Lets hope for a great 2009. We went yesterday to meet with a surgeon to get prepped for dialysis. I go January 29th for him to put in an AV fistula in my left arm.
Let me back up a little.........
As stated in the last post, my numbers keep getting worse. We are definitely headed to dialysis, unless CMC gets on the ball. I am in the 10-12% kidney function range. Looking at the numbers over the past few months, I'm losing about 1-2% function a month. Hopefully things will steady off and I could remain at this point for a while, but unfortunately when the kidney function gets lower it tends to go a little quicker. Kind of like when you're running low on gas in the boat, the gas seems to go a lot faster! We certainly do not want to run out.
We've thought a lot about our choices, why does life have to be so complicated? I'm going to do hemodialysis, that's the one done in a dialysis center. It seems to have the least chance of getting an infection, but I'm really mixed about going to a dialysis center. I think it will make it too real. It's easy to 'forget' about things when I feel good.
It just really sucks to get a dose of reality. The day before Christmas Eve was one of those days. I had been feeling nauseous for a few days, but tried to blow it off. Unfortunately that is one of the major signs of kidney failure at my stage. It can mean the body is not filtering all the 'bad' things out, thus making you feel like crap. So things got worse. My doc was great, called every few hours just checking in. Then, I vomited. Not good, at all. When I told her, she was willing to wait just a little longer because I actually felt a little better after getting it out. However, we were looking at having to go to the hospital if I didn't get better for emergency dialysis. Thanks to my wonderful husband, mom and neighbors I was able to get some rest and started feeling a lot better. A Christmas wish granted. I was really not willing to spend Christmas in the hospital.
I think we're all just on edge because it is such an unknown. I've known for years this was the out come but every time I'm reminded of it it's like being told for the first time. I think we'll also feel a little more at ease once the Fistula is in. It takes about 6-16 weeks to heal so it can be used. Once that's done we're good to go for dialysis. Now we just need CMC to get on the ball getting me in so we can get the transplant stuff started.
So I'm sure this is a lot of rambling but the bottom line is, we're on our way to starting dialysis and hopefully we'll be able to wait until the fistula is ready.
We are very thankful this is something that can be fixed.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Time Flies
Wow, time flies when you're having fun.
Here's the latest:
I went last Thursday (12/4/08) for a hemoglobin (finger prick) check and lab work. My hemoglobin was 8.6 so she tested again and it was 8.9. Those are not good numbers. A 'typical' person is in the range of 11.5-15. When hemoglobin gets low it makes ya feel tired and run down. So I had to get a Procrit shot to help my body boost up the hemoglobin. Hopefully that will help. I go back 2 weeks from then to get it tested again most likely another shot. Fortunately they don't really hurt.
Second part, got my labs yesterday. They are not very good either. My kidney function is continuing to get worse. The last Creatine test (11/7/08) was @ 4.2 this time it was 4.9, that translates to about 10% function. SO, after talking to my doc today she's trying to speed things up at CMC. Chris has also called them to see what is going on. Doc is still shooting straight for transplant and skipping dialysis. Obviously, if I continue to get worse and the transplant is not in the near future we'll do dialysis.
I can tell you I would have never thought we'd be in this position this time last year. When we met with Dr Fox (previous kidney doc) in January for a second opinion, he told us I'd probably need a transplant or something within a year if things continued the way they had been going. I believed every bit of it but boy does a year sneak up on ya. I can't believe that I could seriously be looking at needing a transplant or dialysis in the near future. I think at this point we're talking about needing it in months, not years.
So I guess my Christmas wish if I can't get better is to find a match and an easy recovery!
Thanks again for all you!
Here's the latest:
I went last Thursday (12/4/08) for a hemoglobin (finger prick) check and lab work. My hemoglobin was 8.6 so she tested again and it was 8.9. Those are not good numbers. A 'typical' person is in the range of 11.5-15. When hemoglobin gets low it makes ya feel tired and run down. So I had to get a Procrit shot to help my body boost up the hemoglobin. Hopefully that will help. I go back 2 weeks from then to get it tested again most likely another shot. Fortunately they don't really hurt.
Second part, got my labs yesterday. They are not very good either. My kidney function is continuing to get worse. The last Creatine test (11/7/08) was @ 4.2 this time it was 4.9, that translates to about 10% function. SO, after talking to my doc today she's trying to speed things up at CMC. Chris has also called them to see what is going on. Doc is still shooting straight for transplant and skipping dialysis. Obviously, if I continue to get worse and the transplant is not in the near future we'll do dialysis.
I can tell you I would have never thought we'd be in this position this time last year. When we met with Dr Fox (previous kidney doc) in January for a second opinion, he told us I'd probably need a transplant or something within a year if things continued the way they had been going. I believed every bit of it but boy does a year sneak up on ya. I can't believe that I could seriously be looking at needing a transplant or dialysis in the near future. I think at this point we're talking about needing it in months, not years.
So I guess my Christmas wish if I can't get better is to find a match and an easy recovery!
Thanks again for all you!
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