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