Friday, January 27, 2006
Baby News!
Matthew Owen arrived today before I was able to make my planned trip and his mother's scheduled c-section for next Wed! Huge sighs of relief were heard throughout our family as we welcome this new baby into the world! After the loss two years ago none of us were calm during what seemed like a very long pregnancy! Thank you!
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Life is fragile
Last night I woke up and had a "knowing flash" so sent prayers to Jean that her passing would be an easy one. Today Mom called from the dialysis clinic to say that Jean had passed yesterday afternoon, 8 days after stopping treatment! She was at home with her family just like she wanted.
Stacy has been having a lot of melt-downs since last Thursday when she felt so crummy that she thought she was either going to die or faint, I didn't care of any of the options! So, today's news about Jean has hit me hard! It's one thing knowing that dialysis is a form of life-support, but knowing how fast one can die without treatment is almost more than I can deal with.
Stacy has been having a lot of melt-downs since last Thursday when she felt so crummy that she thought she was either going to die or faint, I didn't care of any of the options! So, today's news about Jean has hit me hard! It's one thing knowing that dialysis is a form of life-support, but knowing how fast one can die without treatment is almost more than I can deal with.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Goodbye Jean
Salinas Valley - from a moving car.
I will forever think of the Salinas Valley when I think about Jean who has shared the same dialysis days, MWF, as Stacy has for the last 5 years. Jean made a decision last week to stop treatment because she's too ill and has been going downhill fast for the last few months. Jean wanted one more Christmas with her family and to be able to say goodbye to friends and family. Mom took Stacy to the clinic on Monday and Jean told Mom about her plans and Mom and I shed some tears when I got back from a drive to Salinas. Today, Wed., Jean wasn't at the clinic so it appears that her husband is honoring her wishes. I'm positive that it wasn't an easy decision but once she discovered last week that she now has bladder cancer she decided not to pursue any further treatment. The quality of her life hasn't been good and that is what her husband finally understood and shared with me last week.
We're watching another courageous woman try to stay alive for her daughter who is 14. Chaylce wants desperately to see her precious daughter graduate from High School, but Chaylce has been in ICU too many times during the last few months and is there once again . . .
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Courtesy
Courtesy - such a simple word and yet most people find it very difficult to extend such a considerate thing!! Is it too much to ask when one is kept waiting to be informed of the reason why? I don't think so.
Yesterday's saga could have been made easier with a simple explanation. "The dialysis machines ran into a trouble with the mixture of acid and water and many of them shut down. And because of that we had to take quite a number of patients off of the machines until there was an assessment and a solution could be determined. And now that we have them running again we're in the process of putting the patients back on so we're running about an hour behind."
How hard was that?! No information was given to any us as we sat in the waiting room wondering why the machines weren't ready! That's all the any of the techs would say or, "It's been an awful morning so you'll just have to accept it that you have to wait!" Nice way of putting it!
It wasn't until Stacy was put on an hour and fifteen minutes beyond her scheduled time that the office manager, who is also an R.N., took the time to tell us that someone had screwed up and hadn't mixed the tanks right and when machines began to stop a few at a time the R.N's and techs had to run around and take patients off which is very involved and can take up to 20 minutes per patient depending on whether they're a needle or catheter patient. Plus, the blood has to be returned to each patient first. It can take 5-10 minutes to reset and prime each machine but seeing how the mixture had to be done individually for each machine because the tank was messed up in some cases that procedure took even longer.
I can't imagine how awful it was for the needle patients to be re-stuck again on the same day! Stacy is a catheter patient and happily only R.N.'s can do catheters, techs do the needles and they often receive very little training before they start sticking people! There are a few patients who refuse to have any tech stick them with the two needles required for dialysis 3 times a week.
At least Stacy's BP has finally come down! It was in the "stressfully high" range for weeks! So, more diet changes! As if taking away most foods with potassium and all dairy wasn't enough she now is on a practically salt-free diet as well! I need salt to keep my BP up so I'm cooking two batches of most things. And to think that I used to love to cook!
Mom still has bronchitis and the effects of the antibiotic aren't helping matters. She needed a few things over the weekend so Stacy and I went over on Sunday to do what we could for her. The word of the day was "weak." If I didn't hang onto her she would have ended up on the floor of the pharmacy! The only thing to do was to leave her in the car with Stacy while I did the rest of the shopping. Mom sounded better yesterday, but today she seems to be just as ill as she's been for the last two weeks.
I've been emailed an e-ticket for the 31st so that I'll be at my daughter's house when she has her scheduled c-section on Feb. 1st. Hopefully the baby won't arrive sooner than that and I'll be able to leave Mom and Stacy for 10 days to be with my amazing daughter, SIL and Jack! I will be in dire need a long vacation by the end of Feb!!!!!!
I bought a new suitcase on Sunday! I saw it in Mervyn's while I was searching for a small pot and had to have it! Mine is okay and has been to Europe and back twice and on trips to my daughter's house, so I don't know why I felt so compelled to buy a larger one! It was half off and unzips and rolls with more finesse than my old does. I didn't find a small pot with a lid so that search is still on! Now that I'm cooking smaller batches of rice and pasta without salt I need a second pot.
Yesterday's saga could have been made easier with a simple explanation. "The dialysis machines ran into a trouble with the mixture of acid and water and many of them shut down. And because of that we had to take quite a number of patients off of the machines until there was an assessment and a solution could be determined. And now that we have them running again we're in the process of putting the patients back on so we're running about an hour behind."
How hard was that?! No information was given to any us as we sat in the waiting room wondering why the machines weren't ready! That's all the any of the techs would say or, "It's been an awful morning so you'll just have to accept it that you have to wait!" Nice way of putting it!
It wasn't until Stacy was put on an hour and fifteen minutes beyond her scheduled time that the office manager, who is also an R.N., took the time to tell us that someone had screwed up and hadn't mixed the tanks right and when machines began to stop a few at a time the R.N's and techs had to run around and take patients off which is very involved and can take up to 20 minutes per patient depending on whether they're a needle or catheter patient. Plus, the blood has to be returned to each patient first. It can take 5-10 minutes to reset and prime each machine but seeing how the mixture had to be done individually for each machine because the tank was messed up in some cases that procedure took even longer.
I can't imagine how awful it was for the needle patients to be re-stuck again on the same day! Stacy is a catheter patient and happily only R.N.'s can do catheters, techs do the needles and they often receive very little training before they start sticking people! There are a few patients who refuse to have any tech stick them with the two needles required for dialysis 3 times a week.
At least Stacy's BP has finally come down! It was in the "stressfully high" range for weeks! So, more diet changes! As if taking away most foods with potassium and all dairy wasn't enough she now is on a practically salt-free diet as well! I need salt to keep my BP up so I'm cooking two batches of most things. And to think that I used to love to cook!
Mom still has bronchitis and the effects of the antibiotic aren't helping matters. She needed a few things over the weekend so Stacy and I went over on Sunday to do what we could for her. The word of the day was "weak." If I didn't hang onto her she would have ended up on the floor of the pharmacy! The only thing to do was to leave her in the car with Stacy while I did the rest of the shopping. Mom sounded better yesterday, but today she seems to be just as ill as she's been for the last two weeks.
I've been emailed an e-ticket for the 31st so that I'll be at my daughter's house when she has her scheduled c-section on Feb. 1st. Hopefully the baby won't arrive sooner than that and I'll be able to leave Mom and Stacy for 10 days to be with my amazing daughter, SIL and Jack! I will be in dire need a long vacation by the end of Feb!!!!!!
I bought a new suitcase on Sunday! I saw it in Mervyn's while I was searching for a small pot and had to have it! Mine is okay and has been to Europe and back twice and on trips to my daughter's house, so I don't know why I felt so compelled to buy a larger one! It was half off and unzips and rolls with more finesse than my old does. I didn't find a small pot with a lid so that search is still on! Now that I'm cooking smaller batches of rice and pasta without salt I need a second pot.
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