The Waiting Game

Why does it seem like everything in the medical field takes so long? You wait for the doctor at your office visit. You wait for the doctor’s office to call you for an appointment. You wait for the doctor to call you to schedule surgery. You wait for test results. You wait for a kidney donor. Perhaps it’s just me being impatient, but nothing seems to move quickly.

Jim met with his surgeon last Monday. Dr. Jason Wellen will be inserting the catheter in Jim’s belly. He told him because of his very obnoxious appendix scar, he will have to place it in a little different spot because of scar tissue from his appendix scar.  He left there being told "we will call to schedule procedure within the next couple of weeks". We wait….

The following week on Monday he met with the anesthesiologist and the pre-op people to go over the procedure with him. He completed and signed all his consent forms. He left being told "we will contact you in a couple of weeks". We wait…

Perhaps it’s just me being impatient. Perhaps it’s just me seeing Jim sleep more and more than usual and finally realizing that dialysis will probably be good for him. Ridding him of the toxins in his body making him so tired all the time. Perhaps it’s just me seeing how worn out Jim is from working 10-12 hour days some weeks. Perhaps it’s just me….

My Thoughts:  I continue to scour Facebook and other websites for hours upon hours looking at the numerous groups that support living kidney donation. I have met several people online and it is reassuring to know that we are not in this alone. So many people are in our same situation. It is also encouraging to see how many people successfully find their donor via social media. I apologize to all my Facebook followers for the excessive kidney donor postings I put up, but the more people we make aware of Jim’s situation and the more you SHARE on your site, the better our odds of finding a living donor.

I am grateful for everyone’s love, support and prayers. I am grateful to have Jason helping me with so much around the house that Jim is not always able to do. I am grateful for the times life seems normal. In the meantime, we just wait….

The Next Leg of Jim's Journey

Jim’s doctor visit today was not what we were hoping for, but we knew it would come one day. Since his BUN and Creatinine levels were both up, (BUN was 79, 8-25 being normal and Creatinine 6.2, 0.70-1.30 is normal). Dr. Rothstein wants Jim to start preparing for dialysis. After some discussion with him and his nurse, he felt that peritoneal dialysis would be Jim’s best option. This type of dialysis gives you more flexibility with your home life and you are the one in charge. Lorraine did this type of dialysis 20 years ago. What I remember is a huge machine in her bedroom with lots of bags of solutions hanging all around and she had to keep everything very sterile. Apparently things have changed since then. The machine now is like a suitcase and is portable so it can be taken with you. The bags of solution are more confined.

The first step is to have a catheter placed in Jim’s belly which is the hook-up point. This is done as an out patient.  A couple weeks after this is done, he will go for a weeks training on how to use the machine. I like that the doctor told him that this will be “his” responsibility, not mine. I can observe, but Jim will have to do everything on his own.

The first month he will have to do a manual transfer 3 times a day (not sure how this is going to work with his job, but we will figure that out). After a month, he will be able to connect to the machine and dialyze for 8 hours at night. Hopefully this will give him more energy (which he has been lacking) and he was excited to hear that he would be on a high protein diet (lots and lots of red meat). Not sure how this will affect his ongoing battle with gout, but we will wait and see.

The doctor and I both told Jim to look at this as a temporary thing, hoping that we are still able to find a living donor or his number is finally called on the UNOS transplant list.

I will keep my ongoing search on Facebook and other social media in hopes of finding that one true angel that is out there and can help him. In the meantime, we will march on with this new leg of Jim’s Journey and hope and pray it goes well.

My thoughts….I have always been an optimist and look at the good in things. This is no different. I see this as a chance for Jim to get his energy back and to rid him of the toxins in his body that his kidneys just aren’t able to get rid of. I know that my 30 lb. weight loss was not done in vain because I feel so much better about myself and will better be able to help him….besides me being a donor just wasn’t in God’s plan.