I think this photo of a group of cows is my favorite animal picture from last week's barn trip. It needs a caption, but I haven't come up with one yet. Any of you have any suggestions? We have had a fairly quiet stay-at-home day. Woody still feels pretty good...still no side effects this time. I emailed his nurse practioner today to update her on how he was doing and to tell her how the care of his melanoma tumor was going. I told her that Woody was surprised that he hadn't had a reaction and that he was feeling since he didn't have one that probably it wasn't working. She sent back some reassuring words. She explained that a lot of people have issues (fevers etc) only after the first one as the immune system is primed. And said to encourage him that it doesn't have to make him miserable to work. And, those words did help to ease his concerns. I had to contact the Fresenius supply folk and ask that a few more supplies be added to the order that is coming next week. Since we are doing manual drains once a day I had to add drain bags and more gloves and more caps to cover the ends of his line. So there will be more boxs of supplies coming next time...up to this point we have only had 1 box of manual drain bags (10 bags per box) so we will have at least three boxes added to the supplies. We did the drain late this afternoon and drained off 2300 ml from his abdoman...a little more than a 2 liter bottle of fluid. You can see why he doesn't feel much like putting anything in his stomach sincr it is surrounded with all that fluid! At least he was fluid free for supper! He is supposed to have 1500 left in him now at the end of each of his dialysis treatments but the machine still hasn't "caught on to" the new way we are doing things! We'll see if tomorrow there will be less or if there needs to be something else changed in the settings on the machine. Seems there is always something new to figure out with this home dialysis! At least the nurses are just a phone call away and are very willing to walk us through any questions we have. Also there is a 24-hour number to call if we have a problem after work hours. Fresenius has a pretty good system worked out. By the time that I got the order revised, it was lunch time. Woody wasn't ready at that moment to eat, but said that a baked potato sounded good and that by the time it baked he could eat one. Hoping that his potassium level is still okay as baked potatoes aren't hight on his dialysis list! But at this point I am just wanting to get him to eat for calorie sake if nothing else...so am not paying strict attention to his dialysis diet...just want him to want to eat! After lunch I attacked a task that I had put off too long...writing thank you notes to our ramp crew. I made cards that had a picture of Woody walking down the ramp with his walker (picture taken a while ago as he pretty much only goes down or up in the wheelchair these days). So I made the cards and then wrote each of the gentlemen a thank you note. So there are 7 notes in the mail box with the flag up for the mail carrier to pick up tomorrow. Eight men helped with the ramp, but I had sent a thank you to one earlier when I wrote a thank you to his wife. That was a good job done. I have done a little cross stitching today, but not much. I am hoping once I get Woody connected tonight that I will be awake enough to do a little more stitching. Our weather is supposed to change tomorrow...move from the above normal highs to cooler temperatures...only supposed to be in the 40s when we head off to church Sunday morning. It has gotten into the 80s the last few days. We are supposed to get some rain and wind and perhaps storms as the cold front pushes through. That makes me realize that it is time to do a little of this cooler weather sewing for myself that I have stacked up to do. I pulled out a sweatshirt that I need to put a new neckband on and placed it on the sewing cutting table. I have the old neckband taken off so it is time to cut a new one and then get it sewed on...an easy fix...just have to be motivated "when" I have the time to be able to do it! That is the easiest and shortest cool weather sewing that is facing me so I should tackle it and then hopefully that will put me back in the sewing mood. Well, it is about time to get Woody's dialysis machine set up for tonight's treatment so the solution will be warming. The preparation time takes the longest in the process...20-30 minutes to get everything set up and then another 20-30 for the solution to warm up...so the first part can easily take an hour. Connecting him and disconnecting him take much shorter times. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!
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