Hi its me Belanna
As you probably know we are moving. Today my auntie Sandra and her family came over to help us pack and bring the stuff to our new house in Milwaukie and it was lots of fun.
That’s all for now.
Belanna
P.S. Darn daddy wont let me be funny.
May 31, 2010
May 29, 2010
Fistula Surgery Update
Diane went into the hospital at 10:30 Thursday morning (05/27/2010), to have her fistula surgery. She had kind of a long wait, as the operating room she was scheduled for was going into overtime with the previous patent.
Diane finely got into surgery at about 1:40 in the afternoon.
My sister Barb, took Diane to the hospital in the morning and stayed with her until I got off work and Belanna got out of school. At which time (about 2:45) the two of us went down there to wait for Diane to get out of surgery.
Diane got done with surgery at about 3:30. The Doctor came and talked to us that the surgery went well.
The Doc. said that Diane’s veins were smaller down close to her wrist than what he anticipated, but he thought they could be used anyway. (Remember, a fistula is where they try to make the veins larger to accept the needles for the dialysis.)
The Doc. said he thought the surgery had a 50/50 chance of being successful. If this round of surgery fails, Diane will have o go in and do it all over again, but higher up in the arm the next time.
When Diane got to the recovery room and the doctor woke her up, she was complaining about chest pains. So the Doc. gave her some blood thinner to help the blood flow. That helped with the chest pain, but it also took longer for her incision to stop bleeding. So at some point they had to add some blood thickener.
At about 6:30 Diane was pretty well stabilized and the doc. gave the OK that we could bring Diane home. The nurses unplugged the IV’s and got her dressed.
We got home at about 7:10pm.
Here it is Saturday morning. The swelling in Diane’s wrist has gone down quite a bit. We keep an ice pack on the surgery area, which helps with the swelling. It’s still a little painful for her, so she’s been taking some pain killers for that. If nothing else, Diane has been getting some good rest. (The painkillers make her go to sleep).
Other News
We are planning to make a move soon. We’ll be moving to Milwaukie, Or. For those of you who are not familiar with the area where we live, Milwaukie is the next city south of us, About 10 or 12 or so miles away.
Belanna is very excited about the move. It’ll be a wonderful new adventure in her young life.
We are still working on the SS Disability application for Diane. Damn, what a slow tedious, and frustrating process.
We’ve received no money from Diane’s short-term disability claim from her work yet. So we’re tightening our financial belt another couple of notches.
Well that’s about it for now folks. I’ll see you again in a day or two or three.
Mike
Diane finely got into surgery at about 1:40 in the afternoon.
My sister Barb, took Diane to the hospital in the morning and stayed with her until I got off work and Belanna got out of school. At which time (about 2:45) the two of us went down there to wait for Diane to get out of surgery.
Diane got done with surgery at about 3:30. The Doctor came and talked to us that the surgery went well.
The Doc. said that Diane’s veins were smaller down close to her wrist than what he anticipated, but he thought they could be used anyway. (Remember, a fistula is where they try to make the veins larger to accept the needles for the dialysis.)
The Doc. said he thought the surgery had a 50/50 chance of being successful. If this round of surgery fails, Diane will have o go in and do it all over again, but higher up in the arm the next time.
When Diane got to the recovery room and the doctor woke her up, she was complaining about chest pains. So the Doc. gave her some blood thinner to help the blood flow. That helped with the chest pain, but it also took longer for her incision to stop bleeding. So at some point they had to add some blood thickener.
At about 6:30 Diane was pretty well stabilized and the doc. gave the OK that we could bring Diane home. The nurses unplugged the IV’s and got her dressed.
We got home at about 7:10pm.
Here it is Saturday morning. The swelling in Diane’s wrist has gone down quite a bit. We keep an ice pack on the surgery area, which helps with the swelling. It’s still a little painful for her, so she’s been taking some pain killers for that. If nothing else, Diane has been getting some good rest. (The painkillers make her go to sleep).
Other News
We are planning to make a move soon. We’ll be moving to Milwaukie, Or. For those of you who are not familiar with the area where we live, Milwaukie is the next city south of us, About 10 or 12 or so miles away.
Belanna is very excited about the move. It’ll be a wonderful new adventure in her young life.
We are still working on the SS Disability application for Diane. Damn, what a slow tedious, and frustrating process.
We’ve received no money from Diane’s short-term disability claim from her work yet. So we’re tightening our financial belt another couple of notches.
Well that’s about it for now folks. I’ll see you again in a day or two or three.
Mike
May 25, 2010
Fistula Surgery
I’m baaaaak.
It’s me Mike. I know I said I’d get right back to you guys, but sometimes life has a way of getting in the way of doing things we said we’d do.
So on Monday May 24th, Diane went to the doctor to talk about creating access points for her upcoming dialysis.
The Doctor (Dr Charles Douvill MD), politely corrected my wrong ideas of what a fistula is.
A fistula is where they (the doctor) do surgery to enlarge some blood veins. These newly enlarged blood veins are then used as access points for the dialysis treatments.
Diane is scheduled to go into Providence Hospital on the 27th of May (Thursday) to have the procedure (fistula) done.
The surgery is scheduled for 12:30, and is expected to take about an hour or so. We are expecting to bring her back home on the same day. Hopefully, we’ll get her back home between 4 and 5 pm.
I know, I know, don’t let her eat or drink for 24 hours. Well see how it goes.
On the Insurance-disability-Medicaid front
Holy cow man, I’ve been working on Diane’s SS disability application for 3 days now. Not 3 days in a row, but 3 days over a weeks time. I work on it for a couple of hours at a time, but too much screen time at one sitting gives me a headache.
The application asks the same questions over and over, page after page. It’s difficult to repeat the same answers time after time. I think that the next time I open up the application I’ll just push all the way through it and not look back.
On top of the SS application, I’m attempting to start our own web site to finish our blog on. I need to find some dedicated hours to train my focus on that project. An hour here and an hour there just ain’t going to cut it.
Belanna
Belanna has been dealing with this thing really well. At least on the surface.
All these years since she was born, she’s been the center of my focus during the times we are together (not at work).
Now though, we are in a position where when I come home from work, I have a lot of other work to do before my brain turns into mush from exhaustion. Unfortunately, doing that extra work devastates Belanna’s and mine together time. I feel terrible. I know she has to be feeling neglected with all these life changes.
It’s a shame I don’t have more energy.
Well folks, I’ve got to go. The medical bills have started rolling in, so I have to go see how many ways there are to molest our family budget to insure ongoing treatment.
See ya all next time.
Mike
It’s me Mike. I know I said I’d get right back to you guys, but sometimes life has a way of getting in the way of doing things we said we’d do.
So on Monday May 24th, Diane went to the doctor to talk about creating access points for her upcoming dialysis.
The Doctor (Dr Charles Douvill MD), politely corrected my wrong ideas of what a fistula is.
A fistula is where they (the doctor) do surgery to enlarge some blood veins. These newly enlarged blood veins are then used as access points for the dialysis treatments.
Diane is scheduled to go into Providence Hospital on the 27th of May (Thursday) to have the procedure (fistula) done.
The surgery is scheduled for 12:30, and is expected to take about an hour or so. We are expecting to bring her back home on the same day. Hopefully, we’ll get her back home between 4 and 5 pm.
I know, I know, don’t let her eat or drink for 24 hours. Well see how it goes.
On the Insurance-disability-Medicaid front
Holy cow man, I’ve been working on Diane’s SS disability application for 3 days now. Not 3 days in a row, but 3 days over a weeks time. I work on it for a couple of hours at a time, but too much screen time at one sitting gives me a headache.
The application asks the same questions over and over, page after page. It’s difficult to repeat the same answers time after time. I think that the next time I open up the application I’ll just push all the way through it and not look back.
On top of the SS application, I’m attempting to start our own web site to finish our blog on. I need to find some dedicated hours to train my focus on that project. An hour here and an hour there just ain’t going to cut it.
Belanna
Belanna has been dealing with this thing really well. At least on the surface.
All these years since she was born, she’s been the center of my focus during the times we are together (not at work).
Now though, we are in a position where when I come home from work, I have a lot of other work to do before my brain turns into mush from exhaustion. Unfortunately, doing that extra work devastates Belanna’s and mine together time. I feel terrible. I know she has to be feeling neglected with all these life changes.
It’s a shame I don’t have more energy.
Well folks, I’ve got to go. The medical bills have started rolling in, so I have to go see how many ways there are to molest our family budget to insure ongoing treatment.
See ya all next time.
Mike
May 17, 2010
Dialysis Education
Hi Guys,
It’s me, Mike.
We had a pretty busy week last week. Diane covered the first part of the week with you, so I’ll see what I can do to bring you up to speed on the second half of the week.
On Thursday, the 13th , Diane, Belanna and I, along with Sandra, went to the dialysis place for some education. The education session took a little over and hour and a half. Afterwards, we got a tour of the actual dialysis room.
What we learned;
There are five stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). They are,
Stage 1. Kidney damage (protein in urine) with a kidney filtration rate of 90%
Stage 2. Kidney damage with a filtration rate of 60 to 89 %
Stage 3. Moderate decrease in kidney filtration of 30 to 59 %. ( Note; Diane was at 30% when Belanna was born. That was June 2002.)
Stage 4. Severe reduction of kidney filtration. 15 to 29%.
Stage 5. Kidney failure. Less than 15% kidney filtration function.
Diane is currently rated at less than 10%.
There are two types of treatments for people in stage 5 CKD (chronic kidney disease).
Kidney transplant, and or dialysis.
There are two types of kidney dialysis. They are
1. Hemodialysis and
2. Peritoneal dialysis.
1. Hemodialysis is where you go to a clinic and hook up two (2) tubes to your veins. ( an inflow, and an outflow). You are hooked up to a machine through the tubes. The blood is pumped out of one tube, and into the machine for a wash, and then back into your body through the other tube. Estimated time is 4 hours, three times a week. (Another note: there is a way a person can get the equipment to do this at home, but at this point, its all too new to us. So we’ll just focus on the clinic style).
There will need to be some minor surgery to affix access points for the tubes. There are three types of access points. They are,
1. A fistula
2. A graft
3. A catheter
The fistula and graft can be connected to the arm or sometimes the leg.
The catheter is a soft tube that is inserted into the neck or chest.
From what we understand, the fistula is the safest and most durable. So, I think Diane has decided on getting a fistula. Although she could change her mind if more information becomes available. She is a woman after all.
2. Peritoneal dialysis.
Peritoneal dialysis is a method of cleaning the toxins out of the body without your blood leaving your body. It’s a method where a solution is pumped into your stomach cavity and draws the toxic waste out of the blood through the blood veins in the stomach lining. When the solution has had a time to work, (several hours) you drain it out, and pump new solution back in. You do that over and over forever.
Well folks, there’s more, but I’m getting pretty tired about now and need to get to sleep. 4:00 am comes awful early so I’m going to post this part now and hopefully finish up tomorrow.
See ya,
Mike
PS. Is anyone reading this? I really can’t tell if you’re interested or if I’m doing a good job at writing this stuff for you. I think I hear you breathing, but I’m not positive.
Leave a comment or two and let me know.
It’s me, Mike.
We had a pretty busy week last week. Diane covered the first part of the week with you, so I’ll see what I can do to bring you up to speed on the second half of the week.
On Thursday, the 13th , Diane, Belanna and I, along with Sandra, went to the dialysis place for some education. The education session took a little over and hour and a half. Afterwards, we got a tour of the actual dialysis room.
What we learned;
There are five stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). They are,
Stage 1. Kidney damage (protein in urine) with a kidney filtration rate of 90%
Stage 2. Kidney damage with a filtration rate of 60 to 89 %
Stage 3. Moderate decrease in kidney filtration of 30 to 59 %. ( Note; Diane was at 30% when Belanna was born. That was June 2002.)
Stage 4. Severe reduction of kidney filtration. 15 to 29%.
Stage 5. Kidney failure. Less than 15% kidney filtration function.
Diane is currently rated at less than 10%.
There are two types of treatments for people in stage 5 CKD (chronic kidney disease).
Kidney transplant, and or dialysis.
There are two types of kidney dialysis. They are
1. Hemodialysis and
2. Peritoneal dialysis.
1. Hemodialysis is where you go to a clinic and hook up two (2) tubes to your veins. ( an inflow, and an outflow). You are hooked up to a machine through the tubes. The blood is pumped out of one tube, and into the machine for a wash, and then back into your body through the other tube. Estimated time is 4 hours, three times a week. (Another note: there is a way a person can get the equipment to do this at home, but at this point, its all too new to us. So we’ll just focus on the clinic style).
There will need to be some minor surgery to affix access points for the tubes. There are three types of access points. They are,
1. A fistula
2. A graft
3. A catheter
The fistula and graft can be connected to the arm or sometimes the leg.
The catheter is a soft tube that is inserted into the neck or chest.
From what we understand, the fistula is the safest and most durable. So, I think Diane has decided on getting a fistula. Although she could change her mind if more information becomes available. She is a woman after all.
2. Peritoneal dialysis.
Peritoneal dialysis is a method of cleaning the toxins out of the body without your blood leaving your body. It’s a method where a solution is pumped into your stomach cavity and draws the toxic waste out of the blood through the blood veins in the stomach lining. When the solution has had a time to work, (several hours) you drain it out, and pump new solution back in. You do that over and over forever.
Well folks, there’s more, but I’m getting pretty tired about now and need to get to sleep. 4:00 am comes awful early so I’m going to post this part now and hopefully finish up tomorrow.
See ya,
Mike
PS. Is anyone reading this? I really can’t tell if you’re interested or if I’m doing a good job at writing this stuff for you. I think I hear you breathing, but I’m not positive.
Leave a comment or two and let me know.
May 13, 2010
Family leave
Hello everyone. How you all doing?
It’s me, Diane. Just a note to bring ya’ll up to date.
On Monday May 10,2010 Dave & Barb came with me to see my doctor. He was busy at that time so we talk to the coordinator her name is Kim. We told her that we need a copy of my papers so i can keep them for my record in the future. She told us that we can come back @1:20pm and see the doctor.
We went out for lunch, and then we went to providence and they took my blood. We went back to the doctor's office, when i got on the scale i weigh, 138lb. That means I lost weight again last time I was 148lb.and I’m always cold.
The doctor also said I’m anemic, so I need to take iron supplement, and I’m also missing a hormone effecting the red blood cell count. So they gave me a shot that's cost $1000, but they will check with my insurance and if it works out, then I’m gonna take it every 2wks.
After everything we went to Jubitz. I was surprised cause Debbie{HR manager} wasn't there so we talk to Victor Stibolt{Vice president administration} for Jubitz and Lee. Pederson{Manager}. So now I don't work for a while, or when I’m ready to go back.
Thank-you everybody. Love, Diane
It’s me, Diane. Just a note to bring ya’ll up to date.
On Monday May 10,2010 Dave & Barb came with me to see my doctor. He was busy at that time so we talk to the coordinator her name is Kim. We told her that we need a copy of my papers so i can keep them for my record in the future. She told us that we can come back @1:20pm and see the doctor.
We went out for lunch, and then we went to providence and they took my blood. We went back to the doctor's office, when i got on the scale i weigh, 138lb. That means I lost weight again last time I was 148lb.and I’m always cold.
The doctor also said I’m anemic, so I need to take iron supplement, and I’m also missing a hormone effecting the red blood cell count. So they gave me a shot that's cost $1000, but they will check with my insurance and if it works out, then I’m gonna take it every 2wks.
After everything we went to Jubitz. I was surprised cause Debbie{HR manager} wasn't there so we talk to Victor Stibolt{Vice president administration} for Jubitz and Lee. Pederson{Manager}. So now I don't work for a while, or when I’m ready to go back.
Thank-you everybody. Love, Diane
May 8, 2010
A little more
Hello everyone, it’s me Mike.
You know, it’s so hard to plan for the future with this stuff going on. For some reason the Doctors have a habit of telling us when the next appointment is, but seemingly can not let us know what to expect from the results of said appointment.
We still don’t know when Diane is scheduled to actually start the dialysis. It’s like a secret of something. Very frustrating! I’m determined to find out a projected schedule for Diane’s future appointments, counseling, and finally the actual dialysis start, along with the places, times, and dates.
What we do know
Diane got some paper work from her employer to take to her Doctor, to have him fill out. This paper work is for her short-term disability claim to her health insurance provider.
Diane’s Doctor’s office kept it for about 10 days before giving it back to us. When we did get it back, we saw that he had backdated the start of her disability claim to April 15th. That was the date the seriousness of her condition was confirmed.
The problem is, Diane has been a hard core trooper since then, and has been working full time regardless of the physical and emotional hardships she’d been enduring.
So, we need to get with the Doctor and see if we can’t get the start date changed to the present before we turn in the short-term disability form. Hopefully we’ll get that done on Monday May 10th. (Crossing fingers)
As far as the diagnosis, The medical term for Diane’s condition is stage 5 CKD. This is end stage Kidney disease.
How’s Diane doing?
That poor girl, she’s cold all the time. Not just a little uncomfortable cold, but really cold where she shivers and shakes when she’s wearing a sweater on a 60 degree day.
She’s always feels run down and tired, Diane wants to get out and about so bad, but once work is done, there’s no energy left for anything else.
I don’t know, I guess sometimes there’s just never enough quite time, or hugs to make things right. But I still try.
Mike
You know, it’s so hard to plan for the future with this stuff going on. For some reason the Doctors have a habit of telling us when the next appointment is, but seemingly can not let us know what to expect from the results of said appointment.
We still don’t know when Diane is scheduled to actually start the dialysis. It’s like a secret of something. Very frustrating! I’m determined to find out a projected schedule for Diane’s future appointments, counseling, and finally the actual dialysis start, along with the places, times, and dates.
What we do know
Diane got some paper work from her employer to take to her Doctor, to have him fill out. This paper work is for her short-term disability claim to her health insurance provider.
Diane’s Doctor’s office kept it for about 10 days before giving it back to us. When we did get it back, we saw that he had backdated the start of her disability claim to April 15th. That was the date the seriousness of her condition was confirmed.
The problem is, Diane has been a hard core trooper since then, and has been working full time regardless of the physical and emotional hardships she’d been enduring.
So, we need to get with the Doctor and see if we can’t get the start date changed to the present before we turn in the short-term disability form. Hopefully we’ll get that done on Monday May 10th. (Crossing fingers)
As far as the diagnosis, The medical term for Diane’s condition is stage 5 CKD. This is end stage Kidney disease.
How’s Diane doing?
That poor girl, she’s cold all the time. Not just a little uncomfortable cold, but really cold where she shivers and shakes when she’s wearing a sweater on a 60 degree day.
She’s always feels run down and tired, Diane wants to get out and about so bad, but once work is done, there’s no energy left for anything else.
I don’t know, I guess sometimes there’s just never enough quite time, or hugs to make things right. But I still try.
Mike
May 2, 2010
My first post.
Hello it’s me Diane,
Well I had another appointment again on April 30, @11:10am. The doctor mostly talk about my thyroid, she also change my medicine to a little higher dose. I told her that I’m always cold and sleepy. She said it’s because of my kidney and my thyroid.
On may1, 2010 we got our stuff ready and went to the coast we went to Astoria, for a day the weather was ok but I was cold so mostly stayed in the car. While Mike and Belanna went and walk around.. we also end up @ Seaside and bought some smoke tuna, salmon, and cooked crab meat. We also had Chinese food for dinner and we came home.
Well I had another appointment again on April 30, @11:10am. The doctor mostly talk about my thyroid, she also change my medicine to a little higher dose. I told her that I’m always cold and sleepy. She said it’s because of my kidney and my thyroid.
On may1, 2010 we got our stuff ready and went to the coast we went to Astoria, for a day the weather was ok but I was cold so mostly stayed in the car. While Mike and Belanna went and walk around.. we also end up @ Seaside and bought some smoke tuna, salmon, and cooked crab meat. We also had Chinese food for dinner and we came home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
