I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Introduction => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: mcmkids on February 16, 2009, 05:17:51 PM
-
Hi Everyone! My name is JoAnn. My husband Matt, just started PD about 6 weeks ago. He is 44 years old. We live about 25 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Last April quite suddenly, he was diagnosed with a very rare cardiac sarcoma. The tumor was removed from his left atrium and he subsequently went through 6 rounds of chemotherapy. During his sixth and final round of chemo, he developed a very serious GI infection and became dehydrated. The dehydration caused ATN which caused his kidneys to fail. The doctors are (believe it or not) still hopeful that he will regain function. They were trying to wait it out because he was without any symptoms of uremia even though his creatinine was over 7. Then a week before Christmas it happened, his creatinine flew up to 9 and he started to have all of the classic uremia symptoms. There was no other choice but to start PD. Needless to say, this has overwhelmed us and we are still trying to cope. The silver lining in all of this is that I am a Registered Nurse, so I can take care of all of his needs at home. The dialysis really has made him feel much better, but he is having body image issues related to the catheter and he HATES the cycler. The nights that we have had no alarms are few and far between. The last two nights were pure hell and I now hate the words "low drain volume"! After speaking with our PD nurse again this morning and making yet another adjustment to the cycler, we are hoping for some sleep tonight. We will be going into Philadelphia tomorrow morning for his first adequacy test, so we are in the process of clooecting a 24 hour urine and I am also collecting a PD fluid drainage sample. Obviously we are hoping for some good news tomorrow! Really I am just looking for support and to be able to have him realize that he is certainly not alone in all of this. Thank you for allowing me to tell our story and I hope to connect with as many of you as I can in the future!! :thx;
-
:welcomesign; to IHD
-
Welcome JoAnn. So sorry to hear about all the difficulties your husband (and of course you) have been having and I hope you'll find this site as useful as the rest of us do. Look forward to your posts.
-
:welcomesign; to IHD. You will find many folks here experienced with PD. Check out the threads, or try searching from the home page. Hope it goes well tomorrow. And, I hope that you get a good night of sleep soon!
-
:welcomesign;
-
Welcome aboard. This is a great place to get information and find shoulders to cry on. Come on back and post often!
-
:waving;
-
Welcome JoAnn, good to have you aboard.
-
Thank you for your warm welcome! Last night was AGAIN, a horror. 3 hours of lost dwell times, endless alarms. Thanks to Angie at Baxter for trying to help me through! I think that since there is no fibrin and the fluid is clear and Matt is not in pain or constipated, we may be looking at something internal with catheter positioning. I still think he is absorbing some of this fluid. We did his 24 hour urine and before we went to bed he had like 1000 ml in the jug and once he started his treatment, he put out like 2000 ml more. (that jug is heavy!!) So now I am going to get ready to go into Philly (always a joy! :banghead;) the dialysis center is right across from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, so there is a lot of traffic around. Let's hope that after three sleep deprived nights they think of SOMETHING! Have a great day everyone! :flower;
-
glad to know you
and we can help
stay with us
-
:welcomesign; JoAnn. We are glad you found us and good luck today with the appointment. Please let us know how things go. :cuddle;
-
:welcomesign;
-
Hi JoAnn...glad to have you with us!
:welcomesign;
-
:waving; JoAnn & Matt
Glad to have you here at IHD.
Hope to see you on many of the threads.
-
:welcomesign; joann & matt
-
Welcome to our community, JoAnn! Really glad you found us and decided to join us. You will find this an excellent place for information, for support and even for some fun. You will find that this is not just a website; it is a genuine caring and sharing family :grouphug; There are cybershoulders to cry on, cyberhands to hold yours as you go through your challenges. Just keep reading and keep posting, so we will know how Matt is doing.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Bajanne, Moderator
-
:waving; Joann & Matt
Glad you found us. THis is the place to get all the support and info you could want.
Hope to see you on many threads.
P&K
-
welcome, this is a great place to land
-
:waving; Welcome! It's great to have both you and your husband with us. You'll find lots of support and information here.
-
G'day and :welcomesign;