually around the 2nd cuff holding it in place, she had every person in the room change their gloves, get new equipment, new drapes, everything! YAY. So the surgery went a little longer than expected, and she made sure to have the OR nurse call me and let me know what was going on and why it was taking longer than we planned. YAY for communication!
When all was said and done, we were home by 3 pm. The patient tucked into bed, against his will, pain pills by the bed, and his ever doting nurse by his side. He didn't take a pain pill until later that night, and hasn't taken one since. He doesn't complain. He tries so hard to not "be a burden to me", his words not mine. He is never a burden on me. He is the love of my life. My rock. My safe place is in his arms. When we were allowed to sit with him after surgery I pulled up a chair and just hugged him, tears just started falling. *I tend to deal with stressful situations with humor,and hold everything in so he doesn't see me cry right before he is taken back for surgery*, and he just kissed them away and kept saying over and over that he loved me and he will always come back.... Every time they take him away I am scared he won't come back. I mean how many times can you put a person to sleep and cut them open and have them wake up ?? SO far, our count is 8! I'm really hoping the 9th is the kidney transplant.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Really?!?!?! And we are on the list!
Things have been pretty quite here on the home front,, in regards to Todd's health anyway. He is still on dialysis every night, for 9 hours he is tied to a machine. He still has all the side effects from his meds, which make him sicker than anything,, every single day. It's just part of our daily routine at this point,, get up, throw up, shower, brush teeth, get dressed,,, etc, etc.
We have been super busy with moving to West Jordan. We needed, (I needed?) to be closer to family, for one thing for support,, for another, so I didn't have to miss work for all these dr's appointments Todd has. We are in a cute 4 bdrm home that we love love love!!! Our 11 yr old especially likes having his very own space in the basement! I've been told he's preparing it to be the man cave for when his oldest brother gets back from his LDS mission in Macon Georgia in 14 months.
Being in West Jordan also means we are a lot closer to the transplant center. Like 5 1/2 hours closer!! Huge benefit for when a kidney becomes available!
We got a call from Barb at the TC (transplant center), yesterday saying Todd needed to get down there asap to have his blood drawn for cross match testing. She doesn't want us to miss out on a kidney should one become available. *stay with me here,, this is where it gets confusing*,, Todd's blood type is AB+, the TC has a scale on which people are numbered for match quality,, *yep I'm confused too at this point* it goes from 0 - 100, 0 being the BEST quality for a match, and 100 being the worst. Meaning if you are a 0 you have a fantastic probability of finding a match for a kidney,, 100, your chances are minimal at best. Todd is a 0! So being AB+ and a 0, he can accept ANY kidney out there... ANY! So he is on the list waiting for a match. No Idea where he is on that list,, he could be number 30,, he could be number 500,, we haven't been told yet....
HOWEVER, and here is the exciting part,,, if the TC gets a AB+ donor, that kidney can only go to an AB+ recipient. Enter the rush to get his blood panel done. He gets to move rapidly up the list, like to the top if an AB+ donor becomes available. Apparently its a rare blood type. *No clue*
So,, YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYA! Now we wait! In the mean time, we have decided to raffle off our/MY VW beetle to fund raise for expenses. Although they have dropped considerably since we moved up here, they are still high, and being as I am the only one working our income is limited. IF any of you are interested in buying a ticket for the beetle, you can text me or my hubby at 702-816-1388. Thank you again for all your prayers, love, donations, and all! Wouldn't be able to do this without it!!
Love and healthy wishes
Rhonda
We have been super busy with moving to West Jordan. We needed, (I needed?) to be closer to family, for one thing for support,, for another, so I didn't have to miss work for all these dr's appointments Todd has. We are in a cute 4 bdrm home that we love love love!!! Our 11 yr old especially likes having his very own space in the basement! I've been told he's preparing it to be the man cave for when his oldest brother gets back from his LDS mission in Macon Georgia in 14 months.
Being in West Jordan also means we are a lot closer to the transplant center. Like 5 1/2 hours closer!! Huge benefit for when a kidney becomes available!
We got a call from Barb at the TC (transplant center), yesterday saying Todd needed to get down there asap to have his blood drawn for cross match testing. She doesn't want us to miss out on a kidney should one become available. *stay with me here,, this is where it gets confusing*,, Todd's blood type is AB+, the TC has a scale on which people are numbered for match quality,, *yep I'm confused too at this point* it goes from 0 - 100, 0 being the BEST quality for a match, and 100 being the worst. Meaning if you are a 0 you have a fantastic probability of finding a match for a kidney,, 100, your chances are minimal at best. Todd is a 0! So being AB+ and a 0, he can accept ANY kidney out there... ANY! So he is on the list waiting for a match. No Idea where he is on that list,, he could be number 30,, he could be number 500,, we haven't been told yet....
HOWEVER, and here is the exciting part,,, if the TC gets a AB+ donor, that kidney can only go to an AB+ recipient. Enter the rush to get his blood panel done. He gets to move rapidly up the list, like to the top if an AB+ donor becomes available. Apparently its a rare blood type. *No clue*
So,, YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYA! Now we wait! In the mean time, we have decided to raffle off our/MY VW beetle to fund raise for expenses. Although they have dropped considerably since we moved up here, they are still high, and being as I am the only one working our income is limited. IF any of you are interested in buying a ticket for the beetle, you can text me or my hubby at 702-816-1388. Thank you again for all your prayers, love, donations, and all! Wouldn't be able to do this without it!!
Love and healthy wishes
Rhonda
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