My daughter has been learning Photoshop and has been playing with creating MySpace layouts. I like what she has done so far and thought I would post an example here.
These are screenshots. She hasn’t learned the preview trick yet.
If you would like to try it out here is the text file containing the code to copy into your profile.
Give us a comment if you like it or have a problem – we’d love to hear from you.
In kidney transplant you have several milestones. Dale reached his first one today – the one month mark. The next one is the three month, then 6 month, and from then on it is measured in years. His labs still are not perfect but they are better every time. His creatinine was 1.4 and his potassium was 4.7 (they shoot for less than one on creatinine and 4 on potassium) so we are looking good.
The bad part of the day was having to be there at 7:00 A.M. for the glofil which entails drinking 10 glasses of water in 45 minutes and blood work and then repeats (in all he drank 17 glasses) which made him sick. The sheet of instructions they handed us when we got there said you need to start a few days before the test making sure you are well hydrated – unfortunately that is a piece of information we should have had several days ago. The problem is they are spread out between several buildings because of major remodeling and sometimes there is a communication issue.
He has to take this test every milestone so he will have plenty of time to practice but you can bet your gallon jug that he will start drinking a LOT the days before the tests!
There were several people there who only had to drink 5 glasses to start. We are going to aim for that!
Image by Darkpatator
We have caroled, spent time with friends, were late to candlelight service, and are having a peaceful day. Here are some thoughts for today.
I Have No Gift To Bring BaRumPumPumPum
Dale’s sister gave him the ultimate gift
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
The support and love we have gotten from friends and family has been overwhelming. The love of Jesus has shone through all these precious people who definitely have made room in their hearts for Him and us!
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
And we ARE!
The First Noel
People have many firsts in their lives but not everyone has a first Christmas with a new kidney!
Silent Night, Holy Night
Our Christmas Eve was calm and bright. Both of our children were here and all of us under one roof – safe, dry, and warm. The Christmas tree lit and the fireplace glowing, food to eat – no huge excitement or loud parties. Just all of us here – at home.
O Come All Ye Faithful, Joyful and Triumphant!
We have been faithful and we have come so far from Thanksgiving to Christmas. This one could have also been Over The river and Through The Woods LOL
Fall On Your Knees, O Hear The Angel Voices!
So many prayers have been answered. We have not done it perfectly (whatever that means) and it has been harder than Dale ever thought. It has been humbling and maybe that was part of the message. We have survived and have a period of healing to go through and adjustments to make but we are so grateful to be here.
The World In Solemn Stillness Lay To Hear The Angels Sing
What a gift a night of sleep in your own home can be…
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
The kids are playing Guitar Hero in the other room and we are here with them – that is our Christmas present (that and trying to see how many songs I know from the video game). It’s funny sitting here and listening to ZZ Tops’ “La Grange” and FogHats’ “Slowride” in the other room.
Silver Bells, Silver Bells, It’s Christmas Time In The City
And we are NOT there – nuff said.
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
I hope that all of our friends and family are having a Merry Christmas and that the love and peace of Christ surrounds you and yours this day.
thanks BJ for the ornament 🙂
We are back at the Dallas Transplant Institute waiting for Dale’s labs. We enjoyed the trip home and are hoping that we are going back today. It will be great to be home even if it means driving over here a few times a week.
We will have a lot of packing to do – it’s amazing what you can accumulate in a very short time. We carried stuff with us when we went the other day but there is still a lot at the apartment.
They took half his staples out – every other one – including one that was driving him crazy and they are going to start tapering the prednisone so he is happy about that. He also got his pneumonia vaccine.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are home! Dale’s creatinine was 1.9 and his potassium was down a bit too. We don’t have to be back til Thursday (and that appointment is at 7:00 – in the MORNING!)
We’re tired and the house is a wreck since we basically just threw everything in the house. It is amazing how much you can accumulate in a very short time. I’m not going to worry about the house tonight – I’m just going to crash and burn!
Just for the night – we aren’t really telling anyone yet because he doesn’t need any visitors yet. He just had to get out of that apartment.
His creatinine was 2.1 today and his potassium was down a bit. We are going to have to watch the potassium for awhile because some of the meds will mess with the potassium so we have to try to not add to the problem with diet. Of course the things that are high in potassium are things like milk, vegetables, beans, nuts – the very things he was hoping to get to eat after transplant. It will get better as they back off the meds but for the next few weeks, no fun food.
If his labs are good again Friday the doc said he could skip Monday so we could enjoy Christmas without a doctor appointment in the middle of it. I am hoping for warm weather – Dale just wants to sit on his back porch. We are so ready to be home.
At least it was sunny and warm today. We got out for awhile and even broke down and bought Dale a cell phone. We figure he is going to need to be able to reach us if he needs to.
We are hoping to sneak home for Christmas even if it means going for labs Christmas eve morning and then heading home and being back here Christmas day night. It would at least be one night at home and with the kids. Hopefully we will be home soon. Even if it means driving over here two days a week I think we would do it.
Dale is feeling better today so we will see what the numbers are tomorrow. We are heading to the store to get something for supper and then maybe watch a movie if we don’t go stir crazy!!!
Happy Birthday Kath! Happy Birthday yesterday to Diana and tomorrow Mark! Last week it was Skip and this Friday Kinsey!
When Dale went for his labs this morning we had a talk with our doc. So far the biggest problems Dale has had with this transplant have had to do with medication and it seems to us that they are very aggressive and whenever they make an aggressive change it sets us back. We would like them to be a little more careful about those changes. The doc today said that evidently his system is very sensitive to the medications so I think they are getting the idea.
His creatinine was down to 2.6 but his potassium was way too high so they gave him some medicine for that. Some of the numbers are looking very good but others are a little slow. They are telling us that it is just his body getting used to this new kidney and that it will be better. The high prograf levels from the day before yesterday still have him feeling bad so we didn’t do much today. Plus it is pretty cold!  We are really ready to come home. Hopefully we can come for a few days at Christmas. I think it would do us both a lot of good that and his potassium coming down so he could eat a few more things!
We are early and waiting for lab results which won’t be posted for an hour and a half or so. We decided to have breakfast while we wait.
I forgot to mention in my last post that BJ and my daughter made Fettucine Marsala and chicken with Marinara Sauce and brought some to us. Evidently they cooked two boxes of fettucine not realizing how much it would make. Everyone ended up with some. It was delicious and my kitchen has been cleaned! They brought me Latte from Paris Coffee too – there is NOTHING here that compares! I miss it and appreciate it so much when they bring it even if I have to warm it up.
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Got the labs back. His creatinine was down a bit but his Prograf level was up (the anti-rejection drug that they increased the other day!) Now we have to completely lay off the prograf until after his labs in the morning. Sheesh.
My son is here and we have already shopped and we are back at the coffee shop. He and Dale are reading the paper while I post this. I’ll post again after his labs tomorrow. Hello to everyone and I hope you are all staying warm!
Well we are playing with medicine again. The other day they put Dale on a 100 mg diuretic. He lost 10 pounds in two days. His creatinine level was up a little again so we are on a roller coaster ride again. They stopped the diuretic and upped the prograf which is anti-rejection.
We think they should have put him on less of a dose of diuretic to begin with and maybe we wouldn’t have gotten in this shape. We keep hoping they know what they are doing but a lot of it seems like a guessing game as they tweak the meds.
They did another ultrasound and everything looked fine but they don’t want him to wait til Monday to do labs so we will go over to Baylor Sunday and they will check his labs then and see how we are doing.
The ultrasound and extra labs are because he had the early rejection and they are being extra careful but it is worrisome and spending extra time doing medical stuff is not Dale’s idea of fun.
BJ and our daughter came to visit today and that helped a lot. We made a trip to the Whole Foods Market just because we could wander around there for hours. I bought some orange cauliflower to cook tomorrow and I have chicken breasts marinating. We are bored and mostly just want to come home and we know the best way to get there is to get well. I’m sure the sentence about chicken will net me some interesting spam – where would be on the internet without spam! I never thought about the origin of calling all the junk spam – guess I will have to research it. It makes perfect sense though – all fat, sodium, and mystery “meat” – absolutely no nutritional value – yep, that’s spam.
I know this is a pretty random post but that is the kind of mood I am in. I made a visitor’s pass to hang in BJs car at the apartment so he wouldn’t get towed because the office is closed on the weekend. I used a bobby pin and a surgical mask. Jessica thought it was funny and took a picture.
you do what you gotta do! I’ll post again after we get the next labs!
Dale is not much for computers but since he started reading what I write about all this, we go to the coffee shop to update the blog and check email and before I even get to it he is asking what the comments are for the day or who we have email from.
I always make sure I show him email from Earl – a good laugh is wonderful medicine and you send some of the best jokes! A good laugh also helps when a person is on a steroid roller coaster!
We have told the kids to not even try to come this weekend if the weather looks bad and that will make for a very long weekend but we’d rather have that than worry about them on the road. I hear that our Christmas decorations are going up and that things like Chicken and Rice Casserole are being cooked (thanks to help from BJ) – I can’t wait to see everything when we get home. Thanks son for filling in for us and going to your sister’s band concert!
Dale’s labs showed the potassium was back down a bit. we went to the Farmers Market today just for something to do. It was pretty chilly but the sun is out and it seems warmer.
You are all making us cry with the comments! Thanks for all the support and BJ thanks for hauling my kids around!
Dale’s creatinine was down to 3.4 today so it is coming on down but his potassium was up kind of high. It was explained to us that the body is going through a lot dealing with all the new medicines and the kidney trying to get woke up and working right and that all these things should balance out. Dale asked how long before they start backing down on some of the meds and the doc said the first milestones would be at one month and three months so if everything is stilling going well at one month then he should be able to take less meds and that should help him feel better. He is a walking chemical plant right now – he says he should rattle when he walks!
He takes 3 different anti-rejecton, two antibiotic, sodium bicarb, a diuretic, a pepcid (probably to keep his stomach from freaking out over all the other stuff!), an after meals pill, 2 blood pressure, and a few more I can’t even remember. One of the anti-rejection drugs he takes is 3 capsules 4 times a day!
He has to go have labs drawn again in the morning to check that potassium. If it isn’t one thing right now it’s another!
It is brrr cold now too. I guess winter held off as long as it could. I will be happy as long as there is no ice. No one in Dallas will be safe if I have to drive on ice here.  We are going to go back to the apartment in a few moments and stay warm and dry!
I talked him into buying a cardigan sweater the other day – he has always worn pullovers. He liked it so much we went back and got him two more. He looks a little like an absent-minded professor in it.
I came down to the coffee shop to post this and a couple was in here that haad to leave and go to the emergency room. He had a transplant 2 years ago and they were sitting there and he started to have a nosebleed. I told her how to get to emergency (just a few moments from here) since he didn’t want her to call paramedics.  Husbands – sheesh.
Now for the post I had written!
We are getting braver. We pick a direction and drive and just make sure we can keep some landmarks in view. We ventured downtown today and made our way around to an Albertson’s grocery store. We managed to find our way home just fine.
My brother just found out he is diabetic. When I get internet access again I will be sending him information and I know his wife will be sending me some too. Dale has been able to keep his sugar down a bit by walking. We get out of this apartment every chance we get and walk. He may be moving slow but he is moving and it helps.
I have discovered the joys of steamed veggies and I’m getting ready to steam a bunch and cook some brown rice and pork loin to make some stir fry.
I want to take a moment to thank our kids. I can’t imagine being able to do this if they weren’t the people they are. I know they want us home but they have managed to make it to school and work. My daughter got first chair at all-region and my son is keeping up in debate. He has gotten multiple awards at the last two meets. For them to do all this with us gone is awesome and I want them to know how much we appreciate them for hanging in there.
We love and miss you guys and we need you to know that we appreciate you and know how hard this is. Dad and I will be home as soon as we can!
If you know me you know it is driving me crazy to not have internet but I’ll live. We had Dale’s first appointment at DTI this morning. His creatinine was down to 4.1 so we did the happy kidney dance! So far so good! We are wishing the weather was warmer but no complaints – at least it isn’t icy!
A little bird told us that if he is doing ok and feels up to it we could go home for a few days at Christmas so we are hopeful. Right now his appointments are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We are learning our way around so we get out of the apartment and stave off cabin fever.
I’ll post again when I can – we miss everyone and can’t wait to get home to stay.
My son got here last night (thanks to his debate coach and the two fellow debaters that came along to keep her company!) and BJ brought my daughter today. It was fun and good to have them all here. I miss the kids. We went out for lunch adn then all of us went to the Whole Foods Store. I felt bad because our grocery trip was paid for by someone and that store is pretty expensive. Dale can wander for hours through the produce and cheese sections. I got some good pasta sauce and steamed some broccoli and made a pasta dish for later. He got some grapes and some apple and blueberry breakfast sausage to try.
So far he hasn’t had to give himself insulin since we left the hospital so I hope that’s a good sign. It isn’t going low – just not high enough to need insulin.
We are sitting at Cafe Brazil right now so I can use the internet. It is so crazy – yesterday it was 80 degrees and today it is 40 and misting rain. It is foggy enough that we can’t see the top of the buildings downtown.
Tomorrow is Dale’s first appointment at DTI and we will get labs drawn and see if we are still doing well with the creatinine. He is feeling pretty good and got a good shower for the first time this morning. He is having to sleep in the recliner – he isn’t used to laying flat and his incision needs to heel a bit more before he will be comfortable in bed all night.
Dale was dressed and sitting in the chair waiting at 6:00 this morning and that was NOT a good thing. We had to wait for rounds, w
ait for the med sheet to be updated, and wait for the nephrologist to look him and the meds over and pass judgement. It was after twelve by the time we got out and everyone was so nice but Dale was tired and not too happy that he had to wait so long. He is now free til Monday morning when we have to be at DTI (Dallas Transplant Institute) at 8:00 AM.
That will give us time to visit with the kids and get his medicine lined up for the next few days. He swallows a handful of pills twice a day and a few in between. We have the large economy size pill organizer and we will get it filled tomorrow.
First day out we came back to the apartment and unpacked and ate lunch. Dale got a nap and then we went to get his prescriptions filled and stopped by the Whole Foods Market for some healthy goodies.
Another nap, time to check sugar, take evening pills, eat, and then we will go over to the coffee shop next door where we can sit out a a picnic table and I will have internet access so I can publish this!
We ended up in the Baylor lobby online waiting for our debating son to get here instead of the coffee shop but this will work too!
Dale is walking the hall as I write this. They haven’t even brought breakfast yet and he is already packed and ready to get out of here! We have a few questions to ask before they turn us loose as far as medicine and transplant clinic appointments and then we will be out of here.
My son’s debate coach is bringing him to us after the meet today and he will spend the night. BJ is bringing my daughter tomorrow and they will spend the day and then they will all go home together so we will have a little family reunion. I won’t have internet at the apartment – I tried to go through AT&T wifi but there isn’t a hotspot close enough believe it or not so I will have to write and then zip over to the coffee shop down the block to actually publish and check email so I may not be posting quite as often but I may post several at a time.
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Creatinine is down to 5.1 so while we would like it to move a little quicker at least it IS moving in the right direction so we shall be out of here as soon as the nephrologist checks him out!
As long as everything looks good again tomorrow we get to go to Twice Blessed House. The dietition came and gave us a lot of information on diet because for the time being with the high doses of steroids on board he is diabetic. The diet is so much better than the renal diet in terms of him being able to add back foods he likes that he is feeling pretty good about it. He has no problem sticking himself which is good because I’m not sure I could do that. The things he is going to get to eat that he hasn’t been allowed for four years are sweet potatoes, beans, nuts, cheese, and milk. He also has had to be careful about eating vegetables that are high in potassium (which is most of them) so now he can have tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, and potatoes!
We went for a walk and sat outside for a few minutes. It is such a pretty day!
I’m sitting here looking at Dale who is wearing pants for the first time in a while! That sounds kind of funny doesn’t it? His creatinine was down to 5.6 today!!!! We are getting to go for a walk off the floor after the docs come through so he will get some fresh air. It is supposed to be a whopping 80 degrees here in Dallas today so we will make a little trip outside.
I’ll try to post later but wanted to share this good news. For the uninitiated we want the creatinine to end up as close to 1 as we can get so every point is progress.
