Am I ready?

Yikes!!! My transplant coordinator at Duke called with my kidney function test results. It's at a level now where they want to do transplant as soon as possible. She said "We can schedule it for Friday, October 31". I'm like.. "What???????????? That soon??" The docs at Duke seem to think that peritoneal dialysis may be a bad idea for me. Since I'm so small, and this type of dialysis puts fluid in your abdomen to sit and collect the toxins that are drawn out of your blood, they are thinking that the fluid may cause me some respiratory problems. Because of the volume of fluid that is put in your abdomen, it may compress my lungs and decrease my lung function. They want me to discuss this with my nephrologist in Charlotte, but Duke docs are voting to skip the PD and go straight to transplant.

Mentally, I have been thinking January..ish for transplant. Hearing them suggest I get it next month is a little overwhelming at the moment. Plus, Jason only has a day or two left of vacation this year. If we waited until January, he could take vacation to be with me after transplant. If I got it this year, he would have to take days off without pay, which is not something we really want him to do with a lot of new medical bills coming in.

God is in control. I know that things will work out for the best... they always do. I would appreciate your prayers now. I need to make the right decision... for me and for my family. My mom is ok with any date. She's the best!

Getting educated...

We had to go back to Charlotte this morning to the dialysis center to watch a training video and get "introduced" to all of the supplies/equipment I will need for home dialysis. I really didn't learn anything I didn't already know, but it was required!!! I have a consultation with the surgeon on October 2 to talk about catheter placement. The surgery will probably be a week or two after that, and then I'll start dialysis. I'll have to spend about 4 or 5 days in Charlotte at the dialysis center to train, and then I'll be able to completely do my dialysis at home. At first, I'll only be hooked up to the machine at night for dialysis. Hopefully that will do the job, and I won't have to do it more often than that.

One of the first things that you lose a taste for with kidney disease is meat. It's a natural reaction, because your kidneys can no longer handle all of the protein. BUT.. it's also the one thing that your body needs if you are in kidney failure.. haha. Makes no sense really, but I do hate the taste of meat.. for the most part. I started protein shakes recently, and I'm able to tolerate them without too much nausea. They are hoping that with dialysis, my appetite will increase. I'm not going to get the same results I will with transplant, but it should help me feel better and get me more ready for the surgery.

Peritoneal Dialysis

My nephrologist decided today that I need to start peritoneal dialysis (PD). He thinks I should do dialysis until early to mid-winter, and then get my transplant. He is thinking December or January for transplant, but I will find out more about scheduling when I meet with the surgeon at Duke next week.

Jason and I attend a PD class tomorrow morning in Charlotte to learn about it. I will then be scheduled for surgery to have a catheter placed in my abdomen for dialysis. This is different than hemodialysis where you have to go 3 times a week to a clinic/infusion center to have dialysis. I will be doing PD at home every night. My nephrologist didn't think I'd tolerate hemodialysis very well because of my consistently low blood pressure. He thinks the PD will help increase my appetite and get me in shape for transplant.

Night at the ER

I had to go to the emergency room yesterday around 5:30pm. I woke up feeling bad, and was having some dizziness when I was walking around. I laid down and started feeling better, and then it started again when I got back up to do some things. There were several times yesterday where I felt like I was going to pass out. I knew it was my blood pressure again, and I knew I was dehydrated, so I laid down, elevated my legs and starting sipping some water. I was also very nauseous so I couldn't drink that much without the feeling of wanting to throw up. 

Jason took my blood pressure and it was 90/70. I laid around the house for about another hour, and then got up again hoping I could get ready to go to the night service at our church. Everything went black for a moment walking back to my bedroom. I knew then that it was time for an ER trip to get some fluids.

I got to the back pretty quickly, but they were so busy, that it took 4 1/2 hours to do everything they needed to do. They always run diagnostics even though I know what I need. They just want to make sure they aren't missing anything, so of course, I had to get a chest xray, an EKG, and blood work. I also needed Phenergan for the nausea that I'd been having all day, and some IV morphine for the fibromyalgia pain. Whenever I'm dehydrated, my fibro pain gets so much worse.

We got home a little after 10... just in time to get Casey to bed. She loves coming to the ER/doc/anything medical with me. She wants to go into the medical field when she grows up and she can't get enough of it! Not that she wants her mom sick... but if I've got to go, then she wants to go watch. :)

It is amazing what a little bit of fluids do for you. I felt so much better when I got home. I still had some pain and a little nausea, but I didn't feel as weak, and I could walk around without feeling like I was going to faint. I am going to try to drink a lot of water today, so this doesn't repeat itself anytime soon.

I find out if I will be getting dialysis next week. I see my nephrologist on the 16th about it. We will make the decision then. Since my weight is down even more, and my strength has also been down, I'm thinking he is going to lean toward some dialysis before transplant instead of just jumping right into transplant. I think he said I would only need a couple of months of it.