Tuesday....2 More Days

Today was a pretty quiet day.  Jim had the plasmapheresis done today at 3 o'clock. He wasn't happy with one of the nurses doing this today. In fact, he was quite angry. Hoping he gets another nurse tomorrow.
Tomorrow he is having a port put in his chest for blood draws. They are having problems sticking him for blood so this will make it easier for blood and IV meds. He had this once before when hospitalized.

He will also have another plasmapheresis treatment and then.....his last dialysis!!!  Glad it's a busy day, will have lots to do before the big day. 

The halls on this floor are filled with inspriring quotes.  This one I found today reminded me of Al Kreke.

Jim's still feeling good. He is quite anxious, excited and a tad bit worried. But mostly he's tired of me beating him at gin rummy!!  Surgery is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Thursday.  Almost there....

Monday......3 days left

Today was a good day. Fr. Flach came and gave Jim a blessing and anointing of the sick. Fr. Flach has been a dear friend of the family for many years. It was nice to reminisce about the "old days". 

Lindsay was off school today and spent the day too with her dad. The following photos are courtesy of her.

 Hopefully next Labor Day we will be out at our lake in Coulterville like we have done for the past 30 years. We miss it....but soon we will be back out there.

Happy Labor Day.

Sunday....4 more days

Sunday was a very quiet day. Nothing really to do. We spent most of our time eating then waiting until we ate again. Sorry Al....Jim DID get that hot dog that he wanted so bad!!

It's hard to belive it's almost here....4 days and counting.

Love this floor. It's so inspirational.

Thanks for being on this journey with us.

Saturday.....5 more days

Saturday was another busy day. The 2 hour plasmapheresis turned into a 5 hour ordeal. The machine used for this process was not cooperating with Sharon the nurse. Each time they would have to wait 15 minutes for the machine to restart. With this treatment he felt one of the side affects, tingling around his lips. This was from the loss of calcium so he was given some tums to chew on. The process too makes him very cold so he has heated blankets on top of him during the process.

It was a little more involved with this treatment as they gave him type A blood (which is AL's blood type). Earlier in the day the doctor said this process was working well and he might now have to have as any treatments as initially thought.

Finally Jim was back in his room about 7:00 pm. He was feeling belly pain like he does after dialysis. Hoping he sleeps better tonight. Tomorrow (Sunday) nothing going on. Will spend it trying to keep Jim away from the hot dog he saw in the cafeteria he wants so bad. Gotta love his appetite!!!

So far so good...

Today Jim was admitted to Barnes Hospital for some pre-op work prior to the transplant. He is having 5 days of plasmapheresis done. This is a processing of removing some of the bad antibiodies in his blood so it will help with rejection of his new kidney. The "titer" levels need to be between 1 and 8 and with each of these treatments it will bring it down to this. This is a 2 hour process similar to dialysis.

After that he had his 3 and 1/2 hours of dialysis. He was brought back to his room around 7:00 pm tonight. He has stomach pain and headaches now with dialysis. Nothing his oxycodone won't heal.

He was also given IV medicine to put back in some of the good antibiotics that were taken out during the plasmapheresis.

Tomorrow he will have the plasmapheresis again. Nothing happening on Sunday. 

Tomorrow....5 more days.....2 more dialysis.  Almost there :)

Into Single Digits

We are now officially into single digits......9 more days. It sounds so nice to say it will happen “next week”.

Jim has been feeling good on non-dialysis days. Dialysis days have been getting really hard on him. He gets terrible headaches and stomach pain after dialysis now. Our countdown to dialysis treatments is now 4. Can’t come soon enough.

Jim was in the hospital last Thursday for an infusion treatment. He will probably go into the hospital this Friday. He has to have 5 rounds of plasmapheresis treatments. This is where they remove plasma from his blood. Since Al and him are not the same blood type, this will help in treating his blood and getting it ready for the new kidney. It is similar to dialysis so he should be ok with it. Tomorrow will be his last dialysis at Davita. While the people there are very nice and he has grown to really depend on them, we won’t miss it. So depressing on the many lives touched by dialysis....some no hope. They are all so happy for Jim!!!

Al has been behaving himself. He was cleared by the surgeon yesterday. His blood pressure is good and his broken foot (.....don’t ask) is healing fine. We had dinner with him and Sandi on Sandi and hopefully the next time we see him he will be prepping for surgery.

I will be posting Jim’s progress next week so stay tuned..... and thanks once again for all your good thoughts and many prayers.

29 More Days!!!

Things are starting to be real.

Tomorrow (8/7) Jim is admitted to Barnes for the day to start a Rituximab infusion. His blood will be desensitized which helps with organ rejection. Then on Friday he starts his anti-rejection meds.

10 days later is when we meet with the surgeon (Dr. Wellen) and go for Preoperative Planning, an EKG and a chest x-ray. Blood work for the final cross match will also be drawn at this appointment.

Wow...it seems so real. I’m certain it will be here in no time.

Jim has been feeling pretty good. Although after each dialysis, it seems to totally wipe him out more and more, has headaches and neck pain. Feels much better in the morning, but the yo-yo affect is starting to take a toll on him.

This is one of several signs we have throughout the house. Al made this for Jim, although I get the sheer pleasure of ripping of each page daily.

Now only 29 days....and 13 more dialysis.

Keep praying!!!