The "The Water Aerobics is Getting Easier", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Do I Do"? Stevie Wonder. Nice wake up song and I like it a lot, but I'm still sleepy.  Was hoping this would put some pep in my step.  I dislike dialysis. Yes, I know I'd be dead without it and appreciate it, but I still don't have to like it. And yes, I've progressed from the chest catheter to the fistula, but still. 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I go to Outer Drive and Southfield at 6 AM to get needles inserted into me. I am one of the last people to come into the center for first shift.  I'm usually pleasant and smile and greet people, so now I get greeted when I come in. This morning I didn't feel like greeting everyone, but the precedent had been set. *sigh*. I nodded and smiled and waved.  Lol. We're kinda like a family.  You get concerned if a fellow patient is not there.  You get concerned if a tech is absent.   My module has seen me when my blood pressure dropped.  We've seen each other go through other mini-crises. I guess it's the nature of the beast. And that's ok. It personalizes dialysis. Heck, I have an entire crew who know what I'm going through, because they are going through the same thing. 

I'm settling in with fistula.  It's on my left arm. Two needles in. Top needle is venous, bottom needle is arterial.  Each needle is monitored for pressure and flow.  "As", Stevie Wonder.  You'd think the name of the song would be "I'll Be Loving You, Always". Lol. Who's gonna argue with Stevie?   I've had a high venous flow.  That got fixed as the fistula matured.  So when they take the needles out, it's one at at time.  Usually.  Anyway the tech is in protective gear, you know blood and all.  A special lab coat that is disposable, a face protector.  They use the antibacterial foam and then put on the gloves.  The patients also get a glove. 

Now comes the fun part. The machine gives a two minute warning.  Lol. That's music to my ears. :-).  The tech brings over gauze and alcohol pads.  The venous needle is pulled first. Once it's  out, I have to apply pressure to the area.  ( This why we have a glove ).  When I first started, the bleeding stopped pretty quick. If course, I had the smallest needles.  There was that time when I checked to see if I'd stopped bleeding and blood spurted up!!  I wasn't expecting that. Lol.  Anyway, once the bleeding stops, I put on a few band aids.  There is a gauze and tape option for those who don't like or can't use band aids.  But look, for some odd reason, using band aids bring out the kid in me. And can use as many band aids as I like!!!  Whoo hoo. Lol. 

Ahem. Lately, though, when those needles come out, I've been bleeding a lot. Right through the gauze, running down my arm, bleeding.  Lol. The kind where you don't realize it until you feel the warm trickle.  No spurting here, just massive flow.  We'll see how it goes today. "So Fresh, So Clean", Outkast. Lol. Imagine my surprise when I'm I the restroom in the Palms Casino in Las Vegas and Outkast is playing. Rofl.  I take a blood thinner once a day and am given a blood thinner while on dialysis because I was prone to clotting (a whole topic for another day).  It looks like its time to revisit that. 

Photo of needles. Red is smallest, green is medium, and blue is what we strive for.  The size is not the actual needle, but diameter of the tube attached to the needle.  The flow of will increase with the maturity of the fistula. Newbies get red.  Signing off with "Grapevyne", Brownstone. Oh, this will perk me up. I love their voices. <3

Bah ... The photo transfer isn't working. The needles will be on my Facebook status today. 

The "My Dad is Funny", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", Tears for Fears. Do you ever wonder how a song appeals to a large number?  What makes a good song good?  Oh my dad?  He suggested we swing by his place in Las Vegas after we drop Shawn off in central Illinois.  Seriously, I want to go and see him. But we have the upcoming expense of moving Shawn.

I think I mentioned that if we used a transport company to move her furniture and belongings, it will cost about $4500.00 (!!!!!).  And none us are interested or able to drive a rental tuck.  Therefore the option is to purchase the furniture in Champaign.   Shawn has to furnish an entire apartment.  Fortunately she has items from her dorm days.  We're taking inventory now to what gaps need to be filled.  She has started packing. Imagine, my child is moving just about everything. :-(    Still, we're all very excited. :-)

The Main Ingredient, "Goodbye My Love".  Lol. My dear friend commented that my songs tend to match what I'm writing, and sure enough, I write about Shawn leaving and "Goodby My Love", gets shuffled on. I can't explain it.  Speaking of my dear friend, she arranged a lunch with my former coworkers last week. It's always a joy to see them. Some of them were there for my entire time at the job. We've watched our children growing up, becoming parents!  Fretted over our husbands during the Gulf War.  Worried over injuries and illnesses. We loved and supported each other and we still do.  

My old staff came. I am so proud of all of them.  Most of them gone on to be managers and leaders.  Good managers and leaders. I know when they worked with me, they were exceptional employees.  Lol. When I announced I was retiring, 2 of them left.  But, they assisted in finding their replacements. They even came back to assist in the transition.  :-)   And now, when we have our little luncheons, they attend. One even comes from Ann Arbor.  They made my job enjoyable and I did everything I cold to make their job enjoyable...or at least coming to work tolerable - lol. 

Finally, I walked a mile at Belle Isle on Saturday Morning.  Shawn and Brian walked with me.  They encouraged me and ignored my whining - lol.  The turnout was nice with runners and walkers.  Shawn pointed out that I walked the mile without stopping to rest.  She's right I did. At the Zoo walk, I stopped several times.  And after, Brian got the car and picked me up.  This time I walked to the car. My progress is measurable. :-)    My whining increases, but I'm sure it will decrease...eventually.  Lol

Photos of Belle Isle and me.  For those not from the area, Belle Isle is a park island on the Detroit River.     It's a wonderful place. Even as an adult, I enjoy going there.  Signing off with "Get On Up", The Esquires.  :-).   "How can you set yourself down for a rest when you know I'm trying my best to dance with you? ".  Soul at its best. 

The "There Seem To Be A Lot Of Rabbits In Northwest Detroit ThisSummer", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Blues Away", The Jackson's. My tech isn't here this morning. I hope she's ok. Here's the deal. The dialysis  center has a substantial staff and apparently a lot of titles.  I've mentioned the social worker tech title.  We've got several layers of registered nurses, a hierarchy, it seems. Some nurses have more responsibility than others.  This is the group that rotates the charge nurse duties.

There are several layers of dialysis tech.  The top layer is the stick team. They wear red lanyards. The next layer is regular techs and the tech assistants.  The stick team are the experts in needle placement.   My regular tech is the stick team leader :-)  That's a blessing and a curse lol. She can stick me blind folded, but I'm leary of anyone lose sticking me.  When she was out sick, I would only let stick team members even come near me lol.  Monday, a nurse I like was setting me up and was going to stick me.  My tech  was nearby, so I let the nurse try. She is not a member of the stick team and surprisingly quite a few of the nurses are not proficient stickers (!). Anyway the nurse was unable to get the venous needle placed correctly (my venous placement is tricky). My tech came over and nailed the stick. Lol.  The final layer is dialysis tech assistants. They don't stick or set up patients, but set up and clean machines, chairs and stations. 

So any my tech isn't here, but a red lanyard tech, who has stuck me before, is here, so I'm good. :-). "You're On My Mind", Kem.  I was not a Kem fan until this song. Shawn says its because there are no vocal gymnastics. :-D.  Once a new tech was setting me up.  Lol. I told her she couldn't stick me and please get a stick team member. Lol. She was cool about it and got a stick team member for me. Oh, and my techies the stick team leader and the is the most requested sticker.  Some people are scared, upset, or just difficult placements, but se can get the job done. 

As far as sticking, consider this. Sometime the accesses can clot, sometime they may just stop working.  This is our lifeline. When this happens, the patients have to go directly to the hospital..do not pass go do not collect $200. :-(   The access has to fixed immediately in order to continue dialysis. Or else you get to get a new chest catheter inserted (big ass sad face).  Bah, Spinners, "Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me Girl ". Changing that.  Lol by the time I finish typing the title, the song will be over. "Since I Lost My Baby", The Temptations. Better. :-). Temptations -1. Spinners - 0. 

Did you see the photo of me in the dialysis chair?  I'll post it again. Did you notice the needles in my left arm?  It's running blood back and forth to my mechanical kidney.  That left arm had to be reasonably still.  I don't want to dislodge the needles. We rest the arm on a pillow. At the very least that will set off the alarms on my kidney, but it's just plain a bad thing. So I type with one hand. Works pretty well on the iPad. Lol.  Did you notice the blood pressure cuff on my right arm?  Takes the BP every half hour. If the BP is too high or low the alarm goes off.  The iPod is on my lap.  Oh yeah, at the centers I've visited, they don't give you an arm pillow. We're spoiled here. :-)

I have a blanket, it gets cold after a while.  The chair also heats up, which is nice.  I'm wearing my headphones for the TV. There is also a Baggie with my candy, Napoleons.  Also in the Baggie is my tourniquet and my little iPod. We're offered as many pillows as we like, but I don't like them. 

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask. :-).  Oh yeah, it was difficult to get a photo of me in the chair . HIPPA issues, but it's a photo of me, authorized by me, on my phone. Lol. Whatever.

Signing off with "With Open Arms", Rachelle Farrell. Now those are some vocal gymnastics I can appreciate.  Have a great weekend... I'm walking at Belle Isle tomorrow. :-)

The "Think About Organ Donation", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Ain't Leavin Without You", Jaheim. Baseline.  I'm a sucker for a great deep baseline. Makes you want to dance. :-)   Organ donation.  I signed the consent on my drivers license when the program was first implemented. I also would like my body to go to a med school after death.  Med students need practice. Am I right?  Lol.  Little did I know I'd be someone who needs an organ. There are a lot of us. Want some perspective?  Do a Facebook search on "Need a kidney".  I'll be adding my page soon. Seems futile, but I gotta try. :-)  Oh yeah, my 2nd article for KidnetBuzz.com was published.

So there are conditions to be met to get on a transplant list. Exclusion criteria and absolute exclusion criteria.  Absolute exclusion criteria includes; active malignancy; chronic lung disease; significant or reversible cardiac disease; tobacco use in the setting of diabetes mellitus,  coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease and chronic lung disease; incarceration; noncompliance ( skipping dialysis, not taking meds, etc ); BMI (body mass index) greater than 45.  I passed theses tests -yay!!!  Lol.  I sent back my signed forms and will now wait. Brian is going to see if he can be donor, so we'll set that up and see. Oh yeah, good thing the kidney failure caused me to stop smoking, but that's kinda circular, isn't it. 

A question I never answered was , "Pat, what caused your kidneys to fail?".  Well let's step back years or decades with my father's side of the family. My dad's brother got sick and he failed pretty quickly. This was in the 60s.  "Can This Be Real", The Natural Four. It's hard to not sing loud (and badly) with the earbuds on - I'd disturb the entire module, patients and staff - lol.  Kidney failure prior to about 1968 was basically a death sentence. So yeah my uncle died. A few years later, one of my dads cousins had kidney failure, but he got a kidney from his sister. Incidentally, this was in the late 60s. Said sister is still going, baking her legendary rolls. :)   And my aunt who seems to get sick when I get sick, even though we are 300 miles apart, had her kidneys fail when my failed (!). She really didn't have to do that :-(   In addition, dad told me of cousins who died young, when he was younger. 

What we all have in common is acute intermittent porphyria. The disease runs in my father's family, but you don't know you have it until the symptoms beat you on the head. There may be tests now, I don't know, but the family is aware of the symptoms.  Kidney failure isn't always indicated with acute intermittent  porphyria, but apparently it is in my family.     So there you have it, how Pats kidneys failed. 

Links to my article at KidneyBuzz, and a full body photo of me "doing" dialysis. Signing off with "Standing on the Top", The Temptations featuring Rick James.  Rick James :-D. 

http://kidneybuzz.com/dialyzin-at-disney-world

The "You Are a True Michigander If You Use Your Right Hand As a Map",edition.

iPod shuffled to "U Can't Touch This", MC Hammer. Stop.  Hammer time.  Another Michigan weekend. Thanks to a friend, we discovered the Pig and Whiskey event in Ferndale.  It featured local barbecue restaurants and local whiskeys.  I passed, but Shawn and Brian went. They brought back ribs, beef brisket and some sausage sandwiches. Yum.

Saturday we headed to Frankenmuth.  I've been going there since I was a kid. Frankenmuth is about a 1/2 hour from our cottage at Shay Lake.  Frankenmuth is a German town in the thumb.  I've watched it grow from a local attraction to what it is today. So, the order of business is, where are going to eat?  Bavarian Inn or Zehnder's?  After going to both for over 40 years, we've concluded there isn't much difference.  Of course your mileage may vary.  We end up at Zehnder's.  We go in and get directed to the "Original Dining Room", which is just one of many dining rooms inside the restaurant.  The staff is dressed in German outfits. 

We order the family style meal. I mean, thats what you order. Lol. So here's what you get. 1st course is chicken noodle soup. 2nd course are the appetizers - slaw, cranberry sauce, cottage cheese, white bread and stollen (fruit bread) with jam, garlic bread chips with cheese spread and chicken liver pâté. 3rd course is dinner - fried chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, butter noodles, and fresh vegetables.  The final course, desert, is sherbet or vanilla ice cream topped with caramel or chocolate sauce. So so full. The food is served family style, so we pass around platters and if a platter becomes empty, it gets a refill.  For the record, we didn't refill anything. There was plenty of food for just the three of us. :-)  

I was tickled when the ice cream came. They still put little plastic animals on top.  I was just so delighted. It was a childhood memory and darn if the plastic money looked the same as it did 45 years ago!!!  "You Gets No Love", Faith Evans.  The baseline makes the song.  Imagine our surprise when they packed up what we didn't eat to take home. We took home some chicken. :-)

After eating we head downstairs to the gift shop / bakery. We were given a coupon for the bakery. Spend $20.00, get a free loaf of bread.  Brian wanted some stollen, the fruit bread. My mom loved stollen.  She'd get it and some blackberry jam.  When we'd return home she slather the jam on the stollen and offer it to us. Except no one liked it but her. Lol lol. BUT, guess who likes it?  Brian.  Brian and my mom bonded over stollen and blackberry jam. <3.   "Jet Airliner", Steve Miller Band.  Head bobbing music.  We ended getting a 1/2 loaf of stollen and a loaf of jalapeño cheddar bread,  that was delicious. Yum. The bakery was overwhelming and we were full ( which was a great thing! ) so that was it. Did see a doughnut about the size of my head, though!  

We then headed to take a leisurely ride on the Bavarian Belle boat ride, but it was full.  The next ride wasn't for another hour and a half. We passed.  We didn't even stop to see the Civil War reenactment. Yep, costumes, tents, weapons. Looked interesting to me.  We ended up at the Cheese Haus. Shawn got a ghost pepper cheese. I'm not touching it.   

We left Frankenmuth and headed to Shay Lake. Sad to say, the cottage was torn down a few years ago. Once mom and dad moved to Las Vegas and the 2nd flood, they let it go. I have wonderful memories of the cottage and I know Michigan's thumb like the back of my hand...(rimshot). So not sad..time moves on. :-)  The drive home was delightful also. So many changes. I remember when Lapeer, Oxford and Lake Orion were little rural towns. Heh. No more.  

So ends my journey to the thumb. We enjoyed it immensely. I recommend a trip to Frankenmuth to everyone. And yes, I took the kids to spend a weekend in the Bavarian Inn hotel when they were about 7,8 years old. Who can resist a resort with 3 indoor pools?  :-D. "Never Can Say Goodbye", Jackson 5.  Listen to flute weaving though the song....

The "I Like Thunderstorms...Until The Power Goes Out", edition

iPod shuffled to "Words I Manifest", Gang Starr.  I like the flow, the beat and whatever it is that's sampled. I suppose I could look it up, but I'm not feeling the effort.  I got the (massive) packet of information from the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) Transplant Office. I'm going to try to explain the process as I review the documents and research stuff. It may be haphazard, so bear with me. "No Diggity", Blackstreet. Teddy Riley - yeah.

So there is an organization that keeps track of all the transplant candidates in the US.  This organization is UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing. UNOS is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network in the US. UNOS manages the national transplant waiting list, matches donors to recipients 24 hours/day 365 days/year. It maintains all data and you can pull up report and statistics, including how many people are listed, how many people are waiting and average wait time per state for an organ. So as of today almost 76,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. This includes all organs.  The number of transplants for the period of 1/2013 through 4/2013 was 9190.  The number of donors was 4534. So yep, people are waiting.  Average wait time can be 3-5 years.  "You Are Everything", The Stylistics. I played this on the piano. I always thought the song was so pretty :-)

The cadaver kidneys (heh, that's what they're called).  One can get a kidney from someone who has used drugs.  There is process for that determination. I was told I'd be eligible to get basically any kidney, as long as it had some function.  I guess. I belong to an online group where people have waiting upwards of 5 years. I dunno, dialysis takes a toll on your body.  I wonder if I'd accept a drug users kidney. I am blood type O+, the most popular type, so I may have a long wait.  

Anyway, I'm headed to Frankenmuth this weekend.  I'm going to sign the crapload of documents from DMC and from UNOS and keep doing what I'm doing. :-)  Signing off with the Tavares, "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel".  (I'm imagining a big ole disco ball - lol).   Oh yeah, I took a photo of me in the chair. I'll try to get a better one, one day. 

The "Archeology is Anthropology" edition

iPod shuffled to "Toast to the Fool", The Dramatics. A little back story on the journey to archeology. First off, Brian and I still marvel that Shawn ended up in archeology.  It started with the declaration of the Anthropology major is her sophomore year. The following summer, one of her professors at Howard University suggested she attend a field school in New Mexico to study Buffalo Soldier sites.  She and several students from around the country spent 4 weeks in the boondocks. The closest town was Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  However they were far enough away that there was no cell signal. In fact, if I had to reach her, I was given the phone number off the Black Range Mountains Ranger Station ( my mind immediately goes to Ranger Smith and Yogi Bear -- I digress..lol ).  In the following spring, the group presented their findings at the Society of American Archeologists convention in San Diego.

She transferred to Wayne State University that fall.  Howard decreased the funding to the Anthropology department :-(   WSU has a robust Anthropology department, so she never missed a beat. That spring she applied to a field school sponsored by University of Illinois, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  This was the New Philadelphia Project.  This field school was in the boondocks of Illinois, but about 30 miles east of Hannibal, Missouri.  New Philadelphia was a town settled by Black and White settlers.  It faded away because the railroad did not stop there, or even near New Philadelphia. The students were there for 6 weeks, then spent 4 weeks at U-Illinois Springfield to catalogue the findings.  Between these 2 field schools, she got quite a bit experience in methodology and the use of the equipment. 

Last summer she opted out of an out of state field school.  The fall semester she was involved in a field school training class at the old train station.  WSU has been researching the neighborhood that was there before the train station was built. Yep, an entire neighborhood was razed to accommodate  train station.  "Thin Line Between Love and Hate", The Persuaders.  A cautionary tale - lol. That winter, she finished up the remaining required class and applied to grad schools.  When she asked the professor in charge of New Philadelphia for a recommendation, he urged her to apply to U-Illinois. Surprisingly, it was not on her list. Something I still don't quite understand is most schools don't have an Anthropology Masters program, rather they had PhD programs where you get the MA on the way.  Well, she was accepted at U-Illinois PhD program, with a fellowship, and will start next month (!).  

This summer, she is working with WSU on a project looking into Detroit's Purple Gang and speakeasies.  She is enjoying urban archeology.  I have no idea what her future will bring. Brian and I are along for the ride. :-)  She does want you to know, archeologists are not Indiana Jones, and if you reference that, you will be corrected!!!

I've included links to the different field schools. 

http://www.demingheadlight.com/ci_11438821

http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/nsf/fieldschool.html

http://wayne.edu/article.php?id=8775

The "It's All Fun And Games", edition.

iPod shuffled to Stevie Wonder, "Do I Do". This song makes me smile and want to dance. :-)  Let's go back to Friday.  When I was coming off treatment, I felt good. Really good.  This was a new experience!!  With the increase in my dry weight, the amount of fluid taken off was just right. My blood pressure stayed normal ( my new normal bp is about 117/77 - yay!! ). I didn't feel faint.  I wasn't exhausted. As a matter of fact I  was ready to do stuff. Brian and I went to breakfast and I didn't feel the need to rest in the car while he finished.

Brian said he and Shawn would be attending a gaming convention at Oakland University Friday afternoon.  He suggested I go with them. Now he and Shawn have been attending these things since she was around 10 years old. They conned me into going to one a long time ago. I've passed ever since.  However that day, I felt good, and didn't want to stay in the house. So on Friday afternoon, I attended Michicon at Oakland University.  (One of the best stories is 10 year old Shawn beating a table of gamers. The gamers were focusing on each other because a 10 yo girl poses no threat. She snuck in and won the game!!! Lol lol lol ). 

When we arrived, Brian registered us.  If you've never been to a gaming convention, I'll try to explain how it goes. This one had several types of games participants can play - Family and Board games, Railroads, Miniatures ( historical, air battles, sci-fi, fantasy ) and RPGs ( role playing games - Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinders, sci-fi and more ).  You register, then sign up for the game(s) you want to play. This is not where you go to play Sorry, Monopoly, Risk or even checkers.  On the sign up table there is a catalogue with descriptions of the games. "Can't Forget About You", Nas and Chrisette Michelle. This was the 1st time I heard Chrissette's voice. Loved it. Also, Nas sampled "Unforgettable", Nat King Cole.  

After going over game descriptions, we selected what we wanted to play. I selected Briefcase. Lol. It seemed the closest to something that was familiar to me. It read like Monopoly (it wasn't - lol).  I went to the table.  A young lady and the game master(GM) were already there.  Just as I sat down, my phone rang.  I checked it. Hmmm. I needed to answer this call. It was the Detroit Medical Center.  Apparently, as of Friday, my name was placed on the kidney transplant list!!!!!!!! :-D  Lol. I couldn't jump up and tell the strangers at my table, nor could I run over to Shawn and Brian.  I smiled at the 2 remaining players who joined us, listened to the GM explain the game and then played the game.  I enjoyed the game.  And of course I came in dead last - rofl.  I wandered over to where Brian was.  His game was still on progress and let him know, and then wandered over to Shawn. 

After we all finished, we all declared we had a good time. In fact Brian and Shawn were going back the next day. Mom passed this time. Lol. But on Sunday, I made my way back to my World of Warcraft. After a massive update and Battle.net basically telling me I'd been gone so long they needed to verify who I was, I got back on to save Azeroth!!  Lol. I forgot how to play my character.  Anyway, some of guild members were on and we talked and gabbed. :-).  Finally, my buddy messaged me on Facebook about returning to WoW.  He makes me go to dungeons a lot, but in his defense, I was the one who brought him into the epic dungeons years ago. :-). Lol. Just let me get used to playing again.  I am a gamer and I like it!!  Meet Lallique and her minion, Mezzgorg <3.  :-)

The "I Dreamt About Chicago Last Night", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Heat of the Moment", After 7. The 2 brothers of Babyface look like...his brothers. Lol. I dreamt about Chicago.  I woke up wondering why.  Oh yeah, Brian and I met with his old friend who was in  town from Chicago. They've been friends for over 40 years. As a matter of fact there are 5 friends, including Brian. They were all in our wedding, and the one from Chicago is Shawn's godfather      

:-).   We were discussing old friends.  I reconnected with mine after  almost 50 years.  He and his friends have kept in touch for over 40 years!

I have random kidney disease and dialysis thoughts today. As bizarre as its sounds, there have been several positives that has come out of the kidney disease. Hmmm iPod stuck on Isley Brothers....let me reshuffle...Kashif, "Help Yourself to My Love".  I was doing an internship in Washington DC the summer this came out. I bought the tape for my Walkman. How's that for a memory? Lol. 

Ok so what the heck can be positive about having my kidneys fail?  Well first of all is the weight loss. Granted I'm not a stick lady, but believe it or not I lost almost 100 pounds. Heh. I've gained about 15 pounds back, but my nephrologist and dietician expected it. I had no appetite. Someone described having no appetite and constant nausea as my body telling me it could no longer remove toxins so it wasn't accepting anything in.  Anyway I've stabilized and am slowly losing the 15 pounds I gained. :-)   Walking and swimming, being physically active is helping. 

The 2nd positive is I quit smoking. I probably started consistently smoking in my early 20s. A pack a day. In the final weeks before my body crashed, I didn't want to smoke. You can tell when a smoker is seriously ill if they don't want a cigarette!!  I haven't had a cigarette since mid October. In Vegas the smoke in the casino irritated me!   Color me surprised!! Lol. I can smell remnants of smoke on people and when I pass where a smoker has been. The great news is I have no urge to smoke. :-).   "Crazy on You", Heart.  The guitar intro teases you, you have no clue of the vocals you're going to get treated to. 

Finally, the renal diet has forced me to eat healthier.  We've lowered the salt intake for the entire family. We're conscious of added salt in processed food, fast food and food we're served when we dine out.  I'm into portion control and notice the HUGE portions served in restaurants. I've realized the standard drink size is running 12 -16 ounces. I am limited to 32 - 40 ounces of fluid a day. A single supersize drink could use up my daily allotment ;-(    Lol try and find an 8 oz glass. I dare you. Even your glasses at home run about 12 ounces.  I'm also liking vegetables more. Go figure. Lol

"Diamonds Are Forever", Shirley Bassey.  "Men are mere mortals not worth going to your grave for". Wow , interesting lyric!!   I asked my tech to take a photo of me in my chair.  She was not amenable, but suggested I ask the social worker, the one that has me walking for causes - lol. So I will ask her.  Have a fabulous weekend. Not sure where we'll head for our day trip. Signing off with the Whispers, "I Only Meant To Wet My Feet".  "You got me walking on wall to wall love", <3. (Looking at Brian). 

The "It Feels Like Florida Outside This Morning", edition.

iPod shuffled to Chaka Khan, "Do You Love What You Feel".  Dance song!  I stepped out the door to go to dialysis and the humidity smacked me in the face. Just like Florida ;-/  I've been going to Deep Water Fitness. The class is on my dialysis days.  I end up passing on days that days dialysis kicks my butt.  Monday was a partial butt kicking day, so I went. About 5 minutes in I ask Brian how long was the class so I could watch the clock.  :-D. I got tired just that quick. He advised me to not watch the clock because it would start going backwards. :-(   I was doing fine until the leader had us continually swim the width of the Olympic size pool.

Did you know that Brian and I had been Red Cross certified lifeguards?  Lol. Now the instructor calls  me out for not kicking during the swim. Apparently my upper body strength is really good. This makes sense, since  I had issues walking and rising, I used my arms and upper body to lift myself. So now when I swim, I don't use my legs. (face palm).  I can beat you across the pool just stroking with my arms. Lol. I'm working on my kick now. :-)

Did you know that by being on dialysis, my life expectancy has dramatically decreased? I am dying. I'm not having a death watch, but the dialysis process is taking a toll on my body, even though it's keeping me alive.  The times when my blood pressure drops means my body is not getting enough oxygen during the duration of the low blood pressure episode. "Trying to Make A Fool Of Me", The Delphonics.  I love the vocals, harmonies, and the arrangement. You can hear the harp.  I think I've gone into the mode of enjoying my life. I'm doing pretty good, but I don't know if any complications will appear.  And I'm ok with this.  

So I'm not trying to be maudlin.  In the last several weeks Shawn and I have been taking little day trips. I had been confined to the house for so long, I was ready to get out.  Lol. After Disney World, I wasn't content with "resting" anymore. Shawn wanted to see more of Michigan before she moves to Central (the freaking middle of nowhere) Illinois.  Next up are the Ann Arbor Art Festival and  trip to Frankenmuth. Who doesn't like Frankenmuth?? :-)   Thinking about Battle Creek, too. 

Got a photo of my chair and my kidney. Gonna ask my tech to take a photo of me when I'm hooked up in my chair. The last time I had my phone out, it fell into the trash can.  I realized I didn't have it when I got to the car. I went back, fished it out, and he techs had to disinfect it. :-/   So you see why I am a bit reluctant to take it out anymore.   Lol

Signing of with The Stylistics, "You Are Everything".  One of my favorite groups and favorite songs. I learned to play this one on the piano.  Russell Thompkins, Jr could do no wrong. :-)

The "I Always Think of a Cool Title at Night And Forget It By Morning",edition.

...and today is no exception. iPod shuffled to "Ball of Confusion", Temptations. The tongue tying song. I never got the lyrics, but I could go, "and the band played on"  :-)   Ok, last few hours at EPCOT.  It starts to rain as we head to the Chinese restaurant.  It's not your normal rain, it's the " it got so humid that the sky couldn't hold any more moisture" rain.  It poured. Of course we were in the area where not only is there  no shelter, we have a distance to go to get to shelter. *sigh*.  But, we are wearing our ponchos!  So here's the picture..it's raining hard, my glasses need windshield wipers,  I'm wearing a poncho, riding a scooter, going as fast as it  can go.  Brian is wearing a poncho, running behind me trying to keep up.

"More Than a Woman", The Tavares. A decidedly disc vibe here. Lol. Anyone remember Roland and Niknik shirts.  Lol. ;-)   We make it to the restaurant. With the exception of my left thigh and face, the

poncho kept me dry.  And the left thigh was wet because for some reason poncho didn't cover it. :-O  We arrived at the restaurant.  I rolled that scooter up the ramp and zoomed right into the restaurant. "Hello-wet lady in a poncho on a scooter getting out of the rain!!!" Lol. I think some people came in for shelter. I startled them.  ;-).  Our table was ready. I parked the scooter over in corner and we went to our table.  Dinner was good, as usual. 

One thing we noticed was, the restaurants in the different countries in the World Showcase, were staffed by people from those countries. Mexico by Mexicans, France by people who spoke French..lol. Sometimes had difficulty getting though the accents. And the Chinese restaurant by Chinese people.  We left, went to the Nemo ride, and another ride in The  Land.  There was a ride Brian wanted to go to , but the line was an hour.  That just means we have to return. :-)  We turn in the scooter, head to the bus, and return to our hotel.  Time to pack and get ready to leave the magic.  :-(

The Disney Express wants us at the resort check in building at 6:55AM Wednesday morning, for 10:00 AM flight. The resort had a van pick us up in the morning, rather than us using the internal bus system. I thought that was pretty cool.  We get to the airport.  The flight was uneventful.  We get to Detroit around 1:00 PM. The plan was to go directly to dialysis.  However, the center called me Tuesday and told me my time 2:30. :-/  Gave us enough time to get home unload the car and drive me back to the center. See, the center is on the way from the airport. No matter, they accommodated me. :-)  Had a good treatment, came home and ended my adventure.  Yes, the dialysis center has my cell phone number, as does the transplant office. I never would have thought my cell phone being my lifeline before..but it is. 

And that's how a dialysis patient does Disney World!!  I'm ready to go back....right now. Lol.  I know it was long, but I hope you enjoyed it. Signing off with " I'll Be Around", The Spinners.

The "The Fireworks Started Before It Got Dark and I Still Heard Them At2:00 AM", edition

iPod shuffled to "Keep On Lovin' Me", The Whispers. For a while, every time they came to town, I was at their concerts. Lol. Ok. We're at the Magic Kingdom, making the trek from Liberty Square (land) to Fantasyland. Our destination was the Peter Pan ride,  with Fast Pass tickets, thanks to the couple in line with us for the Haunted Mansion. :-)  We get to Fantasy Land and it's exponentially more crowded. We locate the Peter Pan ride and the line was impressive. However the Fast Pass sent us to another line. That line lasted no more than 5 minutes and we were on the ride.  What makes the ride  special?  You are suspended in a flying ship. :-)

We needed to balance ride lines with the need to turn in the rental car by 2:00 PM. So the next stop was the Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland . When went to attraction when Brian and I were at Disney World in 1989, the Carousel of Progress looked familiar....but I'd never been there before.  Ah. I'd seen it at the 1965 New York Worlds Fair!!!  "Woman", Wolfmother. Everyone needs some serious metal in their playlist. Shawn got me this song.  Headbangin' music. :-)  Each stage on the Carousel of Progress portrays the technology of certain time periods.  You know, in one the character is marveling at flying, musing that its just a fad.  I've had the pleasure of seeing how the "Room of Today" has changed over the last (almost) 50 years!  So I've seen it in 1965, 1989, 1997 and 2013. :-D 

Once we finished with the Carousel,  it was time to head out. As we approached Main Street, a Disney employee was taking pictures.  He took photos of us. We moved on and got stymied by a parade. :-). Floats with characters,  stilt walkers, dancers, acrobats...and they were all singing!  It was so...happy. Lol.  Disney just sucks you right in.  Once the parade was over we made it to the entrance.  I noticed a guy painting a Mickey head on the ground with water(!).  The whole place was sensory overload as an adult, I can't imagine how it is for a child. 

We turn in the scooter, get a complementary wheelchair and head to the ferry to leave the happy place. :-(  We leave and turn in the car.  Alamo takes us back to our hotel. We get ready for dinner at the Chinese restaurant at EPCOT, after a nap. Hey, we're retired. Lol. 

We arrive at EPCOT.  We stop at the store.  I want one more chance to find the Mickey head charm. Alas, after trying every single Mickey head charm, it was not to be. Anyway, it had started to rain, so Brian bought us some ponchos. We put them on and headed out into the light rain to get to the Chinese  restaurant. Well of course within  5 minutes the sky opened up and dropped all the water it had. :-/

My trip is almost over. :-(  Lol. This entry IS over.  Signing off with "Night and Day", Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66.

The "I'm Surprised That I Have The Willpower to Resist The Food I'm NotSupposed to Eat", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Baby I'm For Real", The Originals, written by Marvin Gaye. Listen to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra strings in the back ground.  I used to imagine some (random) guy singing this to me. Of course if that had actually happened, id be appalled. Lol. And I was in Jr. high anyway. Lol.

Tuesday at Disney, our last full day. One of Shawn's friends has already left.  She needs to get back to start her new job as a project manager :-D. Lol. Straight out of grad school! Maybe one day I'll relay my excursion into Project Management.   No matter, we have no plans to hook up with Shawn anyway.  We're headed to whole point of Disney World, The Magic Kingdom!  We drove the car.  It has a 2:30 PM turn in time.  

We arrive at the park at 9:30 AM. There are about 10 spaces left in the handicap parking area!  The park opened at 9:00 AM. "Whip It", Devo. Imagine how tickled we were when Mark Mothersbaugh was the music director of Rugrats, a cartoon Shawn watched as a little girl.  He also writes for the Regular Show (you get many points if you know what that is).  Anyway, as we circled to the remaining parking spots, we noticed the last of the complementary wheelchairs being taken. *Sigh*. Well it's still early, and not crazy hot and humid, and I have energy.  We head to the park.  About midway there, an angel  was bringing wheelchairs to the parking area.  He gave us one. :-)  We get through the gate and kinda stare..we are not in the park.  The Magic Kingdom is on the other side of the lake. :-/  like a moat...rofl.  We have to take a ferry or a monorail to get there....and both have impressive lines. We opt for the ferry. 

The line moved continuously.  There were two ferries and they packed us in. Wheelchairs, scooters, strollers, pedestrians lol. And let me tell you about the strollers - big honkin' strollers.  Holding 2-3 kids. Lol we have an opinion on the optimum age to bring kids to Disney World, and 3 months isn't it. :-(  Anyway, the ride is no more than 10 minutes.  We dock and now we go through the ticket gate. We head to rent a scooter, and there's a line. Lol. Geez we barely get one, they're all almost gone. 

We have the scooter, time for the game plan.  Yes Magic Kingdom requires a plan. This is the most crowded of the parks. We head to The Haunted Mansion, in Liberty Square (land). The line is short and moves. See, most of the Disney  rides do not stop...you have to jump on while it's moving. Only once did the staff offer to slow a ride for me. Lol. It was all dicey. :-D   Anyway we get inside, and jump on the ride.  Oh yeah, the line had some tight turns, and I ran into stuff with the scooter, much to the entertainment of the people behind me - lol. I have no shame, I laughed too. When the ride is over, you have to negotiate jumping out while its still moving. I was successful. 

So what to do next?  Well, while waiting in line, the couple in front of us gave us their Fast Pass tickets to the Peter Pan ride in Fantasy Land!!   Heh. iPod played "Work It",  Missy Elliot and then followed it with "Request Line", Dynamic Three...Missy sampled "Request Line". I thought the iPod shuffled the same song. So what is a Fast Pass? You go to a ride, request a ticket to come back a certain time and you can get on the ride. It bypasses the line, as lines can be up to 90 minutes...we saw that at EPCOT.     We were delighted and grateful. The Peter Pan ride is one of the most popular rides. 

Our route had us pass Cinderella's castle. Well, we passed just as the Princess Breakfast ended. We hit the junior princess mother lode!!!!  I wish I had taken pictures, all the little girls dressed as their favorite Disney princess. Our favorite was the miniature Cinderella, with her hairpiece, crown and glass slippers doing her princess wave as people walked pass <3. Lol.  

This is long, so I'll stop now.  The adventure is almost over. Signing off with "As", Stevie Wonder. This album set came out when I was at UM.  I think Stevie Wonder had so much music in him he had to get it out. The set was 2 albums and a 45. Who does that?  Lol

Have a great holiday. :-)

The "The Disney Adventure Continues. It Will End, I Promise", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Superwoman", Stevie Wonder. Such a nice and smooth song. :-)   I've been crashing after dialysis lately. This means too much fluid is being taken off.  This means I've gained real weight, rather than a lot of fluid. Instead of fighting to get my dry weight increased, the proof is in my crashing. Sucky way to prove a point >:-(

Monday morning arrives. Brian and I sleep in. For us sleep in means waking anytime after 6 AM. Lol. See, we wake at 5AM on dialysis days. (I never came close to waking this early when I was working).  My time for the Orlando center was 1:30 PM.  Heh, way to break up a day, but I have to take the time assigned. We had a light breakfast. "Heaven Only Knows", JohnLegend.  I like him more than my kid-lol.  Our plan was to hang out at the hotel until time to go rather than race to a park and then race to dialysis. 

We went to the pool area.  Spent some time in the hot tub.  Swam in the giant pool. The pool had  a pirate feel to it. Cannons shooting out water.  As a matter of fact, when it opened, a Disney employee dressed as a pirate and the kids were given eye patches, hats and swords to capture the"pirate" after she came down the water slide. Lol. A good time was head by all.

After swimming and slathering up with sunscreen, we went back to the room, got dressed and it was time to venture to Orlando. Time to get out the handy dandy iPad.  it was the map and GPS.  We made the 20 mile trip without incident. We passed signs on the highway directing usthe space center.  I told Brian he could visit the space center while I was dialyzing. ( it was about 100 or so miles away )  He passed. Lol. 

The center was considerably smaller than my location and the Vegas location. They were waiting for me.  They had the correct size needles waiting, gave me a new tourniquet, and a new set of head phones. Most uneventful dialysis session ever.  Yay!!  Got off in time to make it to our dinner reservations at the Mexican restaurant at EPCOT. 

This time we headed to EPCOT with a car.  It was actually better than the bus. I had the  handicapped parking permit.  Complementary wheelchairs were available in the handicap parking area.   "Door to Your Heart", The Dramatics. Their voices just belong together.  We rented a scooter once inside the park. I think pushing me around the giant EPCOT  land mass in the unforgiving Florida heat and humidity was asking too much for Brian.  We had a better time with me in the scooter.  We had a great dinner at the restaurant.  And that pretty much ended the day. 

Yes, that's me in my swimming suit. The idea is send the photo to my vascular surgeon. His beautiful fistula in my arm has allowed me to enjoy swimming. <3.  Signing off with "Butterflies", Michael Jackson.  Love this song. :-). 

The "I Feel Good Most of the Time. My Bad Days are My DialysisDays.What Wrong With This Picture?", edition

Still trying to get all this Disney out of my system.  I am enjoying reliving that week, though. Thanks for bearing with me. :-)  Oh and yeah.  I find it ironic that I feel, really well, on Tuesday, Thursday and the weekends..days I am NOT on dialysis.  Yeah, that's right, I feel, like crap after I have been dialyzed.

:-(  

So Brian and I now have a vehicle.  The problem we have is Disney World is a very large place. The good news is Disney World is big on signage.  Heh, in spite of the signage, we still make a few wrong turns, but we finally make it to Downtown Disney.  As we were pulling in, the girls called us.  One has a sore throat, can we pick some throat lozenges?  Yes, of course.  There should be a Walgreens somewhere nearby...but we'll pick it up after we finish Downtown Disney.  

By then the time we arrive at Downtown, parking lots are full, but we do find one relatively close to where we want to go.  I prepare to get my hobble on ...again. We walk to the  store, and it is Florida hot and humid-which bears no semblance to Las Vegas hot..sheesh.  We pass a Lego store and a princess costume store.  Lol. There were miniature princesses aplenty everywhere we went.  Cinderellas, Jasmines, Tianas, Snow Whites, Belles, you name it.  However, we hadn't hit the princess mother lode yet. Lol. 

We arrive at the giant Disney store, aptly named The World of Disney Store. I immediately start looking for the Perry the Platypus throw. I find lots of Mickey and Minnie, but no Perry.  Brian wants to ask someone somewhere in the store, but I said forget it.  However he was determined and took off.  By this time I had slowed down considerably and lost him in the crowd.  Well, I ended up in the jewelry area, so I decided to look at charms for my bracelet.  I wanted the Mickey head!!   It wouldn't fit. :-(  I try another charm.  And then another.  I'm about to give up, but then another employee comes along and tells me that they will fit, but we have to keep trying on the charms.  Long story short, I was able to get 2 charms, one for me and on for Shawn. Not the one I wanted, but Shawn and I are happy with ones we were able to get.

During the process of trying charms and we tried maybe 20, I didn't see Brian. So I left the building and sat down in a shady area.  Tried to call him but I had no bars ;-(  We've concluded that Sprint is NOT the official cell service of Disney World.   I decided to hobble over to where you rent a wheelchair. I got a scooter!  I then went to a few other stores looking for the throw and came to the conclusion that it didn't exist. (Actually, I looked online a few days ago and they are completely out of stock - boo). 

I went back to the World of Disney and found Brian.  I got a Mickey throw because I still needed one for dialysis.  The new buy this,get that deal was a beach towel and I wasn't interested, so I lost out on the really cool tote and a Perry throw.  But really, no one is sad at Disney World. Lol. Long story short, I was able to find a nice duffle at a good price.  We also got a bunch of marshmallow treats in the shape of Mickeys head, because marshmallow treats are the official snack of people on a renal diet. Woot!!  The store also sold a cake made out of marshmallow treat. (!). He that would be serious sugar overload. 

Well we turned in the scooter, hobbled to the car and headed off to find a drug store.  We eventually found a Walgreens, got the lozenges.  I got some heating pads for my back and we headed back to the hotel.  We had dinner at the hotel that night.  While waiting to be seated, we sat by the pool and watched as the staff set up for the outdoor movie for the night, The Lion King. After dinner, we relaxed in the hotel and planned for the next day...Monday - dialysis day.....

The "As I Relay Our Time at Disney World, You Will Understand Why WeNeed a Vacation From the Vacation!", edition

Still at home writing this, but I've started downloading more songs.  You can never have enough music!!  So the House of Blues is an eating/entertainment venue.  If you looked at the ticket in the previous post, we were sitting in the pit.  It was the lowest level, right at the stage. There were four more levels of seating around us and there was a balcony level.  When I say we had great seats, we could see the sweat on the singers.  The tables, at least in the pit, sat eight people.  We had a couple with British accents join us.  They didn't know who Kirk Franklin was. :-)

The group was fantastic.  The band was fantastic.  They started with, "Oh Happy Day".  Did a few Kirk Franklin songs.  They featured the bass player on "I'll Take You There". Pop Staples would have been proud.  They kept us (the audience) engaged the entire time.  They had people who were celebrating birthdays and anniversaries come up on stage.  And of course, we celebrated all the fathers in the house, including fathers of fur babies :-)  (Brian looks an asks me, "What's a fur baby?".).  My daughters and I sang and clapped during the entire show.  The audience was encouraged to stand up and move. A great time was had by all. 

The show lasted just long enough.  Once it was over, a cd of the group was available for purchase. We declined and I'm sorry that I forgot the name of the group.  I've since learned that several groups rotate the gospel brunch performance.  Anyway, we left.  Took some photos once we got outside.  And in typical Disney fashion, someone noticed we were taking photos and offered to take a few of all of us with all of our cameras/phone.  My phone is a camera -wow. I digress.  At this point, any more contact we have with the girls will be coincidental.  We have no more joint activities planned. And that's fine.  This is Shawn's trip <3. 

Brian and I saunter, well he has to saunter, because I'm hobbling with my cane, back to the bus stop.  There are more people out for the car show and it's exponentially hotter.  The many stores and restaurants are now open.  We make it back to the bus stop.  The bus to our resort is there!!  We get on.  The buses at Disney seemed to have their air conditioning on arctic blast and this one was no exception - lol. The problem with that is, it feels good for about two minutes before you start to freeze..and then when you get off, your glasses fog up. Rofl.

We get back to the hotel.  Oh yeah, that morning I called the car rental place on the Disney premises to rent a car for the next 48 hours, so I can get to dialysis on Monday afternoon.  Alamo would pick us up at the check in building at 2:30. Brian and I needed to catch the internal resort bus to get us there and we did.  The Alamo bus was there at 2:30 on the dot and took us to the Alamo location.  We got the car in under 5 minutes.  What did we do when got the car?  Why head back to Downtown Disney.  Lol. This time, though we were headed to the shopping district.  Remember I was on the hunt for a Perry the Platypus throw!  And yes, I brought my handicapped parking placard with me ;-)  

Photos of the gospel group, the exceptionally brilliant young ladies with me and Brian, and Perry the Platypus. 

:-D