The "A Little Terminology and Explanation", edition.

Good Monday morning!  Nice and sunny. Waiting for a delivery from NxStage, the home hemodialysis machine company. They'll be delivering cartridges for the dialysis machine, SAKs for the Pureflow, which creates the dialysate and PAKs. Which I'm not sure what they are, but they appear to be the brains of the Pureflow machine. Huh. I guess I need to go over the anatomy of the Home hemodialysis machine and its components. But not today!  And it's actually Brian's area, but I understand enough. Moving on....

I want to explain what happens during the self cannulation process and the terminology. And some end of treatment terminology. So by now you know cannulation is the fancy terminology for sticking myself with a needle.  Before I stick myself I have to practice good asceptic technique. Asceptic technique is basically making sure the stick site is clean, clean, clean. Reduce the chance of contamination and infection as much as possible. I got a little of this at my original dialysis center.  I was never really told or instructed to clean my access site. Or at least it wasn't consistent. Some techs and nurses insisted on cleaning the access, some never mentioned it. I learned from watching other really diligent patients cleaning their accesses. 

Now cleaning the access is a multistep process. In all centers I've visited, there are sinks where we can wash the access with antibacterial soap.  I start off washing my hands thoroughly. Then I rinse the soap off. Once the soap is rinsed off my hands, I put water on the access site on my upper left arm. One of the reasons I do this is to start the process of loosening up the scabs. Yes..scabs form on the bleeding sites. After soaking the site for a amounted, I lather up again and wash the acces site for about a minute.  I rinse then pat dry.  After this, I get the alcohol pads and place the pads on the scabs. Again this is to further loosen up the scabs. At my old center I was encourage to use the alcohol pads on the scabs until the tech was ready to cannulate me. Soaking the scabs. 

I usually do this as Brian is preparing the machine. Once he's finished and has entered in the data, it's time for the next step. We use Purel, provided by the dialysis center (!) and the out on out medical gloves. I wipe each access with a betadine pad. I go in a circular motion over the accesses , the buttonholes, for a total of 30 rotations moving out slightly from the actual button holes.  This is to make sure the area around the buttonholes are clean also.  The needles have these little tools to remove scabs, so I start the process of removing the scabs. The techs and nurses always thought this was much more painful than the stick. It doesn't hurt me .. Maybe I have a low tolerance for pain... but it can be time consuming. It's very important that I remove the scabs. I don't want them to get them in the bloodstream. It can cause infection. The scab removal can really take time.. This is why I try my best to loosen the scabs up prior to the process. Anyway.  Now it's time to stick!  

The needles come in a packaged set of 2 and they are color coded. Well, the clamps on the needles are color coded. One is green, one is yellow. The green is for the arterial access, the yellow is for the venous access. I start with the arterial, this the access that is lowest on my arm. The needle is actually a needle with tubing attached. My buttonholes are where I insert the needles. Think of buttonholes as the holes in your pierced ears. I am not doing random sticks. I am inserting the needles in established tracks  in my arm. Now just to be sure I am inserting in the right direction, the fistula buzzes and I can feel the buzz where the vein is, so I insert the needle in the direction of the buzz. The needle usually just slides in. Even now, I'm surprised at the ease the needle goes in. 

I know the needle has struck gold when I see a "flashback" of blood in the tubing. Not a lot of blood.  The amount of blood that flashes back is actually very small.  It's just enough to know that I've correctly cannulated myself. And yes, there have been times when for whatever reason I've misplaced the needle. No pain, but I have to adjust the needle. And no, that's not painful either. After the flashback, Brian does the elaborate taping ritual. And I repeat the process with the venous needle. 

Once the needles are in and I've been taped up, he primes the tubing. Primes?  Yes. He opens the clamps, which allows the blood to flow through the tubes. He also opens a little cap on the end of the tube.  This allows the blood to flow through the tube. When the blood fills the tube he closes the cap. We test the ease of flow of the blood through the tubes. The blood should move fast and freely. If not, we have a problem..usually with the stick and I need to adjust the needle. 

Wow that's a lot and I'm not even attached to the machine yet. Well I'm stopping here and I'll just have to finish this up on Wednesday. So this week, every class is on spring break..go figure. And I know I'm in Vegas because this weekend I could go skiing and then go to the waterpark. No I didn't  do either. But I could have!!  

Photos of gloves, needle with scab removal tool and my two needles. 

The "Pushing Through and Moving Forward", edition.

Well. Wednesday was a pretty sucky day. For the record, I'm a proponent of not holding emotions in. That can make you sick. But it still isn't fun when you need to let the emotions out. I woke up Wednesday and my arm hurt. I couldn't move it above my waist. Brian had to help me get dressed. But you know what?  I told Brian we were going to take a road trip. Yeah. I felt bad, but not bad enough to stay in the house. 

Road trip?  Where did we go?  We went to check out the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. As an extra bonus, the race track is directly across the road from Nellis Air Force base and we got treated to the Thunderbirds training. And other assorted exotic USAF aircraft. I'd wanted to see the racetrack for a while. During Christmas, the track area is decorated but getting there was not a priority at the time. Mans there had been a big NASCAR race here a few weeks ago. Also the track is on Las Vegas Blvd heading north and we hadn't been anywhere near that far north on Las Vegas Blvd.  So we get see North Las Vegas, Nellis Air Force Base and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

Now I've been to Michigan International Speedway..granted that was decades ago, but this one here in Las Vegas is huge. HUGE!  And impressive. As we turned on the property, we saw Las Vegas Police being trained for auto chases. As we wound around the area, heading for the gift shop, we saw the drivers training for Las Vegas Police motorcycles. The gift was shop was all NASCAR all the time. And yes I have photos, although Brian's is on his camera. Maybe you can convince him to publish his.  Oh yeah. My arm was still hurt and i wasn't  feeling 100%, but I enjoyed myself. Plus the weather was nice. That is always an emotional boost. 

We marveled at the size of Nellis. Brian used to be in the Air Force Reserves, stationed at Selfridge ANG. We'd go to the commissary every now and then. I asked him if he were still active and had is ID could we go to the commissary at Nellis. He said yes, we could. We did enjoy watching the planes. He explained one of the planes targeted tanks. I enjoyed the lesson. :)

Afterwards we stopped at a grocery store and the store was selling sweet corn!!!!  And yet I didn't buy any. Lol I'm planning to fix sautéed corn for Easter.  It was too soon to buy it. But then  I'd gotten tired and waited in the  car until Brian finished shopping. For the record, we went back on Thursday to get some corn. I needed to test it and see if it really was sweet corn. And also for the record, we went to a grocery store closer to me and they didn't have corn. :-X  Las Vegas is odd like that. Anyway. The corn wasn't as sugary sweet as Michigan  sweet corn, but it was sweet enough. I'll be bake next week to get some more for Easter dinner. Yes. We had corn on the cob for dinner last night. And it was good!!!  

Finally, I've worked through the logistics of traveling with my "portable" (75-80 pound dialysis) machine. We wanted to take Amtrak from Chicago to Champaign, but moving the dialysis machine is more than a notion so we'll rent a car in Chicago and drive. And that's fine. Because the machine is medical equipment, there is no extra luggage or weight charge. But I've been warned to make it a priority package. I clearly am not interested in my dialysis machine traveling to another city. :-/    We're all looking forward to the trip. And by all I mean me, Brian and Shawn!  <3. 

That's about it. I had a small issue with my needles last night, but I was able to resolve it. Every once in a while I manage to miss the track during insertion and I don't get the flashback of blood in the tube, which indicates I've hit the track during the stick....I hope that made sense. When that happens I have to manipulate and maneuver the needle until I get it into the track.  Meh. Sometimes I'm dead eye Pat. Other days I'm Calamity Jane. Yesterday I missed both the venous and the arterial on the first try. Got it on the second.  Remind me to explain flashback in more detail later. Anyway after the needle debacle, the run was uneventful. Concerned about my chronic low blood pressure. Isn't that weird?  I've been hypertensive since I was pregnant, "Pregnancy Induced Hypternsion". Now I'm doing home dialysis and its low, low, low. Average 100/79 and even lower during the runs. I finally got approval to see the cardiologist so I'll make the appointment for next month. 

Signing out. Tomorrow is looking like 90 degrees. I have no apologies and am loving every minute of it. As always, as much as I love Michigan, the trade off is worth it. Have a great weekend !  I'll make every attempt to send some of the beautiful weather your way!!  And thanks for the all the wonderful warm thoughts on Wednesday .  It did help me feel better. :-)

The "Even If I Push, I Still Have Failed Kidneys", edition.

Bah. Today could be better. My left upper arm/shoulder hurts. It's remeniscent of the frozen shoulder I had about 7 years ago, but I don't think it's frozen shoulder. At least I hope not. Ugh. That was not fun. At any rate, I can't move my left arm too much right now. It hurts. I didn't go to water aerobics today. I wonder if the warm water may have helped, but I can't raise my arm above my head. Getting dressed was a challenge. I hate this. And as much as I hate this I need to cut my pity party short. Do I think this has something to do with my ESRD?  Maybe. This started after I had the fistulagram and angioplasty on my fistula. I know. You say what the heck are you talking about?  My fistula needed to be expanded. It's an artificial artery in my arm and it just needs periodic maintenance so it doesn't close in on itself. Hence the angioplasty. Inserting a ballon inside the vein to expand it. So yeah. The pain in The arm started after the angioplasty. I talked to my nephrologist and nurses about it.  They told me to take Tylenol. :-/  If the pain continues, I'll escalate this. 

On the scale of people with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), I'm doing well. Quite well, actually. And even better since I started home hemodialysis. But I read about my fellow dialysis warriors who have other chronic issues. Our lives sometimes seem to revolve around doctors, appointments, hospitals and surgeries.  Early on, that was exactly my life. The only time I left the house was to go to the dialysis center, doctors offices or hospitals. It gets depressing. We fight off depression constantly, but sometimes you can't fight it anymore.  Life as we knew it ended. People get tired easily. Walking is a chore. Standing for over two minutes can seem impossible. Blood pressures all over the board. Diet is restricted. Fluids are restricted. You try limiting yourself to 32 ounces a day. Especially when you realize most servings are 12 ounces. And this includes fluids from fruits and vegetables. Forget about soup. 

So when you read about me and my escapades, remember that I am not representative of people with ESRD.  Also remember that I still have bad days. And remember that I cry  because  this is not the life I planned to have. And remember the older you get, the chances of you having kidney issues increase. If you take high blood pressure medication or have diabetes you are at risk for kidney failure. Don't ever think that failed kidneys is easy. There is no cure. None.  NONE. Once your kidneys have failed, they cannot be fixed. You have 3 options. Transplant, dialysis or death. 

Well that's it for today. Today is a dialysis off day. And my left arm hurts like hell. How sucky is that?  Well, I'm going to see what trouble I can get into even though my arm is not cooperating  today. It's too nice outside to have an extended pity party. I need to get Easter decorations and do the place settings for my Easter dinner..  Carl, Pauline and her friend and Dad, Brian and Me. I'm thinking little Easter baskets with 1 egg, a small chocolate bunny and Brian wants me to add jelly beans. Lol. Remember  the average age of my guests is over 80.  Lol. Yeah, I already purchased small Lindt chocolate bunnies. 

:-D

Take care.  Have a great day. 

The "The Brackets of March Madness", edition.

It looks like a sunny cloudless day out here. I need to get the chairs for the balcony porch. I'd like to enjoy it before it gets too hot out here. I'm taken aback that the temps are expect to reach the 90s next weekend. Unseasonably warm, they say.  I found a farmers market. There is supposed to be one downtown, but I guess it hasn't opened for the season?  I don't know. The one I went to was in downtown Summerlin. Don't be fooled by the name. It's an open air mall that resembles a small city downtown. You can drive through the shopping area and park on the street. But it's still a mall. Anyway, the farmers market was similar to what we found in the much smaller city of Springfield, Illinois, except Springfield's was better.  It was mostly vendors selling stuff like sauces and oils and stuff. There was one produce vendor and the prices were high but the produce looked Bleah. I have no expectation of Eastern Market, but come on...throw me a bone!   Lol.  We left with some good popcorn. 

So March Madness. When I worked we had a pretty nice bracket going. Players from City departments participated and a guy in accounting tracked the brackets, bless his heart.  We'd have up to 50+ people in the pool at a cost of $10 per person. Yes, I won one year and Brian won once also. Once I retired, Brian, Shawn and I would do our own little bracket pool at $10 per sheet. (Yes, we fronted Shawn the money). This year I asked Dad if he wanted to do the brackets. We had to explain it to him. I'm going out on a limb to think that brackets were really starting about the time he retired in 1988.  I don't mean brackets didn't exist back then, but I think they really took off in the 90s. 

Dad filled out his brackets and I explained how it was scored. Shawn also emailed her picks to Brian and we were off!  We had to explain the difference between how the betting on the brackets was different from the sports books out here. Such as, if Kentucky wins the whole thing, its not a bad thing for the brackets. The line for Kentucky is 6:5. Meaning if you bet $600, you win $500. Huh?   Lol. 

Well Dad was glued to his sheet all weekend. He really got into the brackets. He started studying that sheet to see possible combinations. We were all good after day one despite a few upsets. After round one, I had 27 points, Dad had 24 and Brian had 23. I'll tally round two points today. I think Dad is (im)patiently waiting for me to tally.  Lol. He's really into this and it's fun walking past him room seeing him with the bracket sheet in hand whiling checking the scores on the computer!  Lol. He'd pop into our room every now and then to give us an update on scores. :-)

On the dialysis front I had a TB test last week and had to get it checked on Thursday. I'm good. Also at my initial checkup with my new primary care physician I had an EKG. I need to see a cardiologist.  My readings were off. It was suggested that I may have had a heart attack. That may also explain my now low blood pressure. Believe it or not I wasn't surprised of panicked. Dialysis really beats up your heart. It's hard on the body. 

Also the Friday night dialysis was fun. It seemed as if there was an alarm, we got it. We experienced a few new alarms. To the point that we needed to call the manufacturer. But. We solved everything and got through the run. At one point I had to "flip" my needle. Flipping the needle changes  the blood flow. If the flow is too high or too low, the machine complains and the flow needs to be fixed. We successfully finished and we're happy that we didn't have to dialyze on Saturday!  Last night's run was uneventful. As it should be!

We go to water aerobics today. We'll be leaving this class at the end of the session. It's not enough of a challenge. The instructor gave me and Brian deep water belts to do the exercises in The deep water. Boy, the reaction of the other students was funny. They wanted to know why she gave them to us?  Ah. The catch is you need to not be afraid of deep water. Duh. Also when we told them we were leaving for another facility, we were warned that the water was colder. (!). Well I'm sure.  Thewater at this center feels like bath water.  Lol.  

Signing off. Have a wonderful day. Oh yeah. The other day I saw a Bentley convertible and a Maserati. Lol. Cars I didn't see back in Michigan. 

The "The Sunrise Out Here Never Disappoints", edition.

It's 6:37 AM and the sun is coming over the eastern mountains. It's a little cloudy and the sunrise is beautiful. And the airplanes are taking off to the east. Lol.  Moving on. We've been doing a little experimenting on the cooking front. Brian cooked a whole chicken in the slow cooker. He added the vegetables, carrots, celery and onion. He seasoned it.  I saw a couple of bay leaves. He added some chicken broth to cook it in.  And he add some white wine!  He wanted to make gravy to go with rice. I talked him through making a roux.  He then added the chicken broth created for the slow cooker chicken to the roux. The wine added a whole new dimension to the flavor. Yum o yum!  

So yesterday, as we were discussing what we were going to have for dinner, we agreed on leftover chicken. I told him we still had some Gruyere cheese in the refrigerator. How about I make some Gruyere Mac and cheese. Or we could have leftover rice and gravy.  Brian is a Mac and cheese fiend, so macaroni and cheese it was!  We made a white sauce (I watch way too many cooking shows).  I added all of the shredded Gruyere and some leftover shredded cheddar...just a little. I'd added some nutmeg to the white sauce. I added a little cayenne and a pinch of salt. Brian mixed the sauce with the cooked medium shells. He then topped it with some breadcrumbs and baked it for 30 minutes in the oven.  Was it good?  It was delicious!  Grown up macaroni and cheese. It was really good. 

Tuesday was my monthly meeting with my dialysis medical team. It went well. It was clear that the nurses were in charge. Don't get me wrong, the doctor is pretty good. But the nurses run the show!  And that's cool. I spend a lot of time with my nurses. :)  While we were out, we expected a package to be delivered. Since Dad was going to be out running his errands, we let the guard at the gate know the package was coming. The package was not delivered while we were out, but it did arrive within 10 minutes of us returning. As a matter of fact, three packages were delivered. And one was totally unexpected. The unexpected package was for me. Let me tell you the backstory. 

Last year before Christmas, I received an email from Blizzard gaming company. They indicated a special gift had been sent to me at..my old address. I replied that I no longer lived there and gave the, my current address. Blizzard acknowledged the recipt of the response and the new address. And that was pretty much it. Christmas was coming and I'd forgot about it. I thought about it last week, but I figured nothing was going to happen. It's not like that was anything that I ordered. 

Well, on Tuesday, I received a package from Blizzard.  Ok. You're saying what is Blizzard?  Blizzard is the parent company of World of Warcraft, the online game I've been playing. Apparently for 10 years. I didn't start playing on the official release date, but I believe I started 2-3 weeks afterwards. That start date apparently included me in the group of subscribers eligible  for the 10th year anniversary gift. And what it a gift it is!  A really heavy statue of an Orc on a wolf mount!!  I love it!!!  Yeah, I'ved played off and on for 10 years. And I like it. No apologies. I've read that people have sold these statues on eBay for $500. I'm keeping mine!  

I have to go back to the dialysis center today so they get the results of the TB test. They showed us the airplane travel case for the dialysis machine. Sheesh. That's going to be a heavy carry. Ok. I've got to do what I've got to do. 

That's it for today. A little mundane entry. And that's ok. I like seeing people drinking their coffe outside at Starbucks or Einsteins. Just a nice sight. :). Have a great day...have a great weekend!!  Photo of my new statue!  

The "Starting a New Week", edition.

Laying in bed just before I get the day started. I still insist on the blinds being opened. In the morning I see the sun rise. We had the window opened for a few nights. I actually like that. But right after treatment last night I got hot. My blood pressure was trying to drop..well it did drop. So we turned on the air conditioner. Anyway, back to the open window. The condo is about 3 miles north of McCarran Airport. One of the flight paths is very close to the condo. We see planes coming into the airport from the northeast. The planes actually take a dramatic turn over the mall, which  is 1/2 mile east of us. How do I know this?  That's was the approach the plane took when we returned from Denver. I'm like, "Hey, there's the Boulevard Mall" , as I'm looking straight down on the mall!!!  Lol. Yikes!!!  

The flight path is being used much more right now because one of the runways is being upgraded. I think it'll be finished this summer. Anyway, at night, I can see the planes coming in. I'll see as many as 4-5 planes in line for approach. Here's the fun part. Until the planes turn over the mall, it looks like they're headed straight for the condo!!!  Even better is when they switch from landing to taking off. Instead of approaching, the planes are taking off. The smaller planes shoot up like rockets. The midsize planes, like Southwest are pretty high by the time they get near us. The big planes?  They're working on getting that height. Lol. Also, because the airport is effectively on the middle of town, it's not unusual to have a plane taking off or landing right over you. The roads that you get that effect are Tropicana, Eastern and Las Vegas Blvd. even now it's startling if you don't see the plane before you hear it. And finally. The planes do stop after 12:30 AM and start again after 6:00 AM. I call the early planes my alarm clock. No, I'm not bothered at all. I love watching planes. 

We invited Dad's friend Carl over for red beans and rice with cornbread. And ice cream. Because Carl really likes ice cream. I enjoy having Carl over and he and Dad just have a great time. As always, we sent Carl home with leftovers and a 1/2 gallon of ice cream. :-D  I've actually planned to have him over once a month and have planned out the dinners. Next up is Easter. Carl's wife died 2 weeks after mom. I kept prodding Dad to get together with Carl. They both were grieving and were withdrawing. They finally started getting together. Carl is in an independent senior center about 8 miles from Dad. Carl is also legally blind. Dad would get a bottle of champaign and they'd drink and watch the Lakers. Anyway, now they're both getting out and having a good time. 

Time to start a new week. You know, I marvel that Brian has embraced his role as care partner. He does quite a bit to make this home hemodialysis possible. And he's so serious about it. Sometimes I don't think I can ever thank him enough. Wrap your arms around your loved ones and let them know how much you love them.   Have a wonderful day. Yeah. It's going into the 80s. No apologies. I'm loving it!  

Photos of Carl, 93 and Dad, almost 89. Dad took the selfie with the iPad. It was fun watching Dad showing off his knowledge of technology.  Lol. Oh yeah. Carl is one with glasses. 

The "It's World Kidney Day!", edition.

No music today, but music is always around anyway. Today is World Kidney Day. The purpose of World Kidney Day is to make people aware of kidney health and to protect their kidneys. Of course, prior to 2012, I had no knowledge of any of this. I freely admit that once my kidneys failed, I became a fierce supporter of people getting the knowledge of what their kidneys do and how to protect their kidneys. In addition I am a strong proponent of people getting check ups to make sure their kidneys are healthy and having information if their kidneys are in danger or failing. I must admit that a few of my readers have told me that they, too, have kidney issues. I encourage all of my friends to get their kidneys checked!  

If you've been reading this blog, I've taken you on my adventures in kidney failure and dialysis. There are 5 stages of kidney failure. You don't want to get to where I am, stage 5 ..End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). That'll earn you a trip to a dialysis chair. But you can get checked to see if your kidneys are healthy and if you are in any of the stages of kidney failure, how to manage it. I'll always wonder if, instead of going to different doctors for each of my symptoms, rather telling just one of those doctors all of the symptoms if this may have ended differently. At this stage, I'm not sure. I may have prolonged having to go on dialysis and being prepared, instead of being 2 hours off from dying.  Anyway. Perhaps you can get the urine test once a year on World Kidney Day to make sure your kidneys are healthy. Look. I'd really be pissed at you if after reading this blog since January 2013 and you tell me you haven't had a urine test. You should know better than that by now. Unless you wish to join me in my Adventures in Dialysis. I really wouldn't wish these adventures on anyone. 

Ok lecture over. Back to life. Doing home hemo has increased my energy level immensely. But I can still get tired. Home hemo has also seemed to lessen my bouts of insomnia. Anyway. Brian started planning for life after home hemo training. We are taking water aerobics 3 times a week, an acrylic painting class and a watercolor class and manage to make it to the gym. And I've reactivated with the sorority and also got sucked into one of the clubs Mom was involved with .... I walked into the room and a lady says, "you look just like Frances Perry". Lol. And we're planning a trip to visit Shawn. We'll be testing out the portability of this home hemo thing. 

Oh yeah. The water aerobics is in a senior center, but I think it's too easy. Plus it's shallow water aerobics and I prefer deep water aerobics. It wears me out more. Lol lol. So anyway. Yesterday in water aerobics, the music went out. The music tends to be 50s music.. A bit before my time. Well someone played 60s music!!!  The Beatles were more than welcome!  Lol. Another song played that Brian and I liked. We were familiar with it, but didn't know the name or the group. Thanks to Google we found it. We were listening to The Zombies, "Time of The Season".  Great 60s, hippie song!  It has been added to my playlist. 

We checked out some aquatic centers here. Wow. These places are impressive. We'll be moving from the senior center for several reasons. We need more of a challenge. And the locker rooms are a joke. So tiny and 1 shower. Lol. The instructor teaches deep water aerobics at one of the centers, so we'll be joining her there. The acrylic class is a hoot. And in spite of that, we are painting and learning. The watercolor class is at UNLV. What we've found with both class is that after you leave your painting for for a few days and come back to look at it, it looks prety good. While painting, though I feel like an abysmal failure. Lol. 

Finally, as we plan for travel, we have a lot of logistic issues we need to address. We have to carry the home hemo machine as luggage. It's pretty heavy, but it has a carry case. It will be checked in at the airport as medical equipment, so there is no charge. Yes after Shawn's luggage was diverted to San Diego, I'm concerned that the airlines may "misplace" my life line. Anyway. I will also need to bring the saline bags, the needles, the pads, the medications, the sterile gloves, the tape, the gauze pads, the blood pressure cuff, syringes and the thermometer.  I may have to bring the scale....  The company that makes the dialysis machine will ship the dialysate bags and anything else related to the operation of the machine to the hotel. Brian suggested using a Rubbermaid crate with wheels. Sounds good. I'll be making reservations early next month. The true test of home hemodialysis flexibility. I've read about people actually going on camping trips with this thing. 

Today is our free day with no activities. Going shopping for ingredients for red beans and rice. I'm hosting dinner for Dad's friend, Carl on Sunday. Carl lives in a senior complex. He's not in the assisted living area. He's fairly independent, but he doesn't drive, because of his eyesight. Anyway, he and Dad hang out pretty often. And I just like doing this. I feel that Mom wants me to keep an eye on people. :)

Well. I didn't do three days of blogging this week. But I'm still going to try. Have a great weekend. I hear it's warming up in the Midwest. We're heading toward the 80s this weekend. I have no regrets!  Take care and get that urine test to get your kidneys checked out!!!  Happy World Kidney Day!!!!

The "Unseasonably Warm in Las Vegas. Heh Heh", edition

John Legend, "Used To Love U". This was the first song I heard by John Legend. I also liked the video.  Oh yeah. Music.  I'm listening to music as I type.  When my phone died a horrid death last fall, Sprint offered us a Harmon Kardon Bluetooth speaker with the new phone.  I had told Brian I wanted a Bluetooth speaker for Christmas. So we took Sprint up on the offer. The iPad has a real sucky speaker  system. This Bluetooth speaker is great!  So I'm writing this, with music, before the day gets started. On a side note, Dad got himself a Bose radio. He's been listening to Old school R & B. He sometimes can't understand or mishears the lyrics so he asks me and Brian the names of songs. We need to decipher what he hears vs the song title. I think I mentioned he told me he liked the song, "You Bought The Farm For Me" which really was "You Dropped a Bomb on Me", The Band. lol. I tried to get him to use the Shazaam app on his new smart phone, but that's going to take time.  ;-)  In the meantime, he comes and gets either me or Brian to tell him the title and artist. He's getting pretty good though. He knows Chaka Khan. Then again he's not familiar with Janet Jackson. We'll work on this. :-)

Missy Elliott, "Work It". It has been unseasonably warm in Las Vegas. February 2015  was the warmest February recorded out here. We'd gotten used the warm temps. And I mean mid 70s.  The last week it got cool and we turned the heat on. And no, we didn't turn on the air conditioning when it got warm, we just opened the windows. I just couldn't turn on the air in February. It felt unnatural. Lol. Brian and I chuckle that last winter we experienced the most snow recorded in a winter in Detroit, then we move out here to experience a new record. {don't throw rocks at me}. I do know that after last winter I was determined to not spend another winter in Michigan. Mission accomplished!!!  

Hey. The AKAs out here have an academic scholarship in my moms name. I've been invited to an open house to meet the applicants on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also joining the chapter out here. Now I'll have to get pink and green clothes for my wardrobe. When I went to the last meeting, the sorors  were decked out in pink and green and AKA paraphernalia.  Been a long time since I've done this. Lol. 

The Whispers, "Is It Good To You". Ha. Now I can go get Brian to dance instead of chair dancing for 3 hours!!!  I digress. On the dialysis front we're doing ok. A couple of things. When attaching the tubing to the needles we're getting small air bubbles in the lines. Of course this never happened during training, but now it happens every time. :-/  Yes, we know how to clear them out. It's just frustrating that it happens all the time. Then again, if that's our major problem, we really don't have to much to worry about.  

After the needles are pulled, I apply pressure to the needle holes until the bleeding stops. Brian applies the bandage after checking to make sure the bleeding stops. Once in a while it hasn't stopped. The first he checked and it was still bleeding he was startled. The blood just sort oozed out. He re applied the pressure immediately. The other day he checked and he got the blood spurting up in the air thing. That startled him. And yes, I laughed. He's now seen it all! Well maybe not all, but there can be surprises around every corner (Willie Wonka quote). 

I've contacted the National Kidney Foundation about how to start an office in Las Vegas. Look. I know I can do, but it will,probably take more energy than I want to expend. I will get the info and see what I have to do. I have some ideas. 

Signing off with Brownstone, "Grapevyne". RIP Charmayne Maxwell, a member of Brownstone. 

Have a great weekend. Spring is coming soon. :)

The "Bumps in the Road Make Life Exciting"

Well you already know that Saturday I was feeling rather punky. I woke up feeling out of sorts. I had dialysis the night before with no issues. Anyway.  Saturday mornings Dad, Brian and I go to the casino. Before you say "Aha", it's the only time we step foot in a casino and it's for an hour. 1 hour. And it's a local casino, Boulder Station.  Not on the strip. Ok. I felt off Saturday morning, but went to the casino anyway. Dad asked me if I wanted to stay home, but no, Pat always has to power herself through the day.  While in the casino I got tired of walking around, so I wandered back over to the meeting place. After we did our promotions thing....the casino has these games for regulars where we can win stuff....we went back home.  What do we win?  You can win cash, but this day Dad got a coupon for Starbucks. I've won free slot play and and a slice of pizza. Whoo!  But one day.....  lol 

When we returned home, I fixed breakfast, ate breakfast, then went to the bedroom to rest. Brian and I had plans for later that day. There was a Sounds and Taste of Soul festival. Sadly I was too tired and wiped out. I knew I wasn't up to walking Saturday. Heck. Not only was I not up to walking, I slept all day. ALL DAY!!! Heh. Then I slept all night. Lol. The good thing is Saturday is an off day for dialysis.  I woke up Sunday feeling better.  Not aces, but better.  But then we went to the mall to pick up some stuff, then headed downtown for the festival ...in the rain. I felt fine. I had the stamina to walk around. In the rain. Lol. I have no idea why my body just crashed. I think we were quite busy the previous week and I just needed to rest. No ham, no foul. 

So what do we do downtown?  Well first of all we park at The D. A touch of Detroit. We can walk in and the the gift store that sells Louis the Hatter hats. There is an Andiamo's restaurant there. And of course American Coney island...except the last time we were there it tasted awful. Someone messed up the recipe. I need to contact the folks at American Coney Island in Defroit and let them know. Brian says maybe they had sucky suppliers.  

While downtown I was looking for Las Vegas and/or Nevada post cards. I received communication from the alumni association of my elementary school that the 4th and 5th grade classes wanted to hear from former students and where interested where we are now. I wrote a letter about my time at Pasteur and had sent some postcards. I wanted a few more, but I need to find a place that sells postcards that don't feature casinos.  Lol. Of course sending post cars from Las Vegas gives the impression of going around the world in a single city.  Lol lol.  We walked past a restaurant named the Heart Attack Grill. We went in. Brian looked at the menu. I looked at all the customers wearing hospital gowns. Apparently you're  given a hospital gown to eat in. I wasn't interested in eating with a bunch of people in hospital gowns. I've been in the hospital often enough. :-/  Oh yeah. There's a big sign outside the restaurant. If you weigh more 350 pounds, the meal is free. Dad says someone actually died after eating there. And no, I didn't even look at the menu. 

We received our second shipment of dialysis supplies on Monday. Can you believe it's been a month?  This time the delivery of items was much less (bad sentence). I also met with my health team last week. My blood pressure has dropped considerably. I am no longer taking blood pressure meds. My other labs were great. If my phosphourus levels go any lower, I'll have to get supplements. Calcium and potassium are great. The only blip, and it's a slight blip, was my protein level was a little low. Like .1 point off. Which I don't understand because I eat protein. Chicken, beef, shrimp and eggs. Ah well. 

Finally, Brian and I have sort of fallen into a routine do treatment, but we still have our missteps. It seems some nights we fumble and bumble through the entire process, but we still get it done. The good news, the bumps in the road are pretty minor and recoverable. Like the time I put the medicine in the syringe, but when Brian went to administer it the syringe was empty. Lol. I have no idea what happened.  Or Brian forgetting to place the waste tube near a drain. He keeps the open end in a garbage bag, so it started emptying out in the bag.  Oops!!  Or the time I tried to insert the wrong needle in one of my buttonholes. Lol. But we are really doing fine.  

Dads doing fine. He has a cadre of ladies clucking at him. Lol. I'll be fixing dinner monthly for dad and his friends so they can get together. I feel compelled to take care of all of them. And I just love the idea!  Coming up is red beans and rice. And since my phosphourus levels are low I can eat some beans. Whoo hoo!!!  And finally, I've signed up of a Special Needs Plan, a Medicare Advantage plan for people with ESRD. They also have plans for others medical issues. It's not perfect, but it has some advantages. It's a new plan and not available everywhere. I lucked out that Nevada is a test state.  

My sister-in-law requested I go back to writing the blog 3 times a week again. I'm going to try. Take care. Spring is around the corner. 

You can't see, but these burgers hava a lot of bacon on them.