We need to have a talk. I want you to know I love you very much. And I don't want to upset you in any way. But I need your help. Well, actually, Nathanial needs your help. You see, he's my little brother. And every since the very first day he came home from the hospital, I have felt kind of protective of him.
I remember as a kid, when mom and dad would tuck us into bed and we shared a bedroom. We would still whisper and talk after they went back downstairs. Sometimes we would throw a little stuffed animal back and forth in the dark. We'd laugh when it would accidentally hit one of us. We'd get rowdy and sometimes forget how loud we got when we were supposed to be sleeping. Pretty soon, the hall light would flip on and Dad would come up and yell at us for not going to sleep like we were supposed to. I would always feel bad that Nathanial got yelled at because usually I started it. Another time I remember when Nathanial kept using the word 'damn'. Mom got so mad that he wouldn't stop she finally washed his mouth out with soap! I felt awful that he had to have his mouth washed out with soap, and I immediately ran upstairs and licked the soap myself to see how much he was suffering. And one time at church, when one of the bigger kids was picking on Nathanial, I chased that little bully all over the church kicking and trying to hit him and telling him he'd better not pick on my little brother!! --and I think I scared him off.
Feelings don't change as an adult. When I see someone staring at Nathanial because his nose is gone, I feel rage surge through me and I want to go tell that person off. When I hear a curious little kid ask questions about Nat's nose, it saddens me. The only difference now is that I am an adult and I have to control myself to some extent. I can't chase people down that stare and kick and hit them. I still feel protective. Only now, I feel helpless also.
When Nathanial was hospitalized a few years ago, I felt the most helpless I ever have in my life. There was my little brother...unconscious, feeding tube in his side so he could eat, breathing tube in his neck so he could breath, blood cleaning machine hooked to his veins so he wouldn't poison himself and die. Living by machine. He was mangled looking....his lips and nose were shriveled and black/purple. As were his fingers. As were his ears and the backs of his hands. His legs from the knee down looked like a corpse that had been rotting for some time. His arms were tied to the bed so he wouldn't thrash around and yank out any tubes.
It was literally the most heartbreaking feeling in the world.
And I could do nothing to help him.
Nothing.
I have never cried harder. I have never prayed more.
So, you see, kidney, this is where you come in. Its not that I don't need you....its that he needs you more. This is the one thing that I can do for Nathanial. This is the only thing I can do for my little brother that will help him. This will extend his life for years if it all works well!
Now, you'll have to act like a big kidney and really work hard in Nathanial. But you know its for a good cause. Nathanial will take good care of you and the doctors will check on you all the time to make sure you are enjoying your new home. And I'll still come around! Heck,once you get all settled and make friends with the other organs, I'm sure you'll forget all about me.
So, kidney, please do your best to help! Please, for the whole family and for everyone that loves Nathanial, work your little kidney butt off. Clean his blood like you've always cleaned mine. Help him to be healthy like the rest of us. We're all counting on you!
Love,
Hilary
Showing posts with label blood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blood. Show all posts
Monday, November 2, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
My View (By Braden Sullivan, 11yrs)
This whole kidney transplant between my mom and uncle is a very difficult time for me.
My mom is always going to the nephrologist and I can only imagine the stress my uncle is going through. I always feel bad because my mother shows me her little dots from where she gets shots and tells me how scared she was, and I feel like I should have done something. (even though that was clearly impossible since I am always in school when she is getting shot with a long, bloodthirsty, needle) I am very stressed out almost all of the time, even though I don't have to do anything! But it is also VERY relieving, knowing that after this my uncle has many more years to go.
Nathanial (my uncle) is one of the biggest role models in my life. Me and him are like cheese and crackers. Every Wednesday, from when I was little to fourth grade (when we moved to Wichita) he would pick me up and we would have 'guys night'. Nathanial would take me to a movie, or play a board game,or try out a new video game or, well, you get the point. I have memories of Nathanial and I for as far back as I can remember. I have always looked up to him and seen him as not just my uncle, but also my best friend and my hero. I am very excited to find out that he will be around for a while now!
My mom has been there for me since I was, well, a baby. I feel very happy for her, knowing that she has the chance to do a great and honorable thing like donating a kidney. But i also feel bad for her, because on top of normal, everyday stress, she also has to think, "oh no, what if this happens," or, "what if that happens!?" This also stresses me out. But, I will have fun messing with her rib.(which she gets to keep...BLECHKKK!)
All and all, I am very excited to see how this turns out. With Every inch of my heart, I want Nathanial to get better. I miss the guys nights, and guy trips, and everything we used to do together. I know that if i couldn't pee, getting a kidney would be at the top of my agenda, so i know how this is exciting for him. I wish him the best of luck in the near future so that everything will go according to plan. I want him to know that I pray for him and my mom everyday so that this will be okay.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Processes, Processes.....
Yesterday, I had to get up a little early to start my day. Normally, I wouldn't mind so much, but yesterday was Columbus Day. A glorified holiday in the banking world. Its a day that all the bankers and post office workers get the day off, while the rest of the world works. October is the beginning of a series of these little holidays for those who work in a bank. Making this the perfect time of year to be scheduleing so many tests and trips across town to the hospital.
My appointment yesterday was two-fold. I was to turn in my second round of pee jugs (which also means bloodwork-gag!) and I was to have my visit with the social worker. After my last visit with Mark -the renal donor coordinator- he told me I was down to the last few schedulings. He told me I would meet with the social worker, then the psychologist, then Nathanial and I would meet with the surgeon and the nephrologist to schedule THE day.
I wasn't quite sure I needed to meet with a social worker. Actually, I didn't even know what the social worker's role was. Nathanial told me she was a super sweet lady and I would like her. I honestly haven't met one person that works in the renal department that I haven't liked. But, I'm getting off track now. I had to be in the renal department of the hospital by 8am. Driving there takes about 30 minutes during rush hour plus I had to consider parking and walking through the crazy parking garage and getting to the 6th floor. And anyone who knows me knows I HATE being late to anything. I decided to leave the house around 7:15 which meant the kids were on their own for getting on the bus and getting themselves out the door at the right time. That isn't too much of a big deal for them. They have had to do that several times lately due to all of my testing and appointments. On a side note, the kids haven't complained one single time. They are the best little cheerleaders! They always give me extra kisses and hugs in the morning when they know I am having a day faced with needles. And then the first thing out of their mouths when they get home that evening is always "how did the doctors go?". They are just as excited to have Nathanial better as the rest of the family.
I arrived at the hospital at 8:03 according to my car, but I always have my car clock set ten mintues fast to trick myself into always being early. Drives Geoff crazy!! By the time I got up to the renal office to meet with the social worker it was right on the dot, 8 o'clock. Beth Smith, the social worker, came out to greet me. She was a tiny little brown haired lady that imediately made me feel comfortable. She couldn't find an office for us to meet in so we wandered up and down the hall for a few minutes looking for an open space. All the while, my pee jug was splish-sploshing around in my bag. We found an open office and she told me to make myself comfortable. Basically, her job for the day was to give me a sort of interview to deterimine if I really was willing to be Nathanial's donor for all the right reasons.
She asked me questions about financial issues. She asked me questions about my kids feelings about the surgery. She asked me how Geoff felt. She asked me how long I had thought about doing this. She asked me how my employer was going to handle my leave of absense. She asked me who was my support system and who would take care of me after the transplant. She talked with me about what it was that happened to Nathanial to get him to where he is now. She asked me what I would do if it turned out that the transplant didn't work. All these questions and topics were discussed over the course of about an hour. Apparently she approved of my reasons behind why I am doing this for Nathanial, because at the end of the interview she said when the transplant team met and they asked her for her 'yay' or 'nay'on continuing with the procedure as me being the donor, she was going to give me a resounding 'yay'.
YAY! One more obsticle down!
After visiting with the social worker I was sent to the lab. The lady who works the front desk from the lab now knows me by name. 'Hi Hilary', she greeted as I walked (as slowly as I could) through the door of the lab. I sat my bag down and pulled out my pee jug to walk over and give to her. I was sick and tired of hauling that stupid jug around with me everywhere for the last 24 hours so that was at least a good thing! She had me scribble down my height and weight and what time I started and ended collection. Then I had a seat to wait for the BS. BS= blood sucker.
The idea of me getting blood drawn doesn't panic me as much as it did even a few weeks ago. I'm actually very proud of myself for how brave I was yesterday. The BS came to call me to the back room and my stomach didn't even turn like it normally does. The nurse was a very funny guy this time and cracked a lot of jokes. He was young and energetic and very different than the nurses I'm used to. As he was poking around looking for a good vein I mentioned that I was still bruised from the last time they drew blood. He told me he could use a different vein if I wanted him to, but I declined the offer and told him just to use whatever vein was going to be the easiest for him. He said back to me,'do you really mean that? I can use whatever vein is easiest for me? Because my patients tend to get a little uneasy when I tie this rubber strap around their neck." See what I mean? He was funny! ....and if he thought for a second that he was going to use a neck vein of mine to get blood out of he wasn't just funny....he was CRAZY too!!
The blood drawing went well and I was out of the hospital by 10am to go enjoy the rest of my Columbus Day holiday. My next appointment is with a psychologist tomorrow. I guess they don't want to use mentally unstable people's kidneys?? Either way, she is the last person I will see prior to actually scheduling the transplant!! My kidney is anxiously awaiting his new home!
Until next time~
Hilary
My appointment yesterday was two-fold. I was to turn in my second round of pee jugs (which also means bloodwork-gag!) and I was to have my visit with the social worker. After my last visit with Mark -the renal donor coordinator- he told me I was down to the last few schedulings. He told me I would meet with the social worker, then the psychologist, then Nathanial and I would meet with the surgeon and the nephrologist to schedule THE day.
I wasn't quite sure I needed to meet with a social worker. Actually, I didn't even know what the social worker's role was. Nathanial told me she was a super sweet lady and I would like her. I honestly haven't met one person that works in the renal department that I haven't liked. But, I'm getting off track now. I had to be in the renal department of the hospital by 8am. Driving there takes about 30 minutes during rush hour plus I had to consider parking and walking through the crazy parking garage and getting to the 6th floor. And anyone who knows me knows I HATE being late to anything. I decided to leave the house around 7:15 which meant the kids were on their own for getting on the bus and getting themselves out the door at the right time. That isn't too much of a big deal for them. They have had to do that several times lately due to all of my testing and appointments. On a side note, the kids haven't complained one single time. They are the best little cheerleaders! They always give me extra kisses and hugs in the morning when they know I am having a day faced with needles. And then the first thing out of their mouths when they get home that evening is always "how did the doctors go?". They are just as excited to have Nathanial better as the rest of the family.
I arrived at the hospital at 8:03 according to my car, but I always have my car clock set ten mintues fast to trick myself into always being early. Drives Geoff crazy!! By the time I got up to the renal office to meet with the social worker it was right on the dot, 8 o'clock. Beth Smith, the social worker, came out to greet me. She was a tiny little brown haired lady that imediately made me feel comfortable. She couldn't find an office for us to meet in so we wandered up and down the hall for a few minutes looking for an open space. All the while, my pee jug was splish-sploshing around in my bag. We found an open office and she told me to make myself comfortable. Basically, her job for the day was to give me a sort of interview to deterimine if I really was willing to be Nathanial's donor for all the right reasons.
She asked me questions about financial issues. She asked me questions about my kids feelings about the surgery. She asked me how Geoff felt. She asked me how long I had thought about doing this. She asked me how my employer was going to handle my leave of absense. She asked me who was my support system and who would take care of me after the transplant. She talked with me about what it was that happened to Nathanial to get him to where he is now. She asked me what I would do if it turned out that the transplant didn't work. All these questions and topics were discussed over the course of about an hour. Apparently she approved of my reasons behind why I am doing this for Nathanial, because at the end of the interview she said when the transplant team met and they asked her for her 'yay' or 'nay'on continuing with the procedure as me being the donor, she was going to give me a resounding 'yay'.
YAY! One more obsticle down!
After visiting with the social worker I was sent to the lab. The lady who works the front desk from the lab now knows me by name. 'Hi Hilary', she greeted as I walked (as slowly as I could) through the door of the lab. I sat my bag down and pulled out my pee jug to walk over and give to her. I was sick and tired of hauling that stupid jug around with me everywhere for the last 24 hours so that was at least a good thing! She had me scribble down my height and weight and what time I started and ended collection. Then I had a seat to wait for the BS. BS= blood sucker.
The idea of me getting blood drawn doesn't panic me as much as it did even a few weeks ago. I'm actually very proud of myself for how brave I was yesterday. The BS came to call me to the back room and my stomach didn't even turn like it normally does. The nurse was a very funny guy this time and cracked a lot of jokes. He was young and energetic and very different than the nurses I'm used to. As he was poking around looking for a good vein I mentioned that I was still bruised from the last time they drew blood. He told me he could use a different vein if I wanted him to, but I declined the offer and told him just to use whatever vein was going to be the easiest for him. He said back to me,'do you really mean that? I can use whatever vein is easiest for me? Because my patients tend to get a little uneasy when I tie this rubber strap around their neck." See what I mean? He was funny! ....and if he thought for a second that he was going to use a neck vein of mine to get blood out of he wasn't just funny....he was CRAZY too!!
The blood drawing went well and I was out of the hospital by 10am to go enjoy the rest of my Columbus Day holiday. My next appointment is with a psychologist tomorrow. I guess they don't want to use mentally unstable people's kidneys?? Either way, she is the last person I will see prior to actually scheduling the transplant!! My kidney is anxiously awaiting his new home!
Until next time~
Hilary
Sunday, October 11, 2009
MORE Gathering....
This morning I woke up to my dog heaving. He was getting ready to vomit on my bed so I grabbed him and sat him on the floor to finish doing what he had started. Sick. Well, lovely to wake up to that on a Sunday morning! I asked the pups if they needed to potty and they jumped around all excited to run out into the cold for a few minutes. They're weird like that. Usually, my routine is to get up, turn off the house alarm, let the puppies out, and then I come in and go potty myself. Today I am doing more of the pee collecting for Dr. Shields. So after letting the puppies out, I had to get my tray and my jug before proceding. This threw my whole routine off! I believe this is my last round of the pee collecting. Of course, if the doctor wants me to do it again, I will do it again. Whatever it takes. I hear this doctor of ours isn't one to mess with. If he says do it, we better do it. Period.
Today I have a lot going on, so today may be more difficult with the jug hauling. (I feel like inserting a bad joke here about how I'm used to carrying around big jugs) First we have church, then we are headed on a little road trip to Emporia to see my mom. Her birthday was Friday. I will need to call mom on the way and ask her to clear a spot in the fridge for my pee jugs. I'm sure she won't mind. Hopefully by next month right now, she is clearing room in the fridge to save jugs of Nathanials pee!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
End Stage Renal Disease
For this blog, I thought it would be prudent to explain exactly what End Stage Renal Disease is like. It's kind of a scary name, End Stage Renal Disease. It's called End Stage because it's a disease that will kill you quickly if you don't do something about it. It will "End you". I've known a few people with End Stage Renal Disease who decided that they have lived long enough. All their affairs are in order, so they quit dialyzing. They die within one week.
Basically, End Stage Renal Disease means that your kidneys no longer function. Your kidneys are filters. When you drink liquids, the liquids pass through your kidneys where all the bad stuff is removed and sent to your bladder to be shot out of your body the next time you pee. People with End Stage Renal Disease can't pee. Since their kidneys shut down, all the bad toxins from the liquids, as well as the excess water, build up inside the body. If nothing is done about this, you will die. Isn't it neat the way God designed the body. All this stuff we find gross like peeing, pooping, farting, are actually your body's way to removing bad stuff. If you don't do it, you die.
Dialysis is what you do to survive. They take these big machines and hook them up to your body. There are several ways to do this. I have tubes sticking out of my chest. One tube is where they remove the blood and the other is where they put it back. Three times a week, over the course of several hours, the machine pulls blood out of my body, puts it through a filter and attempts to remove harmful toxins and excess water. Then, they put the blood back into my body through the other tube. Every time I go to dialysis, I lose about 6 pounds.
Unfortunately, dialysis is man's attempt on God's design and; therefore, doesn't work perfectly. All the toxins will never be completely removed from my body, so I am adversely affected. Over the past three years, you may have noticed many changes in me. These are almost all due to the kidney failure. Yeah, I went through lots of other stuff too, but the kidney failure has affected me far more than any other thing.
The build up of toxins in your body affects you physically, emotionally and mentally. Basically, toxins slow everything down. Physically, I have no energy. I sleep all the time, and don't do much of anything. Even menial tasks seem insurmountable.
Emotionally, I feel nonchalant, lazy, unmotivated. I get depressed easily. Sometimes I cry for no stinkin' reason. That's annoying! I'll just be sitting there, watching TV and all of a sudden, tears well up in my eyes! I'm thinking, 'what the heck! I have no reason to cry, but I am.' I'm not a big fan of that part.
Mentally, I have no energy. I can't keep thoughts in my head. I walk into a room and forget why I went there. I can't remember people's names or where I know them from. I still get ideas for youth ministry and my business, but I can't develop them. They don't have a hold on my brain any more. Being one of those uber thinkers, this is probably the most annoying aspect of this disease. I used to think all the time. I used to have a hard time shutting off my brain at night so I could fall asleep. Now, I can't keep thoughts in my head. I have to write everything I need to do down on paper, just so I remember to do it. Even simple things like eating a meal and brushing my teeth go on my to-do list.
Well, this blog is long enough now. Next time, I'll talk about diet. That's right. People with End Stage Renal Disease can't have a normal diet. Until next time, thanks for reading...
Grace and Peace,
-Nat
Basically, End Stage Renal Disease means that your kidneys no longer function. Your kidneys are filters. When you drink liquids, the liquids pass through your kidneys where all the bad stuff is removed and sent to your bladder to be shot out of your body the next time you pee. People with End Stage Renal Disease can't pee. Since their kidneys shut down, all the bad toxins from the liquids, as well as the excess water, build up inside the body. If nothing is done about this, you will die. Isn't it neat the way God designed the body. All this stuff we find gross like peeing, pooping, farting, are actually your body's way to removing bad stuff. If you don't do it, you die.
Dialysis is what you do to survive. They take these big machines and hook them up to your body. There are several ways to do this. I have tubes sticking out of my chest. One tube is where they remove the blood and the other is where they put it back. Three times a week, over the course of several hours, the machine pulls blood out of my body, puts it through a filter and attempts to remove harmful toxins and excess water. Then, they put the blood back into my body through the other tube. Every time I go to dialysis, I lose about 6 pounds.
Unfortunately, dialysis is man's attempt on God's design and; therefore, doesn't work perfectly. All the toxins will never be completely removed from my body, so I am adversely affected. Over the past three years, you may have noticed many changes in me. These are almost all due to the kidney failure. Yeah, I went through lots of other stuff too, but the kidney failure has affected me far more than any other thing.
The build up of toxins in your body affects you physically, emotionally and mentally. Basically, toxins slow everything down. Physically, I have no energy. I sleep all the time, and don't do much of anything. Even menial tasks seem insurmountable.
Emotionally, I feel nonchalant, lazy, unmotivated. I get depressed easily. Sometimes I cry for no stinkin' reason. That's annoying! I'll just be sitting there, watching TV and all of a sudden, tears well up in my eyes! I'm thinking, 'what the heck! I have no reason to cry, but I am.' I'm not a big fan of that part.
Mentally, I have no energy. I can't keep thoughts in my head. I walk into a room and forget why I went there. I can't remember people's names or where I know them from. I still get ideas for youth ministry and my business, but I can't develop them. They don't have a hold on my brain any more. Being one of those uber thinkers, this is probably the most annoying aspect of this disease. I used to think all the time. I used to have a hard time shutting off my brain at night so I could fall asleep. Now, I can't keep thoughts in my head. I have to write everything I need to do down on paper, just so I remember to do it. Even simple things like eating a meal and brushing my teeth go on my to-do list.
Well, this blog is long enough now. Next time, I'll talk about diet. That's right. People with End Stage Renal Disease can't have a normal diet. Until next time, thanks for reading...
Grace and Peace,
-Nat
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
SUCCESS!!
I would like to start out tonight's blog by letting everyone know I am not pregnant. Yes, yes, I know I have no uterus, but apparently it was still on the agenda for one of my tests today. So now that we have that cleared up we can proceed to how the rest of the day went. I'll start at the beginning....which was early, early in the morning....around 4:30 am.
I believe I blogged last night about being proud of myself for drinking a cup of hot tea and a cup of juice right before bed. Yes, I was doing great with the consumption of fluids, just entirely too late in the evening. I woke up at 4:30 and had to pee so bad I barely made it to the rest room. I did all the right things since I was still in my 24-hour pee collection stage. Even though I could barely keep my eyes open I put the tray in the potty, and then I stumbled through the dark house to find the fridge and pour my 'specimen' into the jug. I replaced the lid and then back to bed I went. No biggie. Until 6am, when I was supposed to collect my last specimen, but couldn't because I had just went at 4:30. I know this sounds miniscule (sp?) but I was really freaking because the renal coordinator had really placed some pressure on me to do everything just right. I was supposed to collect my last pee at exactly 24 hours after my first pee. If I screwed it up, then the whole test was shot. If this was the only issue, I think I would have been okay. But there was one other issue where I temporarily forgot I was saving ALL my pee and when I stepped into my nice warm shower......well.....
Geoff and I arrived at the hospital early enough that we could grab some Starbucks before proceeding to the death chamber, I mean...the lab. He got a nice white chocolate mocha (my favorite) and I was still on the clear liquid fast so I got hot tea. Actually, that was fine for me because I may have thrown up anything I ingested at this point. Nerves were killing me. We headed to the third floor where they smiled and greeted me and asked me to pee in a cup. Apparently, the gallon jug of pee I brought with me wasn't enough. I didn't balk, I have learned not to piss of the lab workers, as they are the ones in charge of sticking needles in you. Its best to be as sweet and pleasing as possible to anyone working in the lab. They gave me my hospital arm band and then let me wait in the waiting room just long enough to really think about everything. I got out my Bible and read a little bit to kill some time. Scripture always seems to calm me. I read a verse to Geoff that I had found the day before. It had struck me as very funny. When the people were wandering around in the desert with Moses and they were griping about only having manna to eat God replied to them saying something like "oh, Ill give you more to eat. I'll give you some meat. So much meat, it comes out your nostrils! Then we'll see what you have to gripe about". That has nothing to do with the waiting room, but I really like that little part of the Bible story. And it made me temporarily forget about the fact that just around the corner was a nurse waiting to suck out my blood with a giant syringe.
Once I was called to the lab a very sweet nurse with a whole handful of blood viles asked me to have a seat. Lol. Me....have a seat....in the lab. Good one. Geoff chuckled to himself while I quickly informed her of my habitual fainting when my veins are being probed and she was kind enough to have me lay on the table. I crawled up on the flimsy table/bed/thing with the paper lining and layed down. I was feeling pretty good until the nurse mentioned that she didn't have enough room to lay all my viles because there were so many to draw... GULP!!! She had TEN, yes TEN empty viles. Trying to be cool, I mentioned I could just scoot closer to the wall the bed was up against and she could lay the viles on the bed. I scooted right over and then noticed there was blood spattered all over the wall! I looked and Geoff and made eyes at him to look at the wall and he gave me his "gross" look back with his eyes and curled his lips. Too late to bring up the blood spatters at this point because the nurse was tying that horrible piece of rubberband like thing around my arm. She wanted me to make a fist while she tapped my arm to fish for a good vein. Okay, this is the part where my legs start jumping around uncontrollably and sweat starts popping out of my forehead like an NBA player. I will skip the next few details. She got the ten viles. I did not die.
On to the 4th floor. They call this section of the hospital the Heart Center. Sounds cute doesn't it? I was very disappointed when I arrived to find it was just a boring floor like all the rest and no one had thought to paint it all cutsie with hearts and love quotes. I knew this floor would be easy and I was right. I was doing an EKG on this floor. They made me take off my shirt and lay down. The nurse put little stickers all over my chest and one on each foot (the foot thing perplexed me, but I didn't want to ask her about it because the nurse seemed a little slow.....). She hooked wires to each one of the stickers and then turned on the machine for 10 seconds. A piece of paper came out of the machine and then we pulled the stickers off and I got dressed. Easiest part of my day.
Lastly, we made the trek to the radiologist. We checked in, sat in the waiting room and watched a little Rachel Ray, and then they called me. Geoff and I got up to head down the hall and the nurse turned to him and told him he could wait in the north waiting room or the west one but he couldn't go with me. WHAT!?! This test is the whole entire reason I needed him with me!!! This was the dreaded, evil test of doom!!!! He reluctantly took my purse and my bag and kissed me good bye while the nurse told him it would only be about an hour. She guided me to a little room where she instructed me to take off my cloths except for my panties and shoes and put on one of the oh-so-sexy hospital gowns. I stripped and made a joke about wearing my panties that said "lets make mistakes" on the butt. I thought it would be funny to leave the gown open in back so people could read it. The nurse didn't think I was funny. Thank goodness I only had that nurse for one x-ray, because a nurse with no sense of humor pretty much sucks. She just did my chest x-ray that lasted only about 20 seconds.
Once the chest x-ray was over it was time for the test. THE TEST!! The test I have been dreading since Thursday when I found out about it. The test I actually was worried about a year ago when we learned about it in some kidney class we took. Oh man. The closer I got to the IVP room, the weaker my knees got. The nurse had me take a seat while she went over a few details....was I pregnant, do I smoke, yada yada yada. The whole time my legs were bouncing around and I was sweating. Right next to her little piece of paper on a clipboard, was three GIANT syringes. When I say giant, I mean, the same size as the cardboard on the inside of paper towel rolls. Yes, that big. No exaggeration. She was explaining how they would hook up the IV and then lay me on this table and inject me with these iodine syringes (pointing to the giantuous ones on the table) and take pictures of my kidneys and bladder processing...blah blah blah. I really didn't hear much after the part about the IV. When my head started rolling around she got all big-eyed and asked me if I would be alright. She told me to take some deep breaths and mentioned something about not being comfortable doing my IV and she was going to go get another nurse to help. Great...two nurses. This typically means one is going to kind of hold me down while the other sticks me. As both nurses returned my hearing shut off and my eyes started going black. I mumbled that I needed to lay down and I just kind of dropped to the floor. I didn't faint, but I needed to quickly feel the nice coldness of the radiology floor. It was so nice and cool. And as long as I was down there on the floor, no one could stick needles in my veins. I know that doesn't sound very logical now, but at the moment it seemed the only option. The nurses were very nice and I totally feel bad now. I warned them though. I warned everyone, from the receptionist, to the radiologist in the first room, to the nurse walking me down the hall. They all knew what they were getting into ahead of time! The nurses got me off the floor and moved me to the table where the x-rays would be taken. They tilted the bed so my head was down and blood would rush back to my cranium. Apparently, that was their last ditch effort to keep me conscious. A cold rag was placed on my head as they explained that they wanted me to just relax for a little while and they would call in the IV specialist team to do the insertion. Right, relax, okay sure.
Actually, I did relax. In fact I almost fell asleep because the IV specialist team took about 30 minutes to show up. The tech was awesome and she was sweet and mild. She told me she does 100 IV's a day and she's very, very good. She didn't give me a chance to balk, she just walked right over, eyeballed a vein right off and wiped it off. I was praying the entire time and I think God was actually with me right then. Because as she told me she was administering the lidocane I didn't even feel the stick. In fact, I didn't hear her pull the paper off the IV needle (which I usually pick up on), I didn't feel her poke the IV in, and I didn't even feel her tape it down. No, that's a lie. I did feel the tape further down my arm near my wrist when she taped that. Her name was Mary Lee and she was an angel. I praised her and told her I was requesting her for the surgery day!! I have never in my whole life experienced a smoother IV insertion!!! Prayer works!!
They took the pictures of my kidneys working and my bladder filling and then they let me pee. Thank goodness!! I had all that hot tea from Starbucks 4 hours earlier, PLUS the IV fluids...I had to go!! Side note: it was so nice to just pee and not worry about aiming for a tray :) They took one last picture of my empty bladder and my day was done!!! I had made it!!! I was past the hard part!!!!!
Geoff and I went up to visit Mark and go over all my results. Technology is amazing. He had all my lab and all my pictures from the dye in my kidneys and everything in just a few minutes!! He showed me my healthy little heart. He showed me my healthy little lungs. He showed me my healthy little blood test results. He showed me my healthy little kidneys. And he showed me my happy little bladder. And he told me my tests all came out great. DID YOU GET THAT? He said my tests all looked great!!!!!!!!! Stress over! Operation Kidney Transplant ready for action!!!!! I meet with a psychologist next Wednesday and I meet with a social worker next Monday. I have one more 24 hour pee test just to make sure they are both conclusive of the same results. Then we meet with the nephrologist and the surgeon and the rest will be history.
All in a days work!
I believe I blogged last night about being proud of myself for drinking a cup of hot tea and a cup of juice right before bed. Yes, I was doing great with the consumption of fluids, just entirely too late in the evening. I woke up at 4:30 and had to pee so bad I barely made it to the rest room. I did all the right things since I was still in my 24-hour pee collection stage. Even though I could barely keep my eyes open I put the tray in the potty, and then I stumbled through the dark house to find the fridge and pour my 'specimen' into the jug. I replaced the lid and then back to bed I went. No biggie. Until 6am, when I was supposed to collect my last specimen, but couldn't because I had just went at 4:30. I know this sounds miniscule (sp?) but I was really freaking because the renal coordinator had really placed some pressure on me to do everything just right. I was supposed to collect my last pee at exactly 24 hours after my first pee. If I screwed it up, then the whole test was shot. If this was the only issue, I think I would have been okay. But there was one other issue where I temporarily forgot I was saving ALL my pee and when I stepped into my nice warm shower......well.....
Geoff and I arrived at the hospital early enough that we could grab some Starbucks before proceeding to the death chamber, I mean...the lab. He got a nice white chocolate mocha (my favorite) and I was still on the clear liquid fast so I got hot tea. Actually, that was fine for me because I may have thrown up anything I ingested at this point. Nerves were killing me. We headed to the third floor where they smiled and greeted me and asked me to pee in a cup. Apparently, the gallon jug of pee I brought with me wasn't enough. I didn't balk, I have learned not to piss of the lab workers, as they are the ones in charge of sticking needles in you. Its best to be as sweet and pleasing as possible to anyone working in the lab. They gave me my hospital arm band and then let me wait in the waiting room just long enough to really think about everything. I got out my Bible and read a little bit to kill some time. Scripture always seems to calm me. I read a verse to Geoff that I had found the day before. It had struck me as very funny. When the people were wandering around in the desert with Moses and they were griping about only having manna to eat God replied to them saying something like "oh, Ill give you more to eat. I'll give you some meat. So much meat, it comes out your nostrils! Then we'll see what you have to gripe about". That has nothing to do with the waiting room, but I really like that little part of the Bible story. And it made me temporarily forget about the fact that just around the corner was a nurse waiting to suck out my blood with a giant syringe.
Once I was called to the lab a very sweet nurse with a whole handful of blood viles asked me to have a seat. Lol. Me....have a seat....in the lab. Good one. Geoff chuckled to himself while I quickly informed her of my habitual fainting when my veins are being probed and she was kind enough to have me lay on the table. I crawled up on the flimsy table/bed/thing with the paper lining and layed down. I was feeling pretty good until the nurse mentioned that she didn't have enough room to lay all my viles because there were so many to draw... GULP!!! She had TEN, yes TEN empty viles. Trying to be cool, I mentioned I could just scoot closer to the wall the bed was up against and she could lay the viles on the bed. I scooted right over and then noticed there was blood spattered all over the wall! I looked and Geoff and made eyes at him to look at the wall and he gave me his "gross" look back with his eyes and curled his lips. Too late to bring up the blood spatters at this point because the nurse was tying that horrible piece of rubberband like thing around my arm. She wanted me to make a fist while she tapped my arm to fish for a good vein. Okay, this is the part where my legs start jumping around uncontrollably and sweat starts popping out of my forehead like an NBA player. I will skip the next few details. She got the ten viles. I did not die.
On to the 4th floor. They call this section of the hospital the Heart Center. Sounds cute doesn't it? I was very disappointed when I arrived to find it was just a boring floor like all the rest and no one had thought to paint it all cutsie with hearts and love quotes. I knew this floor would be easy and I was right. I was doing an EKG on this floor. They made me take off my shirt and lay down. The nurse put little stickers all over my chest and one on each foot (the foot thing perplexed me, but I didn't want to ask her about it because the nurse seemed a little slow.....). She hooked wires to each one of the stickers and then turned on the machine for 10 seconds. A piece of paper came out of the machine and then we pulled the stickers off and I got dressed. Easiest part of my day.
Lastly, we made the trek to the radiologist. We checked in, sat in the waiting room and watched a little Rachel Ray, and then they called me. Geoff and I got up to head down the hall and the nurse turned to him and told him he could wait in the north waiting room or the west one but he couldn't go with me. WHAT!?! This test is the whole entire reason I needed him with me!!! This was the dreaded, evil test of doom!!!! He reluctantly took my purse and my bag and kissed me good bye while the nurse told him it would only be about an hour. She guided me to a little room where she instructed me to take off my cloths except for my panties and shoes and put on one of the oh-so-sexy hospital gowns. I stripped and made a joke about wearing my panties that said "lets make mistakes" on the butt. I thought it would be funny to leave the gown open in back so people could read it. The nurse didn't think I was funny. Thank goodness I only had that nurse for one x-ray, because a nurse with no sense of humor pretty much sucks. She just did my chest x-ray that lasted only about 20 seconds.
Once the chest x-ray was over it was time for the test. THE TEST!! The test I have been dreading since Thursday when I found out about it. The test I actually was worried about a year ago when we learned about it in some kidney class we took. Oh man. The closer I got to the IVP room, the weaker my knees got. The nurse had me take a seat while she went over a few details....was I pregnant, do I smoke, yada yada yada. The whole time my legs were bouncing around and I was sweating. Right next to her little piece of paper on a clipboard, was three GIANT syringes. When I say giant, I mean, the same size as the cardboard on the inside of paper towel rolls. Yes, that big. No exaggeration. She was explaining how they would hook up the IV and then lay me on this table and inject me with these iodine syringes (pointing to the giantuous ones on the table) and take pictures of my kidneys and bladder processing...blah blah blah. I really didn't hear much after the part about the IV. When my head started rolling around she got all big-eyed and asked me if I would be alright. She told me to take some deep breaths and mentioned something about not being comfortable doing my IV and she was going to go get another nurse to help. Great...two nurses. This typically means one is going to kind of hold me down while the other sticks me. As both nurses returned my hearing shut off and my eyes started going black. I mumbled that I needed to lay down and I just kind of dropped to the floor. I didn't faint, but I needed to quickly feel the nice coldness of the radiology floor. It was so nice and cool. And as long as I was down there on the floor, no one could stick needles in my veins. I know that doesn't sound very logical now, but at the moment it seemed the only option. The nurses were very nice and I totally feel bad now. I warned them though. I warned everyone, from the receptionist, to the radiologist in the first room, to the nurse walking me down the hall. They all knew what they were getting into ahead of time! The nurses got me off the floor and moved me to the table where the x-rays would be taken. They tilted the bed so my head was down and blood would rush back to my cranium. Apparently, that was their last ditch effort to keep me conscious. A cold rag was placed on my head as they explained that they wanted me to just relax for a little while and they would call in the IV specialist team to do the insertion. Right, relax, okay sure.
Actually, I did relax. In fact I almost fell asleep because the IV specialist team took about 30 minutes to show up. The tech was awesome and she was sweet and mild. She told me she does 100 IV's a day and she's very, very good. She didn't give me a chance to balk, she just walked right over, eyeballed a vein right off and wiped it off. I was praying the entire time and I think God was actually with me right then. Because as she told me she was administering the lidocane I didn't even feel the stick. In fact, I didn't hear her pull the paper off the IV needle (which I usually pick up on), I didn't feel her poke the IV in, and I didn't even feel her tape it down. No, that's a lie. I did feel the tape further down my arm near my wrist when she taped that. Her name was Mary Lee and she was an angel. I praised her and told her I was requesting her for the surgery day!! I have never in my whole life experienced a smoother IV insertion!!! Prayer works!!
They took the pictures of my kidneys working and my bladder filling and then they let me pee. Thank goodness!! I had all that hot tea from Starbucks 4 hours earlier, PLUS the IV fluids...I had to go!! Side note: it was so nice to just pee and not worry about aiming for a tray :) They took one last picture of my empty bladder and my day was done!!! I had made it!!! I was past the hard part!!!!!
Geoff and I went up to visit Mark and go over all my results. Technology is amazing. He had all my lab and all my pictures from the dye in my kidneys and everything in just a few minutes!! He showed me my healthy little heart. He showed me my healthy little lungs. He showed me my healthy little blood test results. He showed me my healthy little kidneys. And he showed me my happy little bladder. And he told me my tests all came out great. DID YOU GET THAT? He said my tests all looked great!!!!!!!!! Stress over! Operation Kidney Transplant ready for action!!!!! I meet with a psychologist next Wednesday and I meet with a social worker next Monday. I have one more 24 hour pee test just to make sure they are both conclusive of the same results. Then we meet with the nephrologist and the surgeon and the rest will be history.
All in a days work!
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