Rant and Rave 2006

[kitkatz]

Just list what has happened to you this past year in 2006.  Here is mine!'

March 2006 Mother breaks her foot falling off a porch at a prayer meeting.
May 25, 2006  Hubby has amputation due to work injury
May 27, 2006 My sister breaks her ankle requiring plates and pins and surgery later in the month of June.
September 2006 I see transplant team for evaluation
November 23, 2006- Parathyroidectomy for me
December 2006 I see urologist. More tests ordered for transplant evaluation.

As things come to me about this year I will add to the list.

[Bajanne]

Be sure to add -
I made it through it all!

[Sluff]

Rant- FSGS

Rave - ihatedialysis.com


What more can I say?

[vandie]

My kids are wonderful, kind, tolerent human beings
I have the greatest support system a girl could ask for
I kept dialysis at bay
I found IHD

[okarol]

Sorry if this is too long. I left out a lot too!

Jan. 2006 - We found out I don't have A2 titer to be able to donate my A+ kidney to Jenna's O+
Feb. 2006 - We went traveling in search of a kidney - to hospitals in San Diego and San Francisco to get Jenna multiple listed. Scripps in La Jolla is willing to look at altruistic donors.
Feb. 2006 - Jenna switched her primary wait time (2 1/2 yrs.) to Scripps from USC.
Mar. 2006 - Kimberley in Texas offered to donate to Jenna. Scripps begins evaluation.
Apr. 2006 - A local college did a students with kidney failure, featured Jenna - http://www.pcc-courieronline.com/042706/feature/kidney.html
June 2006 - A university published a story about Jenna and her kidney search - http://jour.csun.edu/scene/pages/transplant.html
July 2006 - Kimberley comes to California for CT scan and final crossmatch test.
August 2006 - Scripps tells Kimberley that the CT Scan had detected that she has medullary sponge kidney disease and cannot donate.
Sept. 2006 - Patrice from Ohio reads Jenna's story and offers to donate. Scripps gets her donor evaluation records from U of Pitts.
Sept. 2006 - We found out my mom has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. One week later Mom fell and broke her ankle and fractured her knee. She also turned 71 years old.
Oct. 2006 - After 6 weeks in a cast my mom begins chemotherapy.
Oct. 2006 - I joined http://www.ihatedialysis.com
Nov. 1, 2006 - We heard from Patrice - she is a match for Jenna!
Nov. 4, 2006 - I become a moderator for http://www.livingdonorsonline.org
Nov. 21, 2006 - Jenna has her 21st birthday.
Nov. 29, 2006 - Patrice comes to California for final tests and to meet Jenna.
Dec. 13 -- Yay!!! Patrice called - we have a surgery date!!! January 16th!!
Dec. 19 - My mom has last IV chemo - will have PT scan to re-evaluate the cancer.
Dec. 22 - Jenna's 3 year anniversary of beginning dialysis.
Dec. 27 - We decorated the Donate Life Float for the Rose Parade.
Dec. 30 - Los Angeles Times article about our search for a kidney donor http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=2167.0

What a rollercoaster ride!
While all this is going on Jenna's 18 year old brother, a senior in high school, is applying to colleges. He also wanted to donate to Jenna but
we asked him to finish high school first. Jenna's 16 year old sister is the best friend to Jenna, spends lots of time with her. Her 11 year old brother
started middle school. My husband still struggles with chronic pain from 3 back surgeries and deals with a mountain of insurance paperwork.

But we made it through!

[Jill D.]

Feb 2006 - Spent 4 days at Mayo Clinic getting evaluated for a positive cross-match transplant after finding out 2 days before my transplant in Michigan in 8/05 that my PRA levels are too high and I would probably have rejected my sister's kidney if we had proceeded
March 2006- Found out I was approved by the transplant center at Mayo for a positive cross-match kidney transplant
April 2006- start Hemodialysis; also struggling with early stages of hyperparathyroidism
May 2006- my sister is gets final testing at Mayo Clinic to be my donor
June 2006- transplant surgery is scheduled for August 8, 2006
July 2006- travel 9 hours to Mayo Clinic to prepare for transplant. On July 31 (the night before I am to start plasmapheresis treatments to pull out my antibodies) my daughter call to tell me she has mono. I have never had the virus that causes mono (EBV). Everything is called off - if I have been exposed to an active virus like this, without antibodies to fight it, I can possibly develop lymphoma. We go back home.
August 2006- I have blood work to see if I have developed EBV. Good news...I have, and I have developed antibodies against it (this is a good thing, as my sister is also positive for this virus).
September 2006 - discover IHD website; reschedule transplant surgery for Dec. 5, 2006
November 2006- travel to Mayo Clinic on 11/19; begin thymoglobulin, plasmapheresis and IVIG treatments to lower antibody levels prior to Dec 5 transplant surgery.
December 2006- have a successful transplant on Dec 5; all has gone well and looks like I will be home before the New Year!
My rants are few; my raves are many!

[Ohio Buckeye]

rant
in march 06 had pd surgery
april 06 - had training and started capd
august - trained and started ccpd
september - car accident totaled son's car and broke 2 hand bones of mine
december - got bad toe infection which is still slowly improving thank God.
rave
in November my wonderful friends from church put a new roof on my house and
did yard work and helped me with many things.  it was like an Amish barn building.
brought food, worked all weekend.  what a blessing they are to me.
Thank God for friends like these. 

certainly could have been a better year but certainly could have been worse also.
ready to put it behind me and look towards new year.

[glitter]

wow-2006 has been the hardest year of our lives....but i see most of you have struggled just as hard if not harder...


Jan 22 a loader (earth moving equipment) fell on my husband and broke a collorbone and a shoulder blade,
and 12 breaks in his ribs,and squeezed blood into his eyes.(which didn't hurt-just looked really scary)

LUCKILY- one of the tires on the side that fell still had air in the tire-(my husband was changing the other tire)
and the customer was there to jack it up off of him,so he wasn't crushed to death,and he didn't die.

Feb. 22? surgery to put plate in collarbone

LUCKILY the Dr's. ordered a cat-scan of his entire chest/pelvis-or we would never have found the Renal Cell Carcinoma,
it was too early for symptoms,and when there is symptoms is usually too late to stop the spread.

march 25-I found IHD and started to study what would be happening to my husband soon.

April 13
Luckily, the kidney and the cancer was totally removed and he is considered cured.

April 14,my husband started dialysis in the hospital
came home April 18

April25
went back for uncontrolled vomiting

may 10 finally got a grip came home on mega amounts of BP meds
may 14 went back to hospital for vomiting
may23 came home with all new meds
may26 go back to emergency,admitted again,vomiting
gets a new gen Dr involved,new meds again-only alot less of them
June 8 comes home
June 22 goes back in the hospital,vomiting
June 29 comes home
July 4 vomiting-goes to ER
July 16 home-adjusted meds again-they don't really seem to know what is wrong
 manages to stay home doing fair for august
September (mid) has plate removed from shoulder because of continuous infection,
Sept.25 in hospital with pneumonia
they decide to do gallbladder surgery,and scar tissue cleanup in his abdomen while he is there
Oct 10 home
Oct ? surgery for the fistula-goes well
Nov 5 back in the hospital with terrible pneumonia again
they keep him until December 2

He has been home since DEC 2,doing fair-he fell and broke another rib the week of Christmas
so he is in a bunch of pain,and he still throws-up at least one day a week-sometimes two.
but he is alive and hanging in there.

thank god for our loving family,our children have been so awesome throughout all of this...
and we have high hopes that 2007 will be much better!!!!!

Thank God for this web-site that has taught us so much!!!

[Ohio Buckeye]

wow, you have been thru a lot this year.
I hope and pray that 2007 will be a much better year for you and your husband and family.

[kitkatz]

I learned this last year in 2006:

*I can endure some pretty painful experiences and not lose my mind. I am stronger than I think I am. Trees bend in the wind and do not break.

*My hubby is a man of great strength and patience. He has endured much and is still a loving, caring man. If he can do the things asked of him while he heals; I too can practice more patience with the world.

* Life slams you hard sometimes.

* I learned to put the husband's walker in the car first before anything else. Running it over with the car was not such a good thing the other day.

[glitter]

wow, you have been thru a lot this year.
I hope and pray that 2007 will be a much better year for you and your husband and family.

thankyou!!!

[Ohio Buckeye]

I think there are many lessons to be learned from our
trials.  I also think sometimes that I must be a slow learner.

[kitkatz]

I know my angels have the baseball bats ready to teach me the lessons I need to know! *sigh*

[jbeany]

I don't mind the lessons.  It's the pop quizzes that are starting to get to me.

[jasperkat]

Wow you guys make my year sound easy!  I thought three months for hubby in nursing home and diaylsis was bad.  I will count my blessings.

[glitter]

I think there are many lessons to be learned from our
trials.  I also think sometimes that I must be a slow learner.

Posted on: Today at 06:08:12 AMPosted by: jbeany 

I don't mind the lessons.  It's the pop quizzes that are starting to get to me.

I do feel like I am riding that short-bus some days..

[kitkatz]

I think I am always on the short bus!

[Sluff]

I think I am always on the short bus!

and your a teacher ?...hhmmm

[kitkatz]

Being ont he short bus for life lessons, does not mean I am not a good teacher. It just means I understand the slow ones a little better!

[Sluff]

Being ont he short bus for life lessons, does not mean I am not a good teacher. It just means I understand the slow ones a little better!

We need that in our teachers Katz.. and you are the best. I do believe.

[okarol]

is it too early to start ranting in 2007?

[KICKSTART]

Not at all ..rant away   

[kitkatz]

Go for it! It is never too soon for a good rant!

[goofynina]

is it too early to start ranting in 2007?

Come on girlfriend, let it out, here and now,  no better time than the present, no better place than good ol' IHD, you know we have your back with whatever you want to rant about 

[okarol]

RAVE: Jenna's transplant 1-16-07 and she's doing great.

RANT: Blue Shield now backtracking on coverage for the transplant.

RAVE: I have met so many great people here on IHD.

RANT: I miss Epoman terribly.

Karol