A long time coming

It has been a long time since I have wrote anything in my blog.  As you know it’s pretty busy in the summer and dialysis blocked the blogging website so I can not do it then, which is when I usually did it.

This week was a very productive week.  We found out a lot because we went to mayo clinic for testing.  Mayo is of course the most beautiful and most organized hospital on earth.  Everybody works together there to make it so smooth.  We had 2 days, Tuesday and Wednesday to get all the testing done.  Testing usually takes about 3 to 4 days so we cut a lot of time off.   It is amazing that we made it to all the appointments, considering how crammed they made our schedule. 

The doctors say that I am still in good enough shape to have a transplant.  The only thing I have to work on is my blood pressure, it was so much higher at mayo clinic than it is at home.  I must have been nervous or something.  My arm also hurt that could be it to.  I heard that pain can make your blood pressure rise.  My arm hurt really bad too, so you never know.  According to the doctors I should be able to get another transplant.  This time around it is different though.  Carol Dykhouse the awesome wonderful lady that has offered to donate her kidney and is the best match possible has a positive antibody cross-match.  The positive cross-match means that the antibodies in my blood react to Carols blood.  So you want to have a negative cross-match.  We are a positive match of 300.  If you are over 300 positive there is a treatment called plasmapheresis. (not in the spell checker)   Plasmapheresis is basically like dialysis.  You go in for a week before the transplant and do a round a day where they take you blood out of you body and instead of taking the toxins out they take out the antibodies. This is dangerous because it lowers your immune system a little bit.  The doctors have done this very many times and have a great success rate. 

I keep thinking that the third time is a charm and I will be healthy again soon.  It has been a long time coming and Julie and I are very excited.

World Cup

Today I have been watching the world cup a little bit on the internet. Currently the USA is down 2 goals to Slovenia. You probably think that I am really lazy watching soccer in the middle of the day. Trust me I feel like a lazy bum. But I have a temperature of 102 and I am freezing my butt off. I had big plans for the day but those are now just plans that I had. Hopefully this temp will go away. Back to the world cup though. It is really fun to watch. I never was really a soccer guy, and I can't watch the whole game but I like to watch some of it. Soccer is a lot more physical than I would have thought. Some of the guys are just taking falls but it is still
pretty good.

The main reason I am watching this is, on Monday a girl did her speech in speech class on why we should watch the world cup. She showed some pretty cool videos which I am going to post below. I like the videos so much that I am now watching part of the games. Who new that I would like soccer. I love playing it but I never really watched it. So watch these videos and maybe you will watch a game also.

The top ten goal celebrations!


The soccer players are getting physical!

School

When I signed up for school I didn’t think that it would be this much work.  It always seems like kids in college are always doing fun stuff and with their friends all the time.  Even when I was working and my friends where in school they could always do something when I asked. For me though school takes up almost all my time.  The classes I am taking right now are all sped up.  They are 7 weeks instead of 14 weeks so I have twice the amount of homework that I would normally have during a regular semester.  For instance in the syllubus for my math class, it says we should be doing 10 hours of homework per week.  That is a lot of homework for one class.  If I did 10 hours for each class that is a full time job worth of homework.  And that doesn’t even count the actual classes which amount to 16 hours.  I also have dialysis 12 hours a week.  I promise you I don’t do 10 hours of homework per class per week though.  I think that I need to for my math class though.  It is getting easier but I did awful on the last test.  I was mistaken when I thought I could go through school with barely any work.  I now know I will be doing homework most of the time for the next year.

I don’t mind doing the work, I just feel like “I never have time to do anything that needs to be done.  Homework is always hanging over my head.  It may sound like I am complaining, but I’m not.  I just want you to know about school.  I actually like school alot.  I know I’m a nerd, I can’t help it.  It is actually a lot of fun.  I think it’s because most of my life I spent all day talking to my brother and dad and never would meet anyone new.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to talk to them.  It’s just I really like meeting new people.  I think it’s fun.  In school I meet someone new almost every class and I like that.  Well that’s my rant on school.  Hopefully the homework won’t kill me.  If this is just crazy the way it is written or if it has a lot of mistakes sorry I didn’t have time to proof read it. 

Dialysis

Yesterday we packed up and went camping.  It was not as much work as I thought it was going to be.  We are having a blast,  I just hope it doesn’t rain all day today.  It is supposed to but we have mainly missed it so far.  We might be far enough south.  I think that it’s fun because Ellie likes it so much, and of course the people we are with also.  Ellie definitely didn’t want to go to bed last night.  We had her up way to late. I don’t know if she ever saw fire before, she is mesmerized by it.  She also thinks that it would be fun to grab it.  She continually goes to the fire with her hands out, and I grab her and pull her back.  She thinks this is a game. 

This morning I had to go to dialysis.  Dialysis is so boring.  I usually can sleep during dialysis and then with an hour left I do homework or mess around on the computer.  Today I can’t sleep.  It feels like such a long time if you don’t sleep.  I drank mountain dew before I came this morning.  It was the only drink we had in the house because we brought all our juice camping.  I thought that the MD would be a good idea.  I don’t think that I should drink that again before dialysis.  It is for sure the culprit keeping me awake.  4 hours feels like a life time in dialysis when you can’t sleep.  All most everybody here sleeps the entire time.  They all ask for drugs, and say that they are itchy or feel weird, but I know it just to fall asleep the entire time.  Probably a smart idea but I’m worried that it would keep me asleep all day.  I don’t want to waste a whole day just because of dialysis.  The end is  near for dialysis and feeling sick.  We found out my aunt Deb is a fairly good match and they just have to test a few more people to see who is the best match.  So very good news, Julie and I are very excited.  It will be so great to have energy again and to have my strength back.  We should find out in a few months when the date will be.  I just have to get through a few more months.

Camping

Yesterday I went to go get our camper.  This is the most work I have done in a week.  Well I did pick quite a few weeds on Saturday.  My hand finally feels pretty good.  I am not supposed to use it for another week, but it’s just so hard not to use it because it feels so good.  I do have to be careful though because if the blood flow is cut off I will lose the fistula and that would mean another surgery.  I thought that would be a good update about my health.

Now about the camper.  We went to pick the camper up from the place we dropped it off last winter.  I can’t remember the name of it, but they probably have a 100 trailers there.   When you drive in it says it has a security guard.  It doesn’t.  Julie and I drove in grabbed our trailer and headed out, not a soul in sight.  I told Julie that we should have just hooked up to a bigger trailer like a fifth wheel or something.  We only took ours though,  and that should be good for the camping trip we are going on this weekend.  Camping for me is fun for about 1 day.  Then I have to sleep.  I for some reason I can not sleep while I am camping.  I feel like bugs are touching me and I feel sticky even if I just took a shower.  Sometimes when I see like ants by me or other bugs I feel like they are on me and can’t get it out of my mind.  I know it’s crazy, I think it might be a phobia. Some times Julie tells me when we are in bed at home that she sees a bug.  It’s not very nice. Anyway I stay awake usually about half the night.  The rest of camping is pretty good though.  I mean I have only ever gone for a weekend and at the end of the weekend I am ready to go, but it’s mostly fun that weekend.  The other thing is it is a lot of work especially with a pop up.  I don’t know if you ever had a pop up camper.  I can see how a big camper that doesn’t have to be opened up being really nice.  You can just throw you stuff in the camper and then take off.  Nice!!  A pop up you have to open the camper up at home and clean it, then put your stuff in, then close it up.  Then you go camping you open it up and camp.  Then you close it up.  Then you go home open it up clean it and then close it up.  When you only go camping for one whole day that is a lot of work.  Well that is what we are doing this weekend, guaranteed to be a lot of work.  In two weeks though, we go to Young State Park.  This is the best campground I think in the U.S..  If you haven’t gone, go, it has everything you need for a good time.  I like camping here, first of all because Julies whole family is there and they are fun.  Also there is a lot to do, the beach, boyne city and charlevoix.  This camping trip I get to go 2 weekends and only have to pack the trailer up three times instead of 6.  This is nice and I will enjoy this trip. Julie will be there 10 days so that’s nice for her to.  Maybe I will change my mind this weekend about camping for one weekend but probably not. 

Gods Lessons

I finally can type with two hands again. I can’t lift anything for two weeks but that is ok. I just boss Julie around. Just kidding, but she is always very helpful. On Wendesday I had surgery. The surgery that I had is for a fistula. A fistula is a vein in my arm that is tied off so that it gets more blood to it. They then can use it for dialysis. The blood flows much better than the port that I have right now, so I get much better dialysis. The port I have right now is in my chest and goes to one of the veins in my neck, while the fistula is in my arm. It is kind of weird getting used to this fistula in my arm. It vibrates, it’s really weird. If see me some time ask to feel it. You won’t believe it. It’s in my arm and I can’t believe it That is not really what I was going to write about this time though, I just thought I would give a little update.
What I really wanted to write about is hardships. You guys probably know that Julie and I have been through a couple rough things lately. Julie and I don’t really think of it like that most of the time. We kind of think we are normal which is a farfetched reality most of the time. I told Julie the other day that I couldn’t think of anything to write on the blog anymore. I said it was because nothing ever happens to me. The she reminded me I was in the hospital 2 times in two weeks and about all the crazy stuff that happens at school, that I haven’t even written about. Well I have written about my LAN class but that is just one class. Then I remembered we aren’t really normal right now and a lot does happen to me. We probably both once were normal, but that time has passed at least five years ago when Julie married me. She left her once normal life to join me in doctors’ appointments, surgery and oh yah food poisoning hospital visits. I hope someday that we are normal again and I can go to work and Julie doesn’t have to do all the jobs I am supposed to be doing like mowing the lawn and taking out the trash. That day might come sooner or later but for now we will just continue to be different. I think God has made us this way for a reason, actually I know he has. As I look back on both my transplants and Ellies hearing, I can see why God gave us these trials. Julie and I have grown much closer to God than we were even two years ago and also much closer to each other. Its weird our marriage, I think, is better for it. The other thing that God is using us for in all of this, is, other peoples’ blessings. If there was no one hard up in this world who would we help. I’m not saying that we need to rely on other people all the time but we do need to rely on God all the time and if that means other peoples help then that is what we will except. Even though it is hard sometimes. Everyone needs help sometimes. Julie and I have been blessed by so many people. God has given so many people gif s and talents that people have used to help us. Probably the biggest and best thing we have learned is we can not do it on our own. I know now that I have to give everything to God, not just some things. When we started to do this we realized how much better life is. As far as Ellies hearing goes, now she loves her implants and it just shows you how wonderful hearing is. Can you imagine a quiet world? Even as I write this I hear something. God gave us gifts we don’t even recognize or thank him for.
In the bible Paul says we need to rejoice in our hardships because God is testing us. That is sometimes very hard to do. Julie and I for the most part have learned to do just that. It took us a while. But we are joyful for everything that God has given us.

One Hand

Typing with one hand is a pain in the butt. I feel like that old guy who never learned to type and uses only two fingers. But I have nothing else to do so I am going to write this with the least amount of frustration as possible. I can only type with one hand, because today I had surgery on my arm. So if you are moving or need my help carrying something, sorry I can’t lift anything for two weeks. The surgery is for a new way to access my veins for dialysis. It is called a fistula. It’s basically a huge vein sticking out of my arm. Don’t be frightened the first time you see it. It may be very alarming. There are a few advantages to having this tumor coming out of my arm put in. First and probably most important is I can take a shower. That’s right I haven’t taken a shower since March. I take bathes, but I feel taking a bath is basically swimming in your own filth. So if you have smelled a stench coming off my body, thank you for not saying anything. Ignorance is bliss. The other benefit is that I get better dialysis this way. The new vein that they morphed into a giant vein carries more blood thus, the dialysis machine can process more blood in four hours, and I guess that is just as important as taking a shower.
The best part of going for the surgery is I am on a streak of three weeks in the hospital. I wasn’t in three weeks a straight but one day each week. First for my blood pressure, then for food poisoning, and today for fistula placement. Maybe next week will be my appendix. Just Kidding.