Date Night!

Unbeknownst to Woody, I talked to Nathan last night to figure out a way that Woody and I could go to Elijah's game that was in Winchester tonight. And, a plan came together. So when I picked Woody up from dialysis today, I asked him how he felt after dialysis and if he would like to go on a date and that if he wanted to that I had even arranged for a chauffeur. He did ask where we were going and when I said Elijah's ballgame, he was very ready to go. We didn't have much time to get ready. Woody needed to eat before we went and I had to pull together jackets, a throw, etc. Joy was our chauffeur...first time that we had ridden with her since she got her license. She did a very good job driving us to and from the game. The outcome wasn't as we would have wished...but fun to be back at a ballpark! Elijah played 2nd base and pitched a short time tonight. It had been a delightful day today...pretty warm...in the 70s, ut once the sun went down the chill set in and Woody was rather cold, even though he had two sweatshirts, a lightweight jacket, and a fleece throw. He headed straight to his couch/bed when we got home. He's all snuggled under several fleece throws hoping to feel warmer and get a good night's sleep. I worked, again, today on getting Christmas put away. I just have a few items left on the dining room table that have to find a place in a box and then have thr shadow box in thr family still to do and then it will just be the tree left. I'm pleased with my progress. Woody's dialysis went well today...so another one under his belt. Tomorrow no appointments for Woody...unless home health pops in on us. I get my hair cut tomorrow afternoon...so I am the only one with an appointment on the calendar for tomorrow. I think that Woody was glad when I told him that he doesn't have to go any where tomorrow. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Monday, Monday

Oops...almost forgot to blog! We had prayer meeting at the house this evening and got busy afterwards and didn't think about the time. It has been a pretty busy day. Woody actually had a very good night sleep last night and slept in a bit longer than usual. I worked on undecorating until he woke uo and I could get his breakfast. I continued on packing up Christmas decorations. I managed to get quite back in boxes and everyday items back in their places. Linda H. brought us Arby roast sandwiches for lunch. Woody ate a late breakfast, so he waited to eat his Arby's after he went to TN Oncology. Linda and I ate our lunch un front of the Christmas tree...soon to be gone! I'm waiting to undecorate it till after I get the rest of the decoratons packed up. Woody got his first Keytruda treatment for this year. He hadn't had it since November. He got a good hemoglobin reading from his labs. Looks like the GI bleed is under control. I worked on undecorating while he was at Oncology. Woody is getting ready to call it a day. I just dressed his leg wound. Tomorrow is a dialysis day. Still waiting to learn when home health will start making their visits. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday Summary

Today has been interesting...not our normal Sunday routine. Guess no routine will be normal for a while. We both went to Sunday School and then came home and watched our church service online. To that point it was a normal Sunday. On our way home, I got a message from a nurse affiliated with our home health agency. She wanted me to call her back because she wanted to come TODAY for his evaluation after his hospital stay. I thought that we would be free from home health over the weekend...but, no. Oh, well, that has him back in the system and it will get the ball rolling for a nurse, PT, and OT to come. We still have to get wound care back in the picture, but the nurse told me that one of the things that she was to do tomorrow was to contack the wound care agency...so I'm going to let her be the contact and I don't plan on making a call to them. I have gotten underway with undecorating...that will be an ongoing task for a while, but it is started! We had been seeing flies around which seemed unusual for this time of year...and, then I started noticing a smell...it finally occurred to me that perhaps, just perhaps, our chumney had become a deadly trap for one of our neighborhood squirrels! I realized it when I got over close to the fireplace to take some snowmen off the mantle...and finally out two and two together! Nathan stopped by after church and helped take care of the critter. I'm guessing that he got trapped in there back in December when we were at the hosoital...as we never heard the desparate rattle of a critter trying to get out...reason that we were oblivious until the two clues made themselves known...smell and unexpected fly population. Nathan worked hard to take care of both problems...we'll see/smell if problem isn't resolved. For those familiar with the story Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in the Bible, which is what we studied this morning, I thought that what we experienced here was a teaching moment of the "stink of death!" Rolling eyes a bit at being a part of that example for the Bible lesson...would have rather skipped that teaching moment! Thr reason that Nathan stopped by and got to do this unpleasant task for is is that he brought back Woody's laptop...hopefully it is fixed for a while. We really appreciate for Abigail's boyfriend taking the time to fix this wayward laptop...again! Woody is happy to have his crossword helper back...Alexa isn't always the greatest help with the tough clues! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Celebration Times Two!

We've had quite the day celebrating! We moved our Christmas up a little earlier this morning because Woody's dialysis clinic called and asked if he could come in a little earlier. So Nathan, Kathy and crew got a hustle on and headed our way about an hour earlier than they planned. We got right down to business of opening our gifts. We had fun! Lots of thought was put into each one given and received! I think the one that brought about the most interest was that Woody gave Nathan the Dorrell Family Bible. The kids were interested in the names and dates in the middle of the Bible. Esther found a bill of sale for a horse! That intrigued her horse-loving side immensely! Woody used to have the Dorrell Bible in his room when he was a child. But at some point one of his uncles got possession of it. A few months back one of Woody's cousins sent the Bible to Woody, as he is the only Dorrell left in the family who has a son and grandsons to continue on the Dorrell name. Woody decided to give the Bible to Nathan for Christmas and leaves it up to Nathan to whom he passes it on to in due time. The kids spent a lot of time leafing through the old pages. Woody's cousin had the Bible rebound, but took pictures of the original Bible and left those pictures in the Bible. When it was rebound, he had the original marriage amd birth pages laminated and added more pages so future generations can continue to add family names and dates to the new pages. An hour before Woody was to go to dialysis, I put the numbing cream on his arm and wrapped it in saran wrap...not a usual part of our Christmas celebration! Nathan helped us get to the car when it was time to go to dialysis. Nathan, Kathy and crew stuck around till I got back from dropping Woody off. When we got to the dialysis center, they were ready for him and he went right back. We got there at 10am and she told me I could pick him up at 2pm...that was right on the nose, too! I got back to the house and found out that they had decided to celebrate Graham's 21st birthday today at our house, too. Kathy and a couple of the children were off getting picking up gifts, birthday cake and other eats! Graham got to open more presents! Kathy decided that it was good to celebrate two days early when the whole family was together...not easy to have them all in one spot these days since they are getting older! Graham's most exciting, high-flying gift was flying/pilot lessons! These lessons start next week at the Shelbyville airport. He got to do some flying of gliders while he was a member of Civil Air Patrol so this will let him continue on with that interest. Gulp...says his Grammy! We made our own sub sandwiches and had Cookies and Cream cake...pretty yummy. Woody enjoyed a piece of the cake when he got home. Dialysis seemed to go well for Woody. He took crossword puzzles with him and he said he was surprised when they told him that it was just about time for him to come off the machine. So he is through with dialysis until Tuesday. According to their scales, he has started to gain some of his weight back...hope that trend continues. Before I picked up Woody from dialysis, I did a quick grocery run. I wanted to get cold things in the refrigerator before I picked up Woody, so decided to go to the grocery store down the road from us and am glad I did. Woody is in the mood for ribs and I found a rack of ribs with no extra additives and it was on sale...so win, win! I picked up a few other things that we needed and thus was home in plenty of time to put groceries away and then head out to pick Woody up. I am still looking at several piles of clothes that I need to wash, and have already done several loads. I needed to get some things washed for Woody first. And, have started sorting my clothes that I had at the hospital with me. It worked out just right as to what I packed to take with me to Vanderbilt...I have learned over the years what I need to take...and to take extra because with Vandy timing there's no telling how long we will be there...remember what I often say about Vandy timing! To sum up our rather busy day, I will say that Woody seems to be improving slowly but surely and he was so very happy to finally get to celebrate Christmas...even though two months late! I was pleased that he did well with in-center dialysis. In the past when he did in-center, it really zapped his strength...one reason being that they only do dialysis three days a week and then pull a little more off on those days...so it is a bit harsher. But today, they only did dialysis for a half-hour longer than we do it at home and he was there for a total of four hours rather than the five that it had been estimated for. But today he didn't seem zapped of strength which is good. We will see how it goes as the three times a week continues for the time being. I understood that he can have thirteen sessions (around a month) and still be considered a home-dialysis patient. This time in-center is considered respite for the home-hemo caregiver aka me! I will say that I was very glad not to have to do dialysis routine this morning along with wound care and other after hospital care and our celebrating! I will admit to being rather tired today. I'm sitting in my recliner, as I write tonight's blog a bit earlier than usual! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Home Again, Home Again!

Tonight's photo shows Woody "patiently" waiting for transport at Vanderbilt to take him downstairs and get him into Melany's vehicle and get on our homeward way! It was good to pull into the driveway! Woody is so much stronger than he was when he came home from rehab. Transferring wheelchair to car and car to wheelchair and wheelchair to recliner went quite smoothly. Finally getting a handle on his internal bleeding has made a world of difference in his strength. For the first time in months he used the walker to get into the bathroom. So "things" are looking up! He has already transferred himself from his recliner to his couch/bed. I'm hoping that he sleeps well tonight...no nurses coming in and out of the room at all hours of the night. Melany and I went to our pharmacy after we got Woody settled and we had some lunch. We picked up the only prescription that was new...something to protect his stomach and help the ulcer heal. We probably had the fewest instructions upon leaving the hospital that we ever had. Guess it makes a difference whether one has had surgery of not! Woody "only" had procedures this time...life saving procedures...but nothing major to do following those procedures. He has to take a tiny little pill to help protect and heal his stomach. He has been switched back to his long-term antibiotic that he has been taking for years and will take for the rest of his life. His dialysis is set up in center for a few weeks at least. Home health will probably be back on board next week. Life is getting back to "normal" whatever "normal" is! Melany headed home after we went to the pharmacy. Shortly after she left, Kathy and Isaac and Joseph stopped for a visit. While they were here, we made plans for Christmas! Tomorrow! After all, it is the 25th tomorrow. So tomorrow morning prior to Woody going to dialysis, we will attempt to finally have our Dorrell/Dorrell Christmas. Jo brought us a yummy supper tonight. And, Woody ate! His appetite is definitely picking back up. It's time for his nightly medicine and he is pretty sleepy. I will go attempt to get the three pills down him so I won't have to disturb him again...here it goes...a "nurse" making him wake up to take meds! We're both looking forward to a good night's sleep. It's good to be home! There's no place like home. Here's how much Woody has been away from home since December 9th = 23 Days in December...part at Vandy and part at rehab; 30;days in rehab in January; and 10 days in three Vanderbilt hospitals this week and last. A total of 63 days away from home for Woody in December, January, and February...Here's to hoping that he will be home for a good long time! To be continued (hooefully at home)! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Still at Vandy…One More Night

When the doctor from the medical team came in this morning she said that he "could" go home today, but they still needed tonget the infectious disease team on board to make decisons about what antibiotic he would be on when he leaves. And, that it might take most of the day to get them in the picture and get their decision. So she was very happy to hear that tomorrow was okay with us. Today had several problems for both Nathan and Melany to get here today. Melany is going to come get us in the morning. The infectious disease team has been here and the antibiotic change has happened. He is no longer hooked to any IVs...just lots of cords measuring his vitals. He is slowly graduating to freedom from all. Tonight they changed his meds from IV meds to pills...another step. Tomorrow those vitals cords will be detached and his IV access will be taken out and he will be free! Today he had dialysis...his last at Vandy...hopefully for a long time. Today was a busy phone day for me. I got in touch with our dialysis nurse in Tullahoma. She has arranged for a few weeks for Woody to go in center in Tullahoma for his dialysis treatments...gives us time to regroup after being away from home dialysis again. It will let me get all the home health folk back in our schedule. Davida got him a slot at the center on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays...the routine that was established here at Vanderbilt. His dialysis treatment went well today so it looks like his graft is back to functioning correctly. I got a call from our personal care physician's office trying to set up his appointment with them. I got him back on the schedule at TN Oncology to see his oncologist and get back on Keytruda treatments. I contacted the home health agency to let them know that he will be back home tomorrow. I also contacted the wound care agency, but they wouldn't take my information till he was actually back home...so I have to call them back...sigh...oh, well, I tried to get things rolling again. We got a call from the doctor's office who did his endoscopy last Thursday and they made an appointment for him to come in. The infectious disease doctor said that an appointment would be made with Woody's doctor to see him in a month. Lots of appointments...and more to come. The first on the calendar will be dialysis on Saturday. That is such a long "appointment"...he will be there for about five hours from set up to take off. I just hope that he doesn't get drained like he did when he was doing in center before. He could hardly move when he got through. Then Monday he goes for his Keytruda. No rest for the weary...plus I'm sure that home health will be squeezing in time where and when they can. Lots of welcome backs to the "real" world. Our world has sort of stopped for the last week...now we will probably have many rude awakenings! We're both looking forward to getting home and back in touch with reality...at least to a point! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Vanderbilt Timing

It has been a day to pretty much recoup for Woody...not a lot going on. He had PT and OT come in fairly early. They worked with him transferring from bed to chair...pretending that it was couch to wheelchair and back again and back again so he ended up sitting in the chair for a while after they left. Nephrology came in and said that they were pleased with the way his graft worked yesterday. And, told him that they plan to do dialysis tomorrow. The doctor that heads up his medical team came in and said that all was going well and that she saw him going home soon...either tomorrow or Friday. If it is tomorrow, it will be after he has dialysis. We found out that even though he hasn't left the Critical Care Floor, he is no longer considered critical care. They are caring for him as if in a step down room. We were told that at this time they are not moving patients from one floor or room to another. It wasn't clear if this is because they are so full or if there is a lot of sickness so keeping folk in one spot once they get in a room. Both were indicated in a conversation between two nurses and us. But Vandy time can be slow as molasses or quick as a bunny...it seems like they will never release you, but once they do, it happens quickly. My guess is that it will be Friday since dialysis has to happen before he can leave. But we will see! Woody is ready to head home. His hemoglobin, the last two labs, has stayed within a very close range of each other. They think that either the low reading yesterday or the high reading were false readings....I think that they are leaning toward the low reading as they said that rarely after getting one unit of blood does it rise much more than one point and his rose a lot. Anyway, today's readings have all been in a believable range and the last two only differed a tenth or or two from each other and the second was a tenth higher...so a good range. His appetite hasn't been all that great today, but he has eaten at least some. He spent most of the afternoon in bed. He did doze a little. Hopefully he will be able to sleep tonight. He had a much better night's sleep last night. Now I will leave tonight's blog with a question: Will I blog from home or from Vandy tomorrow night?!? To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautous!

Success!

It has been a long day for Woody, but the outcome at this point is a good one. They finally took him for his procedure at 12:45pm and he got back a little after 3pm. They were successful in getting his graft unblocked! In less than 30 minutes of getting back from the procedure, his dialysis treatment was up and going. He has less than 30 minutes to go. He has been pretty quiet today...not feeling the greatest. He did have to have another unit of blood this morning. He was just a little below the demarcation line of needing more blood. They are watching carefully as to reason that his blood keeps going down. At this point there is no outward evidence of blood loss. It may just his body adjusting to the blood he has been given. I told Woody that maybe all the nooks and crannies hadn't been filled up yet after his extreme blood loss! All I know is that he is being carefully watched. Just a few minutes ago they took another blood sample to be tested. I just checked and that last test has alredy been read and it is at a level that it hasn't been for some time...now we will see if it stays! Woody still hasn't had anything to eat or drink today. His supper is sitting here next to me just waiting for him to get off. The dialysis nurse is getting ready to take him off. So success in opening the graft and in giving him a treatment with it! Another step or two in the right direction! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Views From Vandy’s 8th Floor Window

And, as I type this another helicopter is flying in. Sometimes it is a constant "thing!" Today has been an interesting day...as it progressed less and less happened. He did not get his procedure because there were too many in front of him who had an urgent need for the services of the Intervention Radiologists (IR). Woody has a line for dialysis and some don't. So he went all day without eating to get out off till tomorrow! He did get supper, as did I as there was an extra tray and our nurse snagged it for me. So he is satisfied at the moment since he has now eaten...and it was Vandy's yummy pot roast...it is really good...very tender. He really enjoyed the Pot Roast when he was here in December and it was just as good tonight. Woody didn't have the best night...didn't sleep well and his blood pressure was going low. When his labs came b@ck in the early hours, it showed that his hemoglobin had gone down to a point that he needed another unit of blood. They are just watching him carefully and he did not get moved from ICU. We are still in the same room. PT came in and evaluated him today as did wound care. He did a good job of transferring from the bed to the chair and has been in the chair for a much longer time than yesterday. He ate his supper sitting up in the chair and voted to stay in it for a while longer. It is nurse shift change. We had the same nurse this afternoon as we did yesterday afternoon and we now have the same nurse as we had last night. I like having nurses that we have already had. I was going to add: as long as we like the nurse! But truthfully we have had no poor nurses at all in this entire journey of three hospitals. And, of course, being in ICU they are very attentive to Woody. I did get a call this afternoon about when he is discharged. I let them know that we weren't interested in rehab...been there gone that route! He is already so much stronger than he was prior to this "adventure" that I'm sure that we can just go home and move on from there. The home health wound care called today and told me to call when he was going home and that they would get him back into their schedule. So we won't have to go through a lot of hoops to get wound care or home health set up. It will depend on what kind of access Woody ends up with as to where dialysis will happen. If they are able to get his graft working or if he has the tunnel catheter. The tunnel catheter takes no sticking. It is the way I originally learned to do his dialysis so I can probably take up where I left off. But that is not ideal for any length of time and is a bigger risk for infection since the line is so close to the heart. He will have to have another surgery to have this graft repositioned or another graft put in...and, I don't want that for Woody. So praying that they will be able to unblock/bust the clot in his present graft. Melany came for a visit today. She planned to come visit and then go to her doctor to see if she couod get her boot off, but the doctor's office called while she was here and rescheduled her appointment as her doctor is sick. So she has a few more days to heal before he checks her foot. Once Woody got through having to have another transfusion and seeing a string of doctors, he has had a pretty quiet day. His night nurse is getting him ready to get back into bed for the night. Hoping that he sleeps well and that he gets the procedure to fix his graft done tomorrow along with dialysis. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Up and At Um

Today has been a pretty good day. Woody is improving by leaps and bounds. I think he has pretty much surprised all who were a part of his drama on Friday morning. Routine things have happened today. He did spend about 4-1/2 hours in the recliner. He did a lot of the helping getting him transferred. They have a neat device that helped him move from bed to chair and back again. It couldn't be used the last visit because of the non-weight-bearing orders. But this time is so different. He has had several ultra sounds...a couple looking at his graft and a couple getting an IV placed. But no real drama today. He has seen the team who plan to work on his graft tomorrow. They hope to be able to bust the clot, but...the shape of it may make it hard or impossible to break the clot up. If they can't then they will place a catheter line in his chest like he had before the graft was put in when we started hemodialysis. For the possible surgical procedure he can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight tonight. Speaking of eating, he was put on a regular diet and had two big meals today and he ate just about every bite. He has eaten today in one day more than he has eaten over the last few months. Hopefully this is the start of putting some meat back on his bones! The other news is that he is no longer an ICU patient. He has graduated to the step-down unit...BUT...I guess they aren't ready for him or none to anxious to get him as we are still hanging out in ICU. There is a very real possibility that we will be transferred in the middle of the night. That happened to us back in December. We were oved from the ER to a room at 3am. I guess--a down time for the night shift? WE are ready to go. I have all our bags at the ready to scoop up and take with us when the transfer person comes. Melany spent the morning and some of the afternoon with us. Woody is back in his bed, had a good supper, and been working crossword puzzles. His nurse who was with him from the moment he came to Vandy on Friday stopped in to see him and was amazed at how well was doing and couldn't believe that he was already moving to a step-down room. Her comment to Woody was that he actually does have color in his lips! We have had just the best medical staff and care givers...so far. Going home has been mentioned, but I know about Vandy's timing! I will say that I'm pretty sure that we are here through Tuesday as I imagine that they will want him to have dialysis on Tuesday using whatever they end up doing tomorrow. Then if all is well, he might be discharged. But, as I have learned, I won't hold my breath. PT is supposed to see him tomorrow as is wound care...so should be a busy day! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Another Day…Not as Much Drama!

We started out the day with various doctor's visiting. They all seemed pleased with his progress. the main glitch is that his dialysis graft stopped working...probably a clot. Someone from the radiology tram will work on unstopping it this coming week. This is called an arteriovenous graft thrombosis which is the formation of a blood clot inside the arteriovenous graft. We found out it wasn't working when the dialysis nurse came in and couldn't hear or feel it. A doctor from nephrology came and did an ultra sound and found out for sure that it was not working. She was surprised as she had heard and felt it early this morning on rounds. Oh, well...hoping that they can get it working again. Till then another plan had tonbe made as Woody was very much in need of dialysis since he had not been dialyzed since Monday and had received so many blood products. I have never seen Woody retain fluids before, but today he has...in his arms...which were very skinny...well, they are not now! They assure us that it will take a few treatments to get him back to normal! There was a silver lining, such as it is, to this situation. They out in an arterial line yesterday in his neck that they no longer needed so they used that placement and exchanged "parts" and made the tube/wire, etc. capable of doing dialysis...a small procedure that was done right here in the room. So when the dialysis nurse came back he was ready for treatment...using a catheter rather than needles to get him connected. Melany came to visit this morning. She brought my bags of clothing, toiletries, some snack food, etc. that I nad left at Melany's since I wasn't going to spend the night at the hospita...yeah...right! Nathan went in the direction of the hospital in Wilson County to retrieve Woody's possessions that were left because of the haste of his departure yesterday morning, After retrieving them, he came here to deliver them and to visit. Melany stayed till about 1pm and left to go home to gather Wade and Erin and go out to a late lunch with friends. I sent Nathan down to the cafeteria to bring food back for his and my lunch. Before Melany left Woody's liquid diet arrived for lunch...he's still wondering where breakfast is! He is auite hungry and ate just about every bit of his lunch...minus the tea and he doesn't drink tea...I'm sure he will be brought coffee in the morning which he definitely won't drink...nor will I! Melany and Nathan got his tray all set up for him to eat and, like I said, he was a member of the clean plate club...and yearned for something a little more substantial! He had a out the same meal for supper...but this time two bowls of broth and no apple juice! Still wondering about what happened to breakfast! If all goes well, he may be promoted downward...out of ICU tomorrow. His turn around is quite amazing! His color is ever so much better. He has been alert, but more alert today. The bleeding appears to be controlled. His hemoglobin is not dropping and has actually risen some without any more blood products. On the right path! They continue to watch closely...lots of labs! He got a lot of lines taken out of his arm today...just a couple of IVs left...so that is also progress. We had a nice visit from two of Nathan and Kathy's very good friends just before dialysis finished this afternoon. He is a pastor of a church in Shelbyville and he and his wife were visiting someone from their church and asked Kathy and Nathan if it would be okay to stop by and see us. Woody enjoyed the distraction as dialysis was finishing up. Speaking of dialysis, it pulled 1.6 liters of fluid from him today...still more to pull over the next treatments. Woody is sleeping ever so much better than he has for a while. He slept pretty well last night, I won't say the same! And, he has had lots of naps...every time someone comes in and does something to or for him, he usually takes a nap afterwards. He slept through part of dialysis. So getting some much needed rest to recoup from his near death experience!!! I think that most are surprised to see how well he is doing, if they saw him during his crisis yesterday morning. I think one of the doctors said that he looked a million times better! Really the main disappointment of the day was that his dialysis graft quit working...hopefully that will be an easy fix come Monday or Tuesday. Time will tell! The best part of the day for Woody was that they are letting him eat and drink again...he is hoping for less eating restrictions soon! And, another good piece of information is that likely he will get to go to a step- down floor tomorrow. I'll let you know if I am blogging from a different room tomorrow! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

More Hospital Hopping!!!

Well...where do I start!?! Ready for a story...a true tale?!? I spent the night at Melany's because I couldn't stay at hospital in Lebanon. Melany had to teach this morning so Wade said that he would take me to the hospital. We didn't leave till almost 10am because he had some work conferences...he continues to work at home...has since Covid shut things down...almost 3 years now. We got underway and about half-way to the hospital I got a phone call telling me that Woody was now at Vanderbilt in Nashville and that he was very critical. He explained that he had been brought by ambulance due to increased internal bleeding. They had out in an arterial line with Woody's permission. And that thry might have to intubate him (ventilator). About the last thing thst he said besides appologizing that no one had called me was that I should come...that he was in very serious condition. We just continued as we were and got on I-40 and headed on into Nashville and on to Vanderbilt. When we got there they were giving him his third unit of blood and was losing it as fast they were putting it in. It sas hustle and bustle in his room. They were planning a procedure...angiography and possible embolization. They go up through an artery in his groin and look for the leak/s and fix what they see leaking. Unfortunately they found no active bleeders...but found a place where blood had been pooling and used a metal coil somehow to "fix" that area...layman terms used here...what my mind saw when the doctor explained. Since the procedure the bleeding has definitely slowed down...they are watching carefully to see if it is active bleeding or blood that had already leaked out and is justng going to take a while to leave his body. They know what they are looking for. So far he has had 5 units of red blood cells, 4 units of plasma amd 2 of platelets. They are keeping a tally on a glass window in his room! He is resting peacefully and his color is ever so much better. We had the nicest thing happen a few minutes ago, the EMT who rode next to Woody in the ambulance stopped in to check on him. He was here to transfer another patient and decided to see how Woody was doing. Nice to be able to thank him. Woody told me that he had now had his ride in the ambulance with the siren blaring all the way! He then said that he still hadn't had a ride in the life flite helicoptor...and the EMT said that he would have flown in a helicoptor this morning but the atmosphere wasn't right to take a helicoptor up...ice in the upper atmosphere! Hoping rhat he lets his desire to ride in that helicoptor slide...just as soon he's skip that ride of a lifetime! I will add now that Woody was told that he came as close to death this morning as he could without dying! By the time they got him to the hospital, he had no pulse so they took him to the ER first as they thought they had lost him. But he rallied and they were able to order blood products and get them to the ICU floor quicker than would have happened if ICU had ordered them. After all that has happened today, he is now sleeping quietly. They are giving him that 5th unit of blood since his hemoglobin had dropped a little... ut nothing like earlier in the day! I'm sure that it is still pretty much touch and go, but at the moment things are calm. And, as I say each night lately...to be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Hospital Hopping!

Well...where to start?!? I got to the hospital a little after nine. Not long after I got there things started happening. He was getting his 4th unit of blood. The hospitalist came in and said they had made the decision to transfer him to Vanderbilt Wilson County...Vanderbilt Nashville was full up. They felt that he needed a GI specialist because he was losing the blood almost as fast as they were putting it in. As soon as I told Melany where Woody was being taken, she popped on to Myhealthatvanderbilt and messaged her GI doctor. He part of the time does procedures at Wilson County. She told him what was going on with Woody and asked if he had a recommendation for a doctor to do this. He rearranged his schedule and went to Wilson County even though it wasn't his day to be there. He has been Melany's Crohns doctor. Nathan took me to the "new" hospital. We got there just in time before his procedure. It took about an hour. Dr. Orice came in all smiles. It turned out to be an active bleeding ulcer in his stomach. He could actually see the blood spurting out of the ulcer! He cauterized it...all fixed! He said Woody should be ready to go home tomorrow or the next day. He did share that he was very concerned that it could be melanoma causing the bleeding considering Woody's history! He was very glad it was so straight forward! Woody was back in the room shortly after we talked to the doctor. He was pretty groggy. They were going to take him for dialysis in an hour or so. They gave me permission to put the numbing cream on his arm and wrap it in plastic wrap. Then Nathan and I left hoping to miss most of the storm. Rained pretty hard as we headed to Melany's. I'm staying at their house because they wouldn't let me stay at the hospital. Wade will take me back in the morning and Melany will pick me (or us if they discharge him tomorrow). i really don't think they will discharge him tomorrow...but Woody could easily prove me wrong! So that was our day...how was your day?!? To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Well, Our Christmas Celebration Not Meant to Be Today

Woody didn't have the best night. A rare occurance, but he wanted something to drink in the middle of the night. When I went down to get his breakfast and set up for dialyss, I could tell that he was very weak...just couldn't manage to get into a sitting position...just wanted to stay lying down. I would let him rest for a while, but then wpuld uurge him to sit up so he could get his blood pressure up so he could move around. He was very pale and almost lathargic. I told him that I thought that he needed to go to the hospital...but he would attempt to rally and show me that he didn't need to. I had already figured that they were going to send him from Oncology today to get a transfusion. As the time for Davida to come to get his dialysis going, I could just tell that he wasn't going to be able to make it through an entire treatment. I called Davida and told her that I thought that I needed to cal 912. She was already close so she came by to help me evaluate the situation. His blood pressure was way low when we first took it so that sort of made the decision easier. She just told him that he needed to go and he went along with her. I called 911 and they were here very quickly and took him to the local hospital. Davida stayed here till the ambulance left. Then I gathered a few things and headed to the hospital. They had already done labs and very quickly found out that his hemoglobin was dangerously low. They snapped to and quickly typed hus blood ordered blood for a transfusion. He had just finished his 2nd unit of blood when I left a little while ago and were hanging a third. They have a goal in mind to get his hemoglobam to. They did a CAT scan as they could tell he was bleeding internally. What they see in the scan leads them to believe that it is an inflamed area that goes from the stomach into the duodenum. So they are treating sort of like an ulcer...going to give him some medicine to coat the stomach and let stomach rest a bit. Surgeon said that this type of happening can heal itself. They may have to do a scope, but don't want to irritate the area more for the time being. A GI doctor will probably be called in for a consult. Melany came after school today. We left at the same time...a little before dark...she had longer distance to drive in the dark. She is home now. It was still dusk when I got home. Woody was definitely markedly improved when we left. I will head back in the morning to check on him. The nurses have my number if they need to get in touch with me. Now to prepare for storms in the night...supposed to perhaps be a bit rough. Pretty calm and springlike at the moment. Still in the 60s. Nathan is at Elijah's scrimage game and he just reported in that it had rained there, but they took to the field anyway. I don't know the outcome of the game, but Elijah was the first batter and first pitcher for his team, North Middle School in Winchester. That's pretty special as he is new to the team this year, doesn't go to that school, as he is homeschooled...so pretty much new kid on the block. His love for the game shines through! Well, obviously Christmas didn't happen at our house today...guess we will wait a little longer...decorations will stay up a little longer...to be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Valentine’s Day? We Dorrells are About to Celebrate Christmas!

It may be Valentine's Day on the calendar, but Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther, Elijah, Isaac, Joseph and Woody and I plan to celebrate Christmas tomorrow at long last! Today has been an interesting day...rather discouraging when it comes to dialysis. Once again, I got everything set up and got him cannulated (2 needle sticks) and got the machine going, but immediately got a warning that the arterial pressure was running too high...which may mean that the needle is up against the wall. I did check as Davida showed me how to yesterday, and, it seemed to push and pull ok, but when I started the pump going again, I got the same warning. Which meant that the needle needed repositioning and Davida couldn't come and she was afraid that it would take me too long to reposition the needle, as the pump can't be off very lon. So she told me to do a rinse back and we would decide what to do when we talked later. The next problem we had was getting the needle stick place to stop bleeding for the venous needle. But Davida reminded me that I had given him heparin just minutes before as we do every day before we start. Finally we were successful and got it taped tightly and we took the artereal needle out with no problem...just the normal 5 minutes holding time. I talked to Davida later and she plans to come early in the morning so he can have his treatment finished before he has to go to TN Oncology to see the Oncologist and get Keytruda. After he comes home from Keytruda, we plan to have our belated Christmas celebration. Davida is discussing things with Dr. O, but we may be changing course for at least a while. She feels like I am struggling because there is so much going on...home health:nurse, PT, OT; Wound care; dialysis nurse, appointments: this week: Oncology/Keytruda, Dr. O, and personal care physician. All the comings and goings can get one's head spinning...especialy coordinating a time when home health can come to the house when Woody isn't on dialysis. Our dialysis nurse is going to recommend to Dr. O that we take a break till some of these appointments go away and see if I can get focused on doing dialysis at home. If he agrees, then she will look into getting him into in-center dialysis for a while. I thought that I would feel releaved at this suggestion...but I really don't. We'll see how things play out. To be continued. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Busy Day…Going to Be a Busy Week

What a day! I got up and was downstairs around 6:30am, but guess who wasn't awake yet! When Woody is sleeping, I really hate to wake him up. So I did a few things that needed to be done sometime today. I guess it was good to get them done while I had energy...or they might not have gotten done! He woke up fairly soon and I got him his breakfast and then started setting up for today's dialysis treatment. It takes an hour or a little more to get everything set up. I was close to finished, when the home health nurse called wanting to come this morning. She said that she could be here by 9am so I told her to come on and I wouod connect him after she left. She came and went and we got down to time to do the cannulating/sticking. I didn't have the easiest time, but did mamage to get both needles in and started the treatment up and not long after it got underway I started getting yellow warnings about the arterial pressure being too high. I did the couple of things that I knew to do and then called Davida. She told me a couple of things to check...still didn't change the message. So she said that she would come since it was too hard to explain what else might need to be done. I did move the lines a little in two different places while I waited for her to come. When she got here...she checked the arterial line with a saline syringe and it flushed fine...as in no problems and then we upped the pump speed and all was fine. So we're not sure what the problem was...or who held their mouth just right to make it work! But as far as she could tell there were no problems and the machine behaved itself the rest of the treatment. Davida just came for those few minutes and the rest of the time we were on our own. She gave me "credit" for doing it all myself since we don't know what made it stop giving the warning. We told Davida that maybe the machine was missing her so messed up just so she would come! I forgot to mention, that I had just picked up the first needle to stick him and the phone rang. It was PT and she wanted to come at 1pm. I told her that it had better be 2pm since we still didn't have the treatment going. She ended up coming around 3pm...about 1/2 hour after Woody was freed from the machine. I was confused when I heard her voice as she had set up a time on Wednesday morning so she could work with him on a day he hadn't just had dialysis. I mentioned that and she had forgotten...or couldn't read her writing on her calendar! It surely does make it hard to plan a day! So we were done with medical "stuff" around 4pm. We had the prayer group come to our house again this evening and they left about 30 minutes ago. Seems like a whirlwind day...and this is nothing as to what will go on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...those days we have appointments outside the house...two in Tullahoma and one in McMinnville...no dialysis on Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday we have to fit dialysis in after the appointments. Hoping that home health can fugure out their schedule! I have told them our schedule so they will have to make do with the hours that are left in the week! It was a beautiful spring-like day today...blue sky and all. My miniature jonquils have popped their little heads up and several have even opened. Nice to go out to get the mail and not freeze! Tomorrow's another day, as Scarlett said! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Why?

I'm wondering "why" a day off goes by so much quicker than a dialysis day! I guess that the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun," perhaps is proved by days like today. It seems like just moments ago that it was 7am and now it's 7pm. The day is drawing to a close...already. Melany paid us a visit this morning. We had a really nice visit. She brought the needlepoint Christmas stocking she is working on and I found her several better/larger needles to use and also a needle threader. She is all booted up as in a boot for a broken foot. Her doctor confirmed a week or so ago that it is broken so she is wearing a boot for a while. She checked out the garage door that they gave us for Christmas 2021 that just got installed January of 2023. She brought us two kinds of soup for lunch. Woody did eat a small amount of one kind for lunch and is trying a small amount of the other for supper. Since Melany left, we have just been lazying around. I have taken several naps. I don't know if Woody napped, but he has lounged on the couch for much of the late afternoon and evening. He did manage to go through all his PT exercises while Melany was here. He needs to do them one more time today. I don't know if he has any energy left to do them. I'll ask when i go back downstairs. I still have a load in the washer to transfer to the drier when I go back downstairs. Other than that and putting a few things away in the kitchen, I think that "work" is done for today. Hopefully my needle won't be too heavy for me to pick up this evening! I woke up in the middle of the night and did a little stitching to put me back to sleep. When that didn't work, I read myself back to sleep. It was nice not to have to wake up to an alarm this morning. Nathan and Esther stopped by this afternoon. He did a "sonny-do" job and then put the car in the garage for us. It may snow some during the night so we won't get up to having to scrape snow and/or ice off the windshield in the morning. I'm assuming that there won't be enough to thwart our going to Sunday School...unless there is so much that church woukd be called off...but that amount is not expected, I don't think. At the moment we have light rain and the temp is still well above freezing. We will wait and see what the night has in store for us. Yesterday Davida, our Fresenius kidney nurse and we were talking. I mentioned how weak Woody still was and that his recovery seems so slow. She said that he had been in bed for two months and to figure twice as long or more for recovery...so at least four months! Slow and steady! To be continued. Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Finally Friday

Today being Friday means two days off from dialysis. Today went so-so...took two sticks and Davida's help for the first (arterial) stick and then 2nd stick went in easily but ended up against a wall of the graft so had to reposition it...took a while..but once they were in and positioned, the rest of the treatment went smoothly. Davida and I have a plan for Monday. I will get everything ready and plan to place the needles around 8am when she gets to the dialysis clinic so if I have problems she will head my way. That way I am on my own, but still have a backup fairly near. One reason that I may have had problems this morning was that I felt pressure tonget the sticks done fairly quickly as I had gotten a call from the home health nurse and she wanted to come at 1pm which would cut it very close since I was waiting on Davida till I did the cannulating. So I was trying to do the sticks quicker than I usually do. Well, that backfired on me and it probably took about the longest that it had. Davida suggested that we just do a two hour treatment today sunce he had had four 3-hour treatments this week. So I took him off at 1pm and the nurse arrived before we had the needles out. We also had problems with bleeding after taking the needles out today. So all in all not the best dialysis day...but it is over and we are through with dialysis for this week and have Sunday, our usual day off, too. The nurse was here almost an hour. She did a telemed visit with the wound doctor. They made a few decisions about how to deal with his two wounds that we are trying to get to heal. I'm not thrilled that I am now a wound care nurse for the days when the nurse doesn't come. Shortly after the nurse left, we got ready to head to our local hospital to have bloodwork done for his Vanderbilt infectious disease doctor. One of the antibiotics that Woody is taking needs watching through bloodwork. So we are going once a week till we see her on the 22nd. Once again, it was an easy in and out at the hospital...Friday afternoons are definitely a good time to go for labs. I got a notification from the MyHealthatVanderbilt app, that the results of the labs have already been posted. We were home in less than an hour from when we left, but Woody was pretty done in and ready to head to couch. Not long after he got home he got sick...so...he has not been interested in food this afternoon or evening...once again...he only ate breakfast. Hard to get meat back on his bones at this rate with him feeling like he can't eat lunch or supper. Maybe a more relaxed weekend will help. We'll see! I do several maintenance chores on the dialysis machines on the tenth of each month. I have done teo of them, but the third requires the vacuum and I felt like running the vacuum would disturb Woody. So plan to do that task in the morning. Melany is coming for a visit in the morning...needs to check on her daddy! Nathan came this morning a out the time we were getting underway for dialysis to fix the bathroom faucet. He had to go get a couple of parts and then was successful at stopping the leak from the handle. Good job, Nathan! Thanks! All in all it has been a pretty busy day! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Much Better Day…But Tiring

Can you believe the subjects of tonight's blog photo that I took about an hour ago?!? Only February 9th and these are in full bloom in our back neighbor's yard. We have some blooming, but this was a much more impressive amount in full bloom! Dialysis cannulation went much better today...I did both sticks without help and in a reasonable amount of time. The dialysis treatment smoothly, too...without any alarms...not even a warning. Before he was finished with treatment, we got a call with a nurse with the company that is doing his wound care. She ended up doing a telemed call. I mainly answered questions she asked. Woody still lacking energy...the least amount of soent energy wipes him out and he has to rest before doing something else. His main meal of the day remains breakfast...either he diesn't feel like eating after that or just doesn't have the energy to eat something. So far today, he has kept everything down that he has eaten...but there are still quite a few hours left to get through! I'm dragging at this point in the day. I'm sitting in the living room...with the zchristmas tree! We still havent had Christmas with Nathan's family. I was sitting here waiting on the mail as I was expecting a package. Well, Alexa just told me that it has been delayed and won't be here till Valentine's Day...she just changed her story as she had told me it would be here before 8pm tonight. I don't like her changing her mind! Well, I'm going to go check to see if Woody might be interested in a little supper...I'm not going to hold my breath waiting on a "yes!" Tomorrow I hope that Woody can find the energy to go to local hospital for his weekly labs for the infectious disease doctor. I think we have a nurse visit tomorrow afternoon. Too many appointments and people dropping in! Next week may turn into a nightmare with 3 appointments away from the house and who knows how many in our house...plus 5 days of dialysis treatments. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

A Better Day…But Still a Ways to Go!

This is the tiny sampler that I have been working on the last few days "when" I find time tonstitch and not fall asleep with needle in hand! I am working it on 56 count linen over two threads so itntakes 28 tiny Xs to make a line one inch longs. It was supposed to br a red sampler...I purchased the silk thread online...trying to get a pretty red or burgundy...well, when it arrived it is really a hot oink...so I am stitching a pink sampler rather than a red sampler! That's okay for this tiny sampler. The letters are about 1/4" tall. The design on top is symetrical so what is left to stitch on the top repeats what is on the other side of the "tulip." This same image will be repeated under the alphabet and numbers. It will only be a little over 3". I am enjoying stitching on it...I like the 56 count linen and the silk floss and I like having no color changes...just have to change the thread when I get to the end of a strand! A couple in Australia are the designers and they offered this little sampler for free...or what we stitchers call "a freebie." We have had a fairly full day. Started with dialysis...I for everything ready so it was time to cannulate/stick Woody when she got here. She was running a bit later today so we didn't get started very early. I had trouble with the first stick, but the second I got quickly...so that is an improvement! Better, but still a ways to go! The treatment went smoothly...just seemed longer since it went longer into the afternoon! Woody was pretty uncomfortable by the end. He tends to slide down in his chair during the treatment time and really can't push back up since he is supposed to keep his one arm still. He still doesn't feel the greatest. Once again, he ate a good breakfast, but for the rest of the day he only ate a bite or so at both lunch and dinner. A bite or two later in the day is better...but a ways to go! PT followed fairly soon after dialysis was over. She helped us learn how to use our wheelchair more efficiently. We got the transfer "lazy susan" disc today. But she hadn't been trained on how to use it so chose to teach us her ways to transfer from chair to wheelchair and wheelchair to chair, etc. She also added to his exercises for his legs. I have them written down, number of repetitions, etc. He is supposed to do them in morning and in afternoon. May be hard to do them in the morning...maybe I can oversee them while I am setting up dialysis?!? The dialysate batch is making. I'm keeping a close eye on the water faucet...have towels behind and a wash cloth wrapped around. I will go down when the batch is finished and shut the water off for the night...must have to remember to turn it back on when I am doing the check on chloramines in the morning. Then it can be turned off till it is time to drain the batch and make a new batch on Sunday. Woody is extremely tired this evening and he is also cold...keep having to pile one more fleece throw on him! I thought that I was less tired tonight when I climbed the stairs to come rest in my recliner after PT left. But...Melany called and I ended up dozing off when we were talking...such a rude mommy!!! Melany said that it got awfully quiet for a few minutes and she thought that the call had dropped...but no...just her mommy snoozing. I really thought that I was hearing what she was saying...but who knows! I hope that with my little nap, I will be able to stitch a little this evening without falling asleep with needle in hand! Mother used to fall asleep and continue stitching and then have to take out all the misplaced stitches! I usually just hold onto the needle and wake up with it in my hand. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

There Have Been Better Days!

First thing that I discovered, when I went downstairs this morning, was that there was water all over the bathroom floor. The water has to stay on when the dialysate is being made...there is an attachment that stops the water from coming out the faucet and forces it through the tubing that goes from the faucet into the PureFlow machine that makes the dialysate. I have to turn on the cold water full force and I don't think that our fixture likes the pressure and has sprung a leak around the handle...making the water run to back of the fixture and onto the countertop. I had been putting towels there to absorb the water that leaked. When I was not making a batch, I had put just a small hand towel behind thenfaucet/sink...but forgot to change it for a larger one or two last night when I made the batch...and the towel I had there absorbed all it could and the rest ran out onto the countertop and then onto the floor. I'm so glad that our new LVP flooring is so waterproof...I just let towels absorb most of it and then mopped up the rest. Then it was time to make Woody's breakfast and then onto dialysis setup. Setup went well. I had everything ready when Davida got here. But once again, I had problems sticking...I did get the first one in myself with just a little struggle. But the second one took both of us! We think that the end of the needle was getting stuck in a bend in the graft. I thought that I had enough space before that bend, but guess now. Davida was able to get it placed despite the curve. His treatment went fairly smoothly...he moved his arm too much one time and changed the positioning of one of the needles thus messing with the pressure...but got that problem solved and the rest went well. I did give him another liter saline bolus. Just as the treatment was ending, the home health nurse arrived. It takes a while to get him off the machine and the needles out once the treatment has ended. Each of the places where the needles have been have to have gauze held with pressure for at least five minutes after the needle is removed...so that adds ten minutes on to end treatment. The nurse was here to do a telemed call with the wound care folk, but that call never materialized so she just changed the dressings and was on her way. Woody still doesn't feel well...he decided this evening that it is allergies...that he has a lot of drainage...so he has taken an antihistsmine and hopefully that will help him. Jo brought us some delicious homemade soup this evening...that should be good for whatever ails him...and, I'll enjoy it, too! Davida and I made the decision today that I won't take tomorrow off and do his treatments five days in a row this week so she can help "if" I have trouble sticking/cannulating. I'll happily have her in the background to to my rescue if needed. She has another patient in the same situation as me...he is learning to do his own sticks instead of his wife. So she is going either to his house first or to ours and helping us. Thank goodness she isn't training anyone at this time and can help us like this. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Successful Mission

Today's dialysis was a go...thank goodness. Davida, our dialysis nurse, did stop by for the sticking (proper term is cannulation). She also did our "nurse visit" for February so we won't have to go to the center for it. I had a much easier time sticking Woody today and the whole dialysis treatment went very smoothly. Davida plans to come in the morning, again, just for the time that I am doing the sticking. Hopefully I can find the right combination of holding the needle and my tongue just right!!! Woody felt pretty good for the first part of the day, but as the day continued he didn't feel so great. The Occupational Therapist came today for evaluation. She seemed to think that he wasn't going to need much. We'll see. He was feeling pretty rough when she was here...she was probably just glad to get in and out without him getting sick. He got sick just prior to her getting here. We had prayer meeting here at the house tonight. Woody headed to his couch pretty much as soon as it was over. He managed to take his antibiotic and bade me goodnight! We both are pretty tired tonight. I'm glad to be upstairs in my recliner with two heating pads helping various and sundry aches and pains. Today I did give him a liter of saline diring dialysis through the lines that circulate his blood...same as getting saline solution through an IV at the hospital. We (Dr. O, Nurse, Woody, and me) hope that this will help with dehydration being caused by digestive problems, nausea, etc. Seems to be an ongoing story...reason that it remains a "to be continued" story! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday Update

Not a lot to add for today, but will summarize our day. Woody did want to go to his Sunday School class this morning and got there and home without incidence. One thing that I noticed today was how much stronger he was when he transferred from wheelchair to car and from car to wheelchair. He was given two exercises by PT and those seem to be helping him regain strength in his legs...a good thing! I figure in the morning we will be inundated with phone calls to set up home health appointments for this week. I expect them to start while I am setting him up for dialysis in the morning...poor timing...but I have been told that I have to answer all calls! Since I had trouble and didn't get his treatment started yesterday, Davida is coming back in the morning at least long enough for me to get his dialysis up and running. So she can help answer a call if it comes when Incan't! I imagine that some would expect that Woody could do the task of answering the ohone...let's just say not if it is the cell phone ringing! We have both rested a lot this afternoon. Woody has been sick again this evening...towels are once again washing. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Mission Aborted

Thinking in NASA terms with tonight's blog title. Got up this morning, with every intention to do Woody's dialysis...fed Woody breakfast and got underway with setup. Everything went as it is supposed to...got everything set up, all the pre treatment part of the flow sheet filled out. Got Woody out to the scale chair and Got him weighed (not easy for him to transfer from recliner to wheelchair to scale chare and back to hus recliner and situated for connecting him. The first problem was that his blood pressure was low, bit waited and took it again...and again...and finally it had come up enough to get him started. Once he is started I can give him a saline bolus to help raise it some more if is still low on his first BP after we get him started. I got everything ready and it was time for the needle sticks. I had a little trouble with the first one (arterial), but got it in and it was working correctly. So...on to the second one, the venous side of his graft. That stick is usually the easiest for me, but not today. I ended up having to stick him twice and both times had the same problem...could not get the flow of blood established. I decided that I wasn'to try again...enough pokes for one day, Our dialysis nurse told me yesterday that if problems arose that it would ve okay to skip today and tomorrow since he had had four good treatments in a row. I really didn't want to quit, but cried uncle and freed Woody and shut down the machine and did the tear down. Not the way I wanted our day to go! Since I couldn't get dialysis going, I decided to do our grocery shopping...which I had planned to do anyway once his dialysis was finished. I rested for a while once shoppung and putting away was done. Woody chose to have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch...he hadn't had one of those in a long time. I am taking a break from my cooking to blog and rest my back. I am in the midst of making one of Woody's requests while he was in rehab,,,Swedish meatballs. They served him Swedish meatballs while he was there and he said they were awful! He remembers having them at a potluck supper at church and he loved those. He was so disappointed with how bad they tasted that he asked me to make some when he got home. I'm wondering where mine will fall...hopefully between the wonderful ones he remembers and the bad ones he just had! I'm pretty sure that I have made them before...but obviously mine aren't the ones remembered! But we will see if mine at least surpass the rehab's...hopefully that isn't hard! Well, tonight Woody isn't feeling all that great...he looks pretty pale...I think it is a blood pressure problem when he goes from lying down to sitting up. He's been lying down on the couch and is now wanting to transfer to the wheel chair so I can wheel him into the bathroom. He's just sitting on the couch for the moment. I decided that I wouldn't post this till I could say he is safely back on the couch. Let's just say he is still very weak. To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Interesting Friday

We had a good start to the day. I got up made us both breakfast and then I got to work on getting things set up before Davida got here. On one of the last steps before time to connect Woody, I forgot to push the "stop" button before I primed one of the lines. I realized that air was going back into the tubing...oops! Well, Davida was almost here, so I stopped and waited. We did have to back up some and reprime, but guess the main results of this were that we ended a little later. By double teaming...Davida got thr machine back up and running and I did the preparations to stick and then stick Woody. That went a little better...once again, not easy...but managed to get it done. We had a few glitches during the treatment, but handible...by me! Davida left a little after we got him going. I did have the communication between iPad and machine stop and did call Davida about that and got that back going...another first to happen during dialysis for me. Right after I got that solved, Davida called me and said that she was going to complicate matters more...she had talked to Dr. O and he wanted me to give Woody some extra saline solution due to several incidences this week of his blood pressure going too low when he was changing from reclining to sitting. That seemed to help as Woody's blood pressure stayed in a good range for the rest of the treatment and he hasn't had any problems this afternoon and evening after dialysis. We had a busy afternoon, too. I rested for a while after dialysis wasa over and then we prepared to go to our local hospital for him to have some labs done for his Vanderbilt infectious disease doctor. We managed that in record time...found that middle of afternoon on a Friday is a good time to go there for labs! We were in and out in record time. I think that the travel time to and from (20 minutes) was all it took from walking in the door, signing in, sitting in waiting room, and being called back and having labs drawn! In and out swiftly! We plan to go around the same time for the next two Fridays before we see Dr. Allos on the 22nd. On the way home stopped at our pharmacy and picked up two prescriptions for him and some other supplies we needed. Then it was home. He took one med when he got home that said to take two hours before or two hours after he eats...so he chose the before and I'm going down now to give him supper. To be continuedM Be safe! Be wel! Be cautious!

Medical Stuff From Dawn to Dark

This has been a day and a half! Got up when it was still dark to make Woody breakfast and get dialysis set up and to the point of connecting Woody when Davida got here at 8:30. Before I got him connected, I got a call from home health setting up an appointment time. I had stuck him for both needles and Davida took over so I could take the call. She set up for a nurse to come this aftrrnoon at 1:30pm. We already had an appointment with a medical agency via telemed. Woody and I got finished with dialysis right at 1pm. The telemed appointment happened closer to 1:30, but wasn't very long. I found out this agency is for wound care...they will come here...sounds good to us, if they can find a time that suits them and us! The home health nurse was a bit late, so that worked out well. Just as she was leaving the wound care people called back and were glad to be able to talk with her. It sounds like that when the nurse visits next week, the wound care doctor will do a telemed appointment at the same time. Not long after the nurse left, we got a call from the PT person and she was finished with her last patient and had time to come by and get paperwork filled out prior to first PT. She came a little before 4pm and didn't leave till 5pm. She got a workout as Woody had several problems while she was here, including a problem with low blood pressure. He had a similar "event" this morning as he was coming off dialysis. PT was very helpful with good sugestions that should help both Woody and me. He is supposed to get Occupational Therapy! Will we ever have a moment to breathe!?!?! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

One Ringy Dingy, Two Ringy Dingy…

Today has been quite the day! We started off with dialysis. "Things" went fairly well, but I was really glad that Davida, our dialysis nurse, was here! There were so many add-ons to do today that it made the usual tasks a bit confusing. They were accomplished...but with help! Davida plans to come tomorrow and Friday also. That means that the "only" day this week that we will do dialysis on our own will be Saturday. During dialysis and after, the phones rang a lot. One call had very good timing. Woody's personal care physcian's office called to say that they have a spot for him to come back as one of her patients. I don't know if I mentioned earlier that they had rotated him off their active patients' list. But he is back on, an appointment was made for two weeks from now,and just in time...to be explained in a minute. Both Woody and Davida urged me to call the rehab head nurse and see if they had managed to set up home health...I texted instead as I knew that I get pretty quick responses from her texting. Sure enough...not long and she answered that they would today. (Insert eye roll!) Guess it is good that I did get in touch to get the ball rolling. I have had two calls from the home health agency and a nurse is going to call and come by sometime tomorrow. I got a call from someone else who is supposed to make a telemed call tomorrow afternoon. She is not part of homehealth, but someone at rehab recommended that she check in on Woody via telemed...that Woody could benefit from this visit. Time will tell! I mentoned this to the homehealth person. She was fine with it, just asked me to tell her what agency was taking care of his homehealth. Back to why the timing was right with Woody's primary care physician picking him back up...his pcp is the one who needs to ok/sign orders or whatever to get home health started! I also made a call to TN Oncology to get him back in there to receive Keytruda. What was funny is that he got a spot that he had had before, but it had been cancelled because of his time in hospital and rehab. I told them that they needed to get on our calender before all the slots were filled! I think that we picked up five appointments just today. Plus until the 22nd, when he goes back to see the infectious disease doctor, he has to have weekly blood work at our local hospital...so there's three more slots filled on calender. Then add in dialysis five times a week and how ever many times home health might drop by or anyone else! I think we will soon be meeting ourselves coming and going! To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!