Yay for good news!

So our beloved dr Goodger came in this morning and told us Todd is doing much better. He needs to get up and walk around to see if he's going to pass out again, here's the place to do it!!

I asked Dr G about dialysis and he said when kidneys are at a 4.5 is when they start looking to dialysis. Todd was at a 4.1 yesterday. This morning his kidneys are at a 3. Something. Dr. G couldn't remember what it was be he was thrilled!! Which makes me thrilled.

Todd and I walked the floor before lunch and when we came back to the room we saw a sign posted on the doorframe. Made us both chuckle.(Most of the patients with this on their door are way older than Todd.)

Our goal is to be able to go home tomorrow.

At least we were in st George!

Mom, MOM!!MOM!!!!!! Was what I heard being yelled out if my daughters mouth. I come around the truck and there is my sweetheart, legs under him just about to hit the asphalt. I run to him and catch his head as it slightly bounces up. This has been my worst fear since we left the hospital a month ago, that he would pass out and fall hard. Thank heavens he was right next to the truck, he hit that first. I don't it doesn't sound like a good thing but when the other option is face first on asphalt,,, yea I'm glad the truck was there.

He quickly came to and the first words out of his mouth were, "I don't know where I am". He looked up at me and said "honey, I'm ok. I have to get my legs out from under me". Ok at least he knew who I was and he knew Kenzie. We laid him down on the asphalt and let him rest for a bit.

I told him, we are here in town, lets get you looked at. He fought me on it, but lets face it, I usually get my way. So we go to the instacare here in town and they won't even look at him. We are told he has to go to the ER. Even if he was only out for no more that 30 seconds. So we go to the ER. We pull up and a nurse comes running out with a wheelchair, and I think the instacare has called,, nope, we just pulled up right in front of the door and she was there. She heard he passed out and ran him back, by the time I got back there they were doing another EKG, blood panel and other tests. After about an hour and a half we get word that his kidneys have gone from a 2.7 to a 4.1. NOT GOOD!!!!! He's very dehydrated, which is why he passed out. He hasn't been able to keep much of anything down. And that has caused his kidneys to "crash" even more.

So now we are here until the drs get his fluids up and can figure out why he isn't keeping food down.

Dr. Goodger has already been in and said it isn't like last time, they just need to find out why. So that's the good news. We should know more tomorrow morning.


At least we were in St. George when it happened.

Swelling down pics

Ok here are the pictures of his feet when the swelling was about half down when we were in the hospital and now.

weight loss and Valentines day

It truly amazes me what we do to our bodies and all we put ourselves through on a daily basis. When Todd went into the hospital, a month ago, they weighed him and he weighted 270 lbs.  I knew he had put on weight, he knew he had put on weight, and we both knew it was a lot of weight.  It didn't bother me, he weighed 370 when we got married, but I was concerned about his health.  Enter Heart disease and kidney failure.  Sigh!  We have both been diligent in watching our sodium and potassium intake.  Ya never know how creative one can be in the kitchen until you HAVE to be.  He stepped on the scale yesterday morning, he has to weigh himself every day to make sure his body is NOT retaining more fluid, and hit an all time low,,  219 lbs! WHAT???  OK I would say about 85% of that is fluid FINALLY leaving his body, and the other 15 is my mad cooking skills!  BUT STILL, that is the smallest he has been our entire married life.  He is withering away.  So today, my to do list consists of calling the dr and making sure he wants Todd to continue to take the diuretic.   His feet look amazing, I will post a pic today when I get home from work, if I remember.  Aside from the dizziness he constantly feels, he is moving around so much better.  I still worry about him constantly when I am at work. I think I always will.  it helps that Jake gets out of school by 1 pm so he is home if his dad needs him.

This man (Todd, not Jake) IS my valentine.  There are not enough words in the English language to express how much I love him. And I would go through this 10 times over if it meant I got to spend eternity with him.  He is my world, my love, my life.  He keeps me strong, and supports anything I want to do.  It is my hope that our girls find someone just like their dad, whose life goal is to make his wife happy.  

I love you baby.  

bitter sweet

Ok this post is about another man in my life.. One I have had an 18 year relationship with.  He has comforted me, frustrated me, made me laugh, and cry, and brought me so much joy, words can do no justice.  18 years ago I was blessed with a beautiful baby boy.  It has been such a blessing having him in my life.  Watching him grow from a baby, to a toddler, to an child, to a *gasp* teen, and now ,legally, an adult has been an adventure I would gladly do all over again.  He is such an amazing young adult.  Happy birthday to "my little man"  may you have the best day ever!!!  Thank you for choosing me to be your mom!

Dr's Follow up visit

We had our follow up visit yesterday with both our family dr and the kidney specialist.  The family dr went well, he did another blood panel and told us to just keep doing what we are doing and come back in 6 weeks,, (WHEW we have time to save some money for gas now!)

 The Kidney specialist went well also, considering.  He is still worried about the swelling, which has gone down drastically, and needs to continue to go down. Dr Leon, (the kidney dr) finally gave us a name for what we are going through.  Renal Cardiovascular Disease, which leads to kidney failure, which we are full steam ahead on that one, and heart failure.  By getting rid of the excess fluid we are treating the heart but killing the kidneys, so a transplant is inevitable in no later than 3 years, to get on the list that is and start dialysis.

Dr L had us see his nutritionist because Todd is VERY anemic, which also explains his desire/need to sleep almost all the live long day, and his protein is dangerously low.  So we,, YES WE, are on a strict diet.  I prefer to call it a lifestyle change.  NO more than 1500 mg of sodium a day.  I challenge you to look at your food labels and read exactly how much sodium is in the food you are eating,, it's kinda gross.  Just in my yoplait light that I had for breakfast there is 80 mg.  Todd can only have certain veggies, tons of red meat,, yay for him, his favorite food, and chicken.  We are doing this together because, well, there is strength in numbers.  We aren't allowed dairy, cheese, corn, and a bunch of other stuff that is common every day foods, I really have to look over all the info the nutritionist gave us yesterday.  (yes I know I ate a yogurt for breakfast, Im not throwing them out!)

While we are in with the nutritionist, Dr L had a nurse come take a small sample of blood to run for iron and protein levels and came back asking what insurance we had,  (YAY MACY"S)  Unfortunately, our insurance does not cover a shot he needs, when I asked how much the shot was I dang near fell off my chair,, (no Jen, I don't remember what it was! a hormone of some sort to get his protein levels up I believe) $800 for ONE SHOT!  So we are upping the anti on his protein, he is taking liquid protein and filling up on egg whites and meat.

On that note,  Dr L left us saying come back in 2 months, and try to up our insurance (it's already taking half my paycheck every week :-/)

All I can say is anyone out there reading this who has diabetes and thinks, 'pft, I'm fine, nothing will happen, oh please it's all just a scare tactic' PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look after yourself,, keep your blood sugars under control, watch your diet.  It can and it WILL happen to you, and this is NOT something I would wish on my worst enemy!! (if I had one)

So I am off to work leaving Todd alone for the first time in two week, and there is a huge pit in my stomach.
Keep us in your prayers please.  <3

and we're home!

Our first night home!  Felt like heaven to sleep in our own bed, next to each other.
I'm trying my best to keep him on the same routine that we were on in the hospital, meaning sleeping and eating schedule,otherwise he would sleep all day because of his lack of energy.

So I did the good wife thing and got him up by 8, made him breakfast, had him weigh himself and take his blood sugars, (the bs he is super good about doing on his own)  The jerk has lost 20 pounds in like 5 days!! ok ok I use the term Jerk loosely.  I truly dont think he's a jerk! *wink*

Our follow up appts with both the regular dr and the kidney specialist is scheduled for monday jan 28th, I will keep you all posted!

Kiss your family, let them know they are your world!