The "How Did I End Up Like This Redux. Part 2", edition.

iPad shuffled to a Terry Callier, "Ordinary Joe". My dad listened to WJZZ and they'd play this song.  It caught my attention. :)  Back to the story. All the different doctors I was seeing were treating individual symptoms. The orthopedic surgeon indicated some concern about the amount of Celebrex I was prescribed and told me to talk to my primary care physician who cut my dosage in half.  Anyway, the orthopedic sturgeon gave me the last steroid shot in my knee that I'd take.  Also this was the time I realized I was losing weight.

I was tired. So tired. Brian drove me to work on his off days.  I didn't mind driving. I did mind walking from my car to my office. How sad was this? I parked in the structure directly across the street from the office building. In the handicap spaces. I could not have legally parked closer. :(   

Jeffrey Osborne, "Don't You Get So Mad". December 24, 2011 my mother fell and never walked again. We had planned to go out to Vegas the first week in January because dad was having hip replacement surgery.  This was the first time I had time use the wheelchair services at the airport.  We arrived in Vegas saw mom in the rehab center.  2 days later we're taking dad  to surgery.  Of course the hospital and rehab center were on opposite sides of town.  Lol. We spent significant times commuting to visit parents. :)  At this point it was obvious that I wasn't eating. We'd go out and I take a few bites of food and just didn't want anymore.  It was a waste of money for me to go a restaurant.  

We came home after 2 weeks. My brother went out for a week, then I returned for another week...to take care of dad.  And I'd take him to visit mom.  When I returned to Detroit  I was exhausted.  At work My staff was doing fine...getting the job done.  My time was spent trying to get my client to pay their vendors. WTF?  I was an Information Tecnology manager, not Finance. Lol. That was wearying. Then my counterpart in my client department announced he was leaving.  That was my cue to announce my retiring. I was tired, I hurt and dealing with stupid wasn't fun.  I digress.

Once I announced I was retiring, I had a burst of energy. (Imagine that).  I officially retired July 2, 2012.  I felt..ok...until September.  And by ok I mean that I didn't feel any worse.  Not any better, but not any worse either.  In September walking got harder, getting up out of chairs got harder.  Brian had to assist me getting up out of chairs.  Walking up the stairs to the bedroom or down to the basement was a chore. Early October I got a weird metallic taste in my mouth. Late October I experience the first of 4 incidents where I could not breathe.  I got a new car in late July. It had less than 500 miles on it.  I just stopped going anywhere. I still hadn't figured out how to operate the heating and cooling.  Lol. 

The Guess Who, "Undun".  The last week in October I visited my primary care physician. He was alarmed at my appearance. He scheduled me for tests on Friday.  While leaving his office I experienced my second breathing incident. We were outside.  I was able to breathe eventually and we headed home. Of course in hindsight we should have gone back inside. That last week I didn't even try to go upstairs. I slept in the first floor bedroom. 

Roy Ayers, "You Send Me". For some reason it took me a few years to find this on iTunes. Don't ask. Lol.  Friday, the day of my tests came. I was in a fetal position. I couldn't move. I can't explain it any other way.  I needed to get up and I couldn't. It hurt so much. I finally got up.  My appointment was at 1 PM.  I got up and experienced that can't breathe thing for the 3rd time. Now I was frightened. It felt like I was drowning. I'm gasping for air.  I was so scared.  At this point Brian  called EMS.  Good thing he was off work that day.......

Once at the hospital, I'm being questioned. Blood was taken, I guess. I don't remember.  While talking with a resident, my fourth and final breathing incident occurred. It scared the day lights out of the resident, but the nurses never missed a beat. :)  A few moments later a doctor came and told me my kidneys had failed and I needed dialysis immediately.   Ok I didn't know what dialysis was. But if it was going to make me feel better I was on board.  It was nice to know what was making me so ill.  

Al Green, "I'm Still In Love With You".  I don't remember my first treatment.  I do know when I woke up the next morning I felt MUCH better. I was still weak and tired, but no morning sickness, no metallic taste, and no breathing issues.  Oh. What caused the breathing issues?  The fluids and toxins had hit my lungs. I WAS drowning. I was told if I hadn't been taken to the hospital when I was, I'd have been dead within 2 hours. Wow!  

The Dramatics, "Door To a Your Heart". The harmonies.   So there you go. I'm now going to dialysis 3 dates a week. I've been on the kidney transplant list for a year. To date there are over 100,000 people on the list nationwide. The average wait time is 3-7 years, depending on where you live. I'm asking people to be organ donors. You can do it via the Secretary of State office in Michigan. The Gift of Life.  Feel free to ask me questions about anything I've written in my blog.  I also push my friends and readers to get a blood test to make sure their kidneys are healthy and I let them know their risk factors. I don't want any of you to go through what I went through.  Love you too much!  :-)

Signing off with The Esquires, "Get on Up". That's right, "Get on Up" and get your kidneys tested. :-)

Have a great holiday.  Yep, I'll be dialyzing on Memorial Day. No vacation from dialysis.