So...

I haven't checked in for awhile but I've been going along getting along and dealing with my life day by day...I am going three times a week to dialysis and so far things are on track. Graft works well...needles go in easy...very few alarms go off...I've sorted that I must eat so I have a nepro during treatment and my bp hasn't dropped the last few times so I think that's the trick. So I've gotten to a place where I can breath and endure and I've been reading a lot but I sometimes feel like I want MORE to do but I barely have enough time in a week to do any of the things I DO do...so I'm still sorting my life! But...I am still HERE!

So...

From May until the 15th I waited for a surgery appointment On May 15 I had surgery to have a graft put in my arm. So I waited for the graft and my arm to heal for WEEKS! It was swollen a long time and sometimes even still my hand is full of fluid and swollen so I haven't put my rings back on :( but I found one that actually fits so my hand isn't naked! lol
I have since been to see Dr. Gowing twice for check ups and today I will do my first hemo treatment using my graft.
From now on I will be going to hemo 3 times a week again and I am now done with PD ...eventually I will get my pd catheter taken out so at least I can be somewhat back to normal again except for having to go 3 times a week for dialysis...however, I am STILL here!!
It has been a long couple of months but I have had time to breath and I'm still unsure about home hemo but for now I will get used to hemo 3 times a week and see how it goes.
I can tell you today that I have MUCH more energy right now than I have had on PD and I feel pretty good :) Keep on keeping on!!!
   

Ongoing Adventures...

Well, I've been home on PD again since end of Feb. but it's not working that well so I'm going to be doing hemo once a week on Thurs. (I just got off the phone with someone at Red Cross and have a driver to take me every week so phew that's dealt with!) and they have talked me into at the very least having a home visit to see if our house will be ok for home hemo and the work needed to fit the machine into our lives. Fun wow! Suck it up and get on with it girl! ....I'm not that sure I can handle home hemo but hey I didn't know if I could handle PD either and yet I'm still here just living day to day and getting through it. Just gotta get on with it....

The Adventure Continues...

Well, I finally got to the surgeon and was told I can go back on PD but apparently there are lots of hurdles to jump through before that can happen. Was supposed to go to Orillia on Thurs. this week but apparently I need Iron so I have to have 3 more sessions of Hemo dialysis and then NEXT week can go to Orillia and PLEASE GOD after that I can go back on PD...I feel like they want me to stay on hemo and I'm arguing the point. I want to try PD until I can't and I'm gonna have to get mean and aggressive if they want to argue with me!! Anyway...one day at a time and today I'm TRYING to fix my comp which had a ransomware program attacking it and has decrypted all my files :( bahhhh if it's not one thing it's another!!
Still here.
Still fighting!!
:)

Adventures

Well, I have not checked in here for a long while and I was going along doing my thing for awhile and then...
I had a bowel blockage in a hernia under my belly button and as of Dec 16th 2017 I got sick to my stomach and it only got worse from there! I checked into Bracebridge hospital on the 18th (not by choice but I had to because I was very sick) and I was instructed to bring my cycler in there and do my dialysis there until Orillia could get me transferred. On the 19th I was given a tube in my nose to help suck out the stuff in my belly and help stop the puking all day. Unfortunately the tube bothered me and I still puked a time or two (excessive yuck in my belly :( ) Then on the 20th I was transferred to Orillia hospital . That evening I had emergency surgery to correct the hernia and blockage (they said they were going to take out my PD catheter and I would have to switch to Hemo dialysis) but when they did the surgery it was a simple problem and they did NOT remove the catheter after all. So I had staples in my  belly, a PD catheter still attached and then they installed a permanent access line for Hemo dialysis in my chest and sent me down for 3 hrs of dialysis. At this point I still had the tube in my nose and I still hadn't eaten anything ...I hadn't eaten anything but a few crackers since Sat the 16th. I can't remember if it was the 22nd or the 23 when they started giving me liquids and I had chicken broth, jello, and tea and the chicken broth tasted like heaven! (It was just standard chicken broth you know...hospital chicken broth...) but I hadn't eaten in a LONG time by then so it tasted pretty darn good!!
I think actually they started liquids on the 23 because in the night of the 22nd my nurse let me take the tube out of my nose and I had already had two 3 hr sessions of dialysis by then so having the tube out made me feel a hundred percent better!
So I was there until Xmas eve and I had another session of Dialysis and then they allowed me to go home for Xmas!! I was very weak and didn't do any of the things that I planned for Xmas but I was at HOME with my boys and couldn't have been happier to be anywhere else!
Even pop and Denise came by to see us and say hi!
Since then I have been going back and forth to Orillia for dialysis 3 times a week. I was waiting to be able to go to Huntsville which is closer but they had to know things were all good first before they could send me. My access line was NOT very good though and as of Jan 11, 2018 I had another surgery to replace it. Without checking it I started dialysis in Huntsville on Sat Jan 13, 2018 and...my line worked!! I have been going there Tues, Thurs and Sat every week and hopefully after I see the surgeon again in Feb. I will be able to go back on PD again.
In the meantime this is just a speed bump in the road (or if you like an adventure) and it too will pass!
After ALL of that I must just say that I am grateful to be here, alive and still kicking!!

Feel Better

I have three months till next visit to try and lose 10 pounds so I can have a buried tube put in for PD dialysis and then will be ready for it when it is needed or if I crash from sickness and lose my kidneys all of a sudden.
I'm happier knowing that I CAN do PD because I think it will be the least intrusive and easier to manage once I know what I have to do and get everything figured out.
I didn't really realize how much I DON'T want a fistula and hemo dialysis until I was sure that I don't HAVE to have it. WOW!
I hope it is still a long way away from me but I'm ready to face the journey if it is not.
Dialysis will be ok.
I CAN do this!!

From now on Aranesp will be taken every 2 weeks. ;)