The "Mmmmm Leftovers", edition.

Good morning. The day after Thanksgiving. Let the holiday season officially begin!  Let's get yesterday out of the way. Brian and I prepared dinner for our seniors.  Honeybaked Ham Smoked Turkey breast, because it's so much better than roasted, a small Honeybaked ham, macaroni and cheese, candied sweet potatoes, sausage dressing, gravy, steamed broccoli with lemon and garlic, rolls and a relish tray with an assortment of olives and pickles.  Oh and apple and pumpkin pies. Lots of leftovers and yes, we sent the seniors home with leftovers, but still!  Lol. 

We prepared the sweet potatoes the day before. I had my monthly appointment with my dialysis team on Wednesday so we cooked around it. Boiled the sweet potatoes before we left. Let them cool off while we went to the appointment. Came home and I supervised Brian in the preparation. :-)  

So I know you're asking, how am I feeling?  How'd the appointment go?  Well. I'll tell ya'. You know I've been out of sorts since mid August and am just now getting better.  The October appointment was pretty bad. I was so tired, my labs were low, I wasn't eating.  I finally turned the corner about 2 weeks ago. I haven't thrown up in that time. Which is huge. Now during all of this, I had an appetite, I just couldn't hold anything down. Also I picked up a persistent cough.  I was prescribed a codeine syrup, but,eh. I went back to my primary care doctor, but she was on vacation. The substitute  Doctor declared I had COPD and started treating for that. I actually rejected that, but I did take the steroids and inhaler as they alleviated the coughing. 

So. Wednesday I saw my nurse, nutritionist, social worker and nephrologist. They rejected COPD also. We think I'm retaining fluid. Except when I retain fluid, it's not really obvious, I don't swell. Although I think my belly is a bit jiggly. But it's always jiggly?  Lol. Anyway. My blood pressure is slightly elevated which is also a sign of fluid retention. And my cough is quite productive. Ugh. So. The plan of action is to attemp to remove fluid without me crashing. Because, you know, when too much fluid is removed from me, I'll pass out. So how do we do this?

Initially I can tolerate a removal of 1.7 kgs per treatment. This translates to 3.74 pounds of fluid that is removed from me each treatment. I know you're saying, "whoa!".  But remember my body can't remove wastes, that's what dialysis does. Anyway. We're going to work up to a removal of 2.2 (4.84) kgs per treatment. And I'll be doing treatment 6 days a week instead of 5 days. Wednesday we took off 2 kgs (4.4 lbs) successfully and will work our way up. The good news is I'm feeling much better. For the most part. 

I did neglect to tell you that with the slightest exception, I'd be ridiculously out of breath. Huffing and puffing at the slightest exertion for a few moments. Yes it's disconcerting. And when I arrived at my appointment on Wednesday, my nurse was alarmed. I didn't realize it was quite that obvious. They gave me oxygen right away and it felt good. So yeah. That's what has prompted the 6 day a week treatment plan. And honestly sometimes breathing was difficult. I was taking deep breaths and laying down sometimes was uncomfortable. And yes, I recall my days of pulmonary edema. <shudder>. 

But I am still feeling better. I cooked the dressing and Mac and cheese and broccoli. Of course Brian was my sous chef, but I cooked. That was impossible even a week ago. And yes I took a nap before guests arrived but I've  turned the corner. I'm looking forward to swimming again. And walking. Hell even moving. It was so bad that I had to use the electric scooter at the grocery store. Talk about going backwards. ;-( 

Well that's it for today. We're trying to figure out what we're going to do today. I know it's not shopping!  Maybe a movie.  And for sure, I'm having leftovers!   Lol. Have great day and chill. Stay out of the mall. Love you and thanks for reading and keeping tabs on me!