The "I Could Live Near a Beach", edition.

Good Tuesday morning!  Thanksgiving is over and there are just a few days before December. We'll start the Christmas thing then. So yeah. We went to San Diego. We stayed at a Doubletree Hotel very near my cousin's house. Her youngest son answered the door. I hadn't see him in a while and I had 50/50 chance of getting the right name. I failed. Lol. The oldest son is Shawn's age. This was the youngest one..but when they're young adults all bets are off. As a side note the young man remembered us, but really remembered Shawn. Here's the story. Years ago we were in Yellow Springs at the house of another cousin. Shawn was about 7 years old. The cousins have a swimming pool. We didn't bring Shawn's swimming suit, but she was wearing shorts so we let her go in.  Her young cousins were already in. Shawn has been taking swimming lessons since she was 2 so we were fine with her swimming. And also there were a ton of adults watching them. Well at one point the youngest cousin who was a novice swimmer got into trouble near the deep end of the pool. Shawn pulled him to safety. So now the family story is Shawn saved him. 

My cousin had us over for breakfast the next day. We mentioned that we were going to find the ocean since we were so close. Yes I've seen the ocean. Yes I've been on the ocean. But I am a water baby.  You know that..remember me saying "learn to swim?"  Anyway.  My cousin offered to take us to a beach. Our destination was La Jolla (pronounces La Hoya). Dad was impressed by the highway system. Lol. Anyway. We get to the beach. Houses and apartments were literally right across the street from the beach and ocean.  I want to live there!  The beach was beautiful. People were kayaking and people were surfing. It's November!  The beach was busy!  I fell in love!  We drove around the coastline for a while. Then my cousin pointed out a cross on top of a mountain. It was a veterans memorial. She drove us there. 

The roads were turning and twisting and she navigated it like a pro. But I tell ya..it made me miss the relative flatness of Las Vegas!  Lol. The view from the top was awe inspiring. I sat on a bench near the edge. It was easy to get vertigo up there. I admit. If I could afford it, I'd move to La Jolla  in a second. However I get that these houses are so far out of reach. So yeah, we bought some lottery tickets before we left California.  :-D  One can hope!  

On the dialysis front, we took my kidney with us. This was the first road trip with the portable kidney. It required a different, but smaller and lighter travel case. However we had to take the supplies we usually have shipped. The company ships for 3 days or more. But this is the reason we got an SUV. We learned that we might need a larger SUV. Lol. But in our defense we hadn't planned on traveling with Dad. It worked out though.  And we had less boxes on the way back home. We learned that we need to maintain a travel set of supplies. We forgot the blood pressure cuff and the face masks and the flow sheet. I purchased another cuff, so now we have the travel cuff. We winged it without the masks since neither one of us were sick. And Brian printed a flow sheet from the Internet in the business center of the hotel. Treatment was uneventful. Yay!! But the set up and getting supples had us starting later than we'd like. We had to pass on the dinner invitation with my cousins. It just got too late. 

That's it for today. I'll finish up the trip in the next entry of the blog. I think I mentioned that we finally turned on the heat. But the sun is shining, there are no clouds in the sky. And we're back to our routine...deep water fitness and working out with our trainer. And looking forward to my baby coming to town! Have a great day!  

Views from the memorial. 

The ocean. The glorious ocean! 

The "My Dad is so Spoiled", edition.

Good Sunday morning! This is the end of the Thanksgiving weekend but wait!  There's more. I'm doing Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon. Let me backtrack and explain. 

About a month ago we received a call from my cousin in San Diego. She was hosting Thanksgiving dinner and had invited Uncle Buster and Aunt Pris for dinner. And would Uncle  David like to come.   Well. Uncle Buster and Uncle David ( my dad ) grew up together in Yellow Springs, Ohio along with my cousin's dad Uncle Doug. Dad was trying to tell me didn't have to go if it interfered with my dialysis treatment.  I told him it wouldn't be an issue. I worked out the logistics and started making plans. So Dad went to a family reunion in Ohio this summer now he wanted to go to a west coast reunion. We were going!  

The plan was to drive to San Diego on Thursday, Thanksgiving day and leave on Saturday. This would allow me to get treatment while in San Diego. We'd been warned about Vegas to Cali traffic so we pulled out at 6:00 AM. We stopped in Barstow for breakfast. Did I mention Brian did the bulk of the driving?  Did I mention we hadn't done this drive in over 25 years?  Traffic heading to Vegas was busy.  Not so much heading to California. At one point we noticed a snow capped mountain in the distance. As we got close to it, lanes opened up on the right side indicating they were truck run off lanes. :-O  I forgot that. We were going to go down the mountain...twisting and turning. Yikes!  Im glad Brian was driving. Looking over the side of the mountain just freaked me out And after we finally got off the mountain we were greeted with California traffic....on Thanksgiving day. Go figure. 

Anyway. With stops for breakfast and stops to stretch and give Brian a break, we arrived at my cousin's house just before 1:00. We were told dinner was at 1:30. It was based on Uncle Buster and Aunt Pris. They are in assisted living and would have use a transport bus and they could only stay so long. So we made sure David arrived on time. Oh and Uncle Buster didn't know Dad would be there. 

The transport dropped off my aunt and uncle. They had to come through the back of the house...they both use wheelchairs and there are no stairs in the back of the house.  Uncle Buster rolled in and looked to his right and there stood Dad!  I wish I had a photo of Uncle Buster's face when he saw Dad. And I wish I had a photo of Dad grinning!  They were delighted to see each other and stayed with each other the entire time. And they were cutting up. I got chased out of the backyard because they were so bad. Oh yeah. Thanksgiving in San Diego allowed us to eat outside if we wanted to. The weather was devine. 

I got the chance to see cousins I hadn't seen since they were kids .. And cousins I'd never met. And of course the cousin who invited us. Of course I knew her!  We grew up together. Yes. We had a wonderful time. And yes. Apparently this will take several installments. 

That's it for today. I'm doing treatment right now as the sweet potatoes are cooking. Watch me finish up the entire dinner by 4:00!  Enjoy your day!  And the spoiling of David continues!  

West coast family   Brian got in the picture and I answered the door.  Lol. 

Dad acting up. No surprise. 

Dad and Uncle Buster ramping up for trouble. 

The "Getting Ready", edition.

Good Tuesday morning!  Brian and I celebrated our 29th anniversary yesterday. We're now starting on 30 years!  Last night I read an article about couples who stay together vs couples who don't. It refers to couples as masters or disasters. The traits of the masters are expressing kindness towards each other and engaging each other. Engaging and acknowledging is something as simple as Brian wanting to go to the Harley Davidson store here and me saying sure, rather than saying I'm not interested in motorcycles.  Or joining him at a ceramics class. It wasn't for me for many reasons and I quit, but I tried it because he liked it. Or having him drive way across town to go a certain store or market. I guess we really just enjoy each other's company. And that's not a bad thing! 

Our celebration was low key this year. Dad wanted to celebrate with us. He offered to take us out to wherever we wanted for dinner with the stipulation that it cost no more than dinner for 3 at the Golden Steer. Well, I'm beefed out for a while. I love a great prime rib or ribeye, but Dad has worn us out at Fogo de Chao. And we couldn't decide what we wanted. So Dad recommended The M Resort buffet. Jackpot!!!  And that's where went for Sunday brunch. That took care of everybody. We got there and Dad went and got the flutes of champagne. We toasted out 29 years and we were off!  Dad got a steak and baked potato. I headed for the lobster bisque. Brian tried baba ghosh and quinoa.  Then I tried tried ginger crab legs. And tempura shrimp. Then regular crab legs. Apparently I wanted seafood. Brian found the prime rib. And for desert little chocolate mousse shooters. By then I could only try a spoonful of each. So full. Lol.  Oh yeah. I'd noticed oxtail soup while checking out the food. So Brian got a bowl. Yes, it was delicious!  

The actual anniversary day, Monday, we went to the movies.  We saw Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them. In 3D DFX (enhanced sound ... aka loud!  Lol). We've read and seen all the Harry Potter books and movies....remember Shawn was just the right age when Harry Potter first came out. Yes we preordered books. Never stood in line at midnight, though. I miss Borders. :-(  Anyway. I enjoyed seeing another perspective of the wizard world...the US group. Enjoyed the movie and found out there will be more movies. And as a side note the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was referenced in one the Harry Potter books for a class taken by Harry and his friends. We got home and Brian cooked spaghetti. He's gotten pretty good!  

We're starting the holiday season. I hate that my baby is so far away. And it it's too far for a short (long) weekend visit. So as I've done before, I've ordered a Thanksgiving meal for Shawn from Honeybaked ham.  Yes I spoil her and I will always spoil her. She's my baby!!!  She asked for and will receive a smoked turkey breast. Sooo good. And potatoes au gratin, sweet potato casserole and broccoli casserole.  She requested that I didn't order the green bean casserole. She didn't like it!  She said she'll try roasting brussel sprouts. Heh. I hated them as a kid. Now we cook them in a different way and they taste good. I digress. She will be going to two dinners on Thanksgiving day but she'll have her own left overs!  

On the dialysis front I was reading a blog I'd written a few years ago about the holiday schedule in the dialysis center. And how I had  to watch (more) my do and fluid intake. Being on home hemo has allowed me to eat pretty much what I want. Of course I get my labs and watch my numbers, but by doing hemodialysis more frequently the phosphorous and potassium flush out. At one point I was told to eat more foods high in potassium!  Bananas! Avocados! Orange juice! Potatoes! Sweet potatoes!  I still do them all, but in moderation. Anyway. This allows me to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner.  I don't miss the incenter dialysis. At all. I may bitch and moan and complain about dialysis but at least I had choice in my treatment. It's not easy and it's inconvenient. But it's what's keeping me alive. Some days I tell Brian I hate dialysis...and I do, but I still look forward to it. Eh some days I hate my life,but what other choice do I have..no I'm not in the rabbit hole. For the next couple of days we have to juggle to times for dialysis. It gets in the way of life.  But then it is why I have life. Eh. We work it out. 

Finally. In the middle of November. We finally turned off the air conditioner. Heh heh heh. Love it!  No heat yet. Maybe next month?  Heh heh heh. Love it out here. And we finally..after over 2 years...unpacked a crapload of photos. I have some real treats that Brian has to scan. He complained to me that he didn't know where the wedding photos were.  Of course I knew exactly where they were.  I packed them!!  Lol. Went straight to them. He scanned a wedding photo he liked. 29 years ago. That's it for today. We go the trainer for an hour of torture. :-/  And then we'll feel better.  Lol. Have a wonderful day! And a wonderful holiday!! 

Then

Now

The "A Special Day", edition.

Good Friday morning!  Happy Vererans Day!  Ahhhh. I just had a really nice stretch.  So today is a special day. It is Veterans Day. My Dad is a WWII veteran, Brian's dad is a Korean War era veteran, my brother is a Vietnam War era veteran. My husband was in the US Air Force reserves during the first Persian gulf war. My nephew is currently in the US army. My godfather was a Colonel In the US army during the Vietnam war. My cousin was a Sargent during the Vietnam war and lost his life. My uncle served in France during WWII. My grandfather was a WWI veteran. The list goes on and on. Today is the day we honor them and thank them for their service.  

Today is also the birthday of my mom.  She would have been 92 years old today. I miss my mommy. Well into adulthood I had no problem cuddling next to my mom in bed. Nothing makes you feel better than just being with your mom!  Of course we had differences, but we'd talk about stuff. This is one example. When my parents moved to Las Vegas they joined a local Episcopla church.  A thriving church. With a fantastic choir. At some point a new minister was appointed. The new minister announced he was a non-practicing homosexual. OMG. The church went bat shit crazy.

People left. A lot of people left. Mom was torn. And we talked about it. We talked about how his sexual orientation affected her.  It didn't.  And did she enjoy his message. Well my parents stayed at the church and embraced the minister. In fact when Mom and Dad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, that minster presided over their renewal,of their wedding vows. I was extremely proud of my mom. Her entire life was learning and education. Educating herself and others. Granted, we had a lot of generational differences, but we could discuss our differences and would listen to each other's point of view. This is one of the lessons I learned from my mom. 

So today I celebrate the Vererans. And I celebrate my mom. Dad and I reminisce about her every now and then. She spoiled both of us. Every time Mom and I talked on the phone she'd tell me she thanked the Lord for me. She'd also tell me that my father was a good many and she loved him. And then she'd accuse me of taking her comb and brush back to Detroit after a visit to Las Vegas. Lol. Because if you can't find something that you misplaced, it's always Pat's fault! Anyway. I have great memories of my mom. Lol. I am a lot like her in many ways. And there are vast differences between us. But there was always love. <3

On the dialysis front. Well there's nothing!  And that's good. My trainer is pushing me more and I'm surviving. Heh no I didn't even whine at her this week. Lol. During training, music is playing and it's not unusual for Brian and I to start singing.  Tony, the gym owner plays songs and tries to stump us. We usually get the songs, but every now and then we don't have a clue. We did a nice rendition of "Bring it on Home to Me", by Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls. And then...the original "Gold Digger" by Ray Charles came on which made us chuckle since we had just listened to Kanye and Jamie's version on the way to the gym!! 

Well that's it for today. Enjoy some music. Hug a veteran!  

The "Dialysis Sucks but I'm Feeling Good", edition.

Good Wednesday morning. We usually have deep water fitness MWF morning, but our instructor called in sick. We think she has a hangover.  Moving on. Dialysis has been relatively uneventful. Brian changed some settings on the machine to make set up easier.  Whatever that means. Lol. Anyway. While riding in the car this morning I just had a random thought that I'm feeling good. And I am. So yeah dialysis sucks, but all things considered I'm not doing to bad. I still need the parathyroid surgery. I attempted to take a smaller dose of the pill to control my parathyroid and like clockwork, I had the bad reaction and was out of Commision for the next 12 hours. Ugh 

For some reason we didn't do treatment Friday evening, so I did it Saturday morning. This meant I missed sorority meeting. :-(  And we'd finish just in time to make it to watercolor class. We got there and got started. Within the first hour I got hot and I got dialysis brain...I couldn't concentrate. Bleah. I ended up going to wait on the car. Put the windows down and reclined for the next 2 hours. Eh. I have days like that. I wasn't sad. My brain and body just didn't want to cooperate and I just rolled with it. 

So this past Sunday we took Dad to Hooters for our Sunday brunch. For chicken wings. Really. No really. Lol. I asked Brian if we should go to Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) or Hooters.  He suggested Hooters because we hadn't been there in years. Uh huh. Anyway. We ended up at the Hooters Casino since it was close. Sort of. And found the restaurant. Sunday was sports day so many TVs and football games.  Because we're on pacific time games start early out here. And for the record Dad was nonplussed at the servers outfits. He was much more interested in chicken wings!  Rofl. 

And because it was a sports bar (wink wink), most of the patrons were male. A few women came in with dates or partners and were involved in the football games. We chuckled that our server was probably younger than our daughter and that the uniforms were stuck on an 80s time warp.   Dad goes over the menu. He decides which sauces he wants. And Brian and I decide which sauces we want. We're ordering 20 wings so that allows 4 different sauces. We thought. The server tells us 1 sauce per 10 wings. What!?!! BWW is a lot more flexible. Anyway. Before we can discuss this dad orders the sauces.  Lol. He picks the General tsao, 2 peppers.....and 911, 4 peppers (!!!!) :-/

I'm think OMG, we're not going to be able to eat those 10 wings. When they come Brian tries it first. He didn't die. Then I tried one. It was just hot enough. It wasn't fire like I thought it would be. It was actually pretty good as were the General tsao wings. The final consensus was Hooters wings were good. And we watched football. Dad enjoyed the wings. Lol. And we didn't eat them all. We took 5 wings home. And we devoured the 911 wings. So now we have to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for a comparison. 

Well that's it for today. Wednesday is an off day for dialysis. I look forward to Wednesday's. Going to the movies today and maybe have Mexican food for lunch. Oh. We're going to be fine we always are. There may be challenges. But we keep going! Have a wonderful day!  

The "Remembering November 2, 2012", edition.

Good Thursday morning. It's early and it's dark. Summer is long gone and were knocking on winter's door. And that's fine. Especially since I'm out here!!!  So what is special about November 2, 2012?  That was the day I was transported to the hospital via EMS because I couldn't breathe....pulmonary edema. Because my kidneys weren't working..couldn't flush out fluids, the fluids accumulated in my lungs. And let me tell you..that's a horrible feeling. 

November 2 is the day I found out my kidneys failed. I was sick in the months prior to this. And I was seeing doctors for separate symptoms. By the time my primary physician sent me for testing it was way past time. As a matter fact, I was supposed to go for tests on November 2. Instead I ended up in the emergency room. Tests were taken in the ER. I was told my kidneys had failed and I'd have to start emergency dialysis immediately. I was relieved  to know why I felt so bad and that this dialysis, which I knew nothing about, was going to make me feel better. 

I was in the hospital for 8 days. Admitted on a Friday and I left the following Friday. I was in ICU for 3 days.  And I admit I don't remember the first day and the 2nd day is fuzzy. I didn't come out of the fog until I had several dialysis treatments. I realized that I had an emergency catheter inserted in my groin...to attach me to the dialysis machine. 

I was in the hospital on Election Day. I was surprised and pleased when an election official visited the patients  to make sure they voted. I'd already voted by absentee ballot because I was sure I wouldn't be able to stand in the lines on Election Day.  

I also want to acknowledge my nurses. Yes. I saw plenty of doctors, but it was the nurses who took care of me and answered my questions. My ICU nurses were with my almost 24/7. My nurses on the regular floor checked on me,,lifted me off the toilet..yes I was that weak. Lol I wanted the urine catheter out and got it out. I could walk to the bathroom, but I couldn't get up off the toilet. I had to use the alarm to call someone...the toilets are too low. I've ranted about that before!  There was the nurse who woke me up in the middle of the night to make me practice walking with a walker. I bitched and moaned, but she got me talking about my favorite subject...Shawn. And before I knew it I had walked up and down the long ass hospital hall. Lol. The nurses in the dialysis unit. The ER nurses need a medal. Wow!  

I met my nephrologist for the  first time after several days. He asked who got me to the hospital. I told him my husband. And yes Brian was in the room at the time. The doctor told me I should thank him. If he'd waited any longer I'd have been dead within 2 hours. That's kind of sobering. And yes, of course I thanked Brian!! I think we were both taken aback. My regular doctor came to visit me everyday. Yes we have that kind of relationship. He'd been my doctor since I was in my early 20s. He diagnosed my acute intermittent porphyria. I made him famous for that. Lol.  Yeah. Another story for another day. 

Well. It's been four years. It's been a hell of ride and it's not over. I've adjusted. I'm living my life. I have good days and bad days.  Much more good than bad..but damn. The bad days are horrible. Ugh. I've adjusted. And I have my family support. Brian, of course. I'm overwhelmed by his love and caring and attentiveness. Many days I tell him he doesn't deserve this. He replies that I don't deserve it either.  And then my dad. My 90 year old dad. He's checking in on me and loving on me and Brian. And then there's my daughter. Who keeps on trying to give me one of her kidneys. I clearly get that she doesn't want to lose her mom. And I'm doing all I can to make sure I'm here for a long time. They all keep me going. 

I want you to know that there is no average dialysis patient. The are many reasons for kidney failure. Some people are born with one of many different conditions that affect the kidneys. Lupus  and diabetes also cause kidney failure. I've mentioned that the number of diabetics at the dialysis centers was surprising. And health care professionals are always surprised I don't have diabetes. Hmmph. Kidney failure can also be caused by certain drugs and even drinking to much soda. ..or pop. Depending on where you live. My kidney failure was caused by my genetic blood disorder..acute intermittent porphyria. And there have been others in my family who have it or have had it...right along with the kidney failure. Ain't I'm special.  Heh. Oh yeah. Check your meds to make sure that side effects don't include kidney damage or kidney failure. 

Anyway. That's it for today if you want to read about the early days of my journey, the early blog entries  detail it quite nicely. My memories were much clearer then. Lol. All things considered, I'm doing fine. We're thinking about going to Hawaii for our 30th anniversary. And I can make it work with sufficient planning. We're going to visit relatives in California soon. Planning on visiting Shawn in the spring. Because I'm that kind of mom!  And I'd like to visit Michigan in the future. I think we can swing that also. 

I want to thank my friends for the words of encouragement when I leap into the rabbit hole. Your love and concern pull me out. And I'm ready for the next day. Please. Please get your kidneys checked every year. Sometimes the failure can be preventable or even managed. I don't wish this on anyone.  And on that note, I'm going to enjoy this beautiful sunrise outside of my window. Have a wonderful day!!

My family. I need to take a photo which includes Dad.  Shawn can figure that out! 

The "It's November Already!", edition.

Good Tuesday morning!  Last week a dear friend and her husband were in town to celebrate her birthday. We had a wonderful time together. It's always great when people contact us when they visit Las Vegas. We miss you!  And also this past week was the birthday of one of the nicest people I know. Ann Marie worked for me as one of my project managers, but she was just so much more. Brian and I still marvel how she just showed up at our house one day to see if she could help us pack for our move to Las Vegas. We honestly would not have made and progress had it not been for her. 

So when Brian runs errands I usually ride with him. I may or may not get out of th car. Yesterday we went to a grocery store to get some items (including a few honeycrisp apples. Yumm).  I waited in the car. The grocery store is under the approach for airplanes landing at McCarran Airport. I'll see commercial flights and private airplanes..lots of private jets coming into Vegas. Every now and then an armed forces plane approaches..both transports and jets(!). As a matter of fact the other day Dad and I noticed a giant propeller plane on the landing approach...lumbering through the the sky!  Lol. 

Anyway. I'm in the car watching planes approach for landing. It's nonstop traffic. Brian and I chuckle about people chomping at the bit to land to hurry up and hit the casinos. But this is what I noticed while I was waiting. To the west of the grocery store is a park. The park has its fair share of homeless people hanging out there. They park their grocery cart o' belongings by the fence that separates the park from the parking lot.  The people on the planes have no idea that they're flying over these homeless Las Vegas residents. And yes, the homeless population is large out here. Anyway it was just a sobering observation. 

November 2 marks the 4th (!) anniversary of me being rushed to the hospital because I couldn't breathe and then being  told my kidneys had failed. Can you believe it's been 4 years?  The average lifespan of people on dialysis is 5 years. It appears I'll be surpassing that milestone. It hasn't been all fun and games. As a matter of fact, right now I'm fighting blisters on my hands and fingers due to the porphyria cutanea tarda. And that happens when I get the iron injections...because I can't produce enough iron...which triggers the porphyria.  But since my kidneys are whack, I need iron injections.  Sigh. Yes. My nephrologist knows about the effect of the iron injections. And yes we try to put the injections off as long as possible, but it was time. I get tired when my iron reserves get low. So I just deal with the side effects. It'll normalize soon. 

All things considered I'm still doing ok. I'm back swimming. My skinned knee (and toes) are healing nicely. The blister on my toe finally did its thing and I can now wear normal shoes again. It's time for the manicure and pedicure but I'll wait another week for everything to clear up. No need to startle the nail tech with my gnarliness!!! 

Well. That's it for today. I was going to retell the events of the week of November 2, 2012. And I will on the next entry. It's interesting to read what I wrote 4 years ago versus what I remember now. Anyway. Enjoy your day. Take time to just observe and wonder at the world around you. Kiss and hug your loved ones. And have a wonderful day!