Hi there

It seems a lot has happened since I last wrote.

Kip has been going to diaysis regularly three times a week and a couple of his treatments in the last couple of weeks have been slow-going. They sent him home after one of the treatments because his blood pressure was very low. One of the things we found out is that my husband has thick blood and the blood thinner they give him runs out before his treatment is over. This causing clotting, they tell him it's a normal process of trial and error with each patient that begins diaysis. His next treatment they are going to try giving him half of the blood thinner before treatment and the rest halfway through.

It still worries me, but I guess I need to adjust my radar. I'm not a dialysis technician. I need to trust that they were trained to know what they are doing.

After all that I have to remember that he is doing well. The treatments make him tired and worn out but the day after dialysis day is well worth it. He has energy and feels pretty good. They said this would happen and if that part is true then I guess I can trust they know what they are doing.

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Meanwhile, I've been trying to do something for myself amidst all this. Since Kip's appointments for dialysis are at 5: 30 am three times a week I've decided that I will get up before he leaves to exercise. I bought The Firm dvd's and the step that they are so proud of and it turns out I don't like those dvd's so well. Those chicks exercising on the tapes are crazy unorganized crackheads. Of course this is only my opinion. I do like the step though, they can be proud of that.

So, for round two (instead of giving up) I bought Billy Blanks' Tae-Bo Fat Blaster 2 dvd set. Mr. Blanks kicks my ass but that's what I wanted. I want some challenge and I wasn't getting what I wanted with those other tapes. In the video they use resistance bands and since I don't have those yet, I've been using one pound weights throughout the workout just so I can get the extra help they get with the bands.

I will tell you that after two weeks of getting up and moving around I'm already seeing results. That shelf of skin above my elbow has almost completely gone away. Those "little" bubbles of fat on my hips have almost gone away too!
I have a long road to go but I'm so excited to see a transformation happening already. I'm not saying that I want to look like what I did in high school (because that's crazy!) and I never ate then. But what I am saying is that I would like to start shopping in the Misses department again. That's realistic and I know that I can do it.

And sometime in the last month I've lost 12 pounds. 12 whole pounds!

Update

Okay, so Kip had his first dialysis treatment at the kidney center yesterday and it went well. Aside from making him very tired it made his day today go very well. He said that he felt energized and was actually looking forward to his treament tomorrow.

My Dad had a consultation with the surgeon last Friday and it looks like they will be operating on him in the next two weeks. He'll need a blood transfusion and I think need to start a liquid diet sometime before that.

I'm telling ya that sounds like so much fun. Not.

We're just praying and hoping that the surgeon gets all of that pollup and that will be that.

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On a side note in the spirit of Halloween, and because I need to laugh right now here are my two favorite commercials right now. This one and this one !! Tell me what are your favorite commercials right now?

This has been a strange and draining week and I certainly don't mean like normal.

It's a bit of a long one and I hope you can bear with me for the duration. It all began on Monday when my husband had a normal check-up with his doctor. He had mentioned that he thought he was getting a bladder infection. She took a urine sample and said that it had a very high glucose level and thought that he might be pre-diabetic. She gave him a kit so he could test his blood at home and relay the results to her.

Meanwhile she had asked to go get his bloodwork done the next day since the Lab had lost his previous results. He did that and thought nothing of it except being a little worried that he might be diabetic.

Tuesday evening rolls around and I receive a phonecall from my Dad and he asked me if I was sitting down. This is not good. A few weeks prior he found out that he was anemic. My Dad was put through an arsenal of tests to find out what might be causing the anemia. Two years ago he had a colonoscopy that was clear. They performed another on him and found an angry polup staring back at them. The polup is the size of a golfball. I'm freaking out at this point but trying to keep it together because he doesn't need that.

While I'm talking to him I hear the call-waiting beep, I look at the caller ID and don't recognize the number. Not that it mattered I wasn't going to click over at this point anyway. I finish the phonecall with my Dad with him telling me that he has an appointment later on in the week with his regular doctor and he would keep me updated with what was going on.

So after I hang up there's a message on the voicemail that I check. It's an associate doctor of my husband's doctor. The message was regarding my husband's labwork. All he said was that there was abnormal lab levels and to call his doctor in the morning. Very vague and cryptic, great! My husband was a wreck to say the least. He couldn't sleep at all that night.

The doctor's office called him Wednesday before he had a chance to. They told him that he needed to go to the hospital immediately. We are both freaking out at this point. We have no idea what's going on and think it's still about the diabetes. Wrong.

The results they got back from the lab told them that he is in kidney failure. Problem number one he only has one kidney to begin with. Problem number two, he's not in any pain whatsover. We thought they got the labwork mixed up with someone else. So did they. They admitted my husband and ran a bunch of tests on him to find out if what they read was true. Unfortunately the labwork was right. He's in kidney failure.

They began dialysis last night and he will have a regular appointment at a dialysis clinic starting on Monday. At least his kidney will get a break and the doctor was telling him that he will most likely regain a lot of the energy he didn't relize he had lost.

It is a lot to take in a matter of days, especially knowing that he will be on a kidney transplant list shortly. The doctor also told him he is an excellent candidate for transplant surgery. His other organs are in great condition to support a transplant surgery and he has a lifestyle that will accept a new kidney. He rarely drinks in excess (which he is planning on eliminating alcohol completely) and he has quit smoking.

If I could ask, please keep my Husband, Kip, and my Dad, Bruce, in your prayers. I'll be sending updates when we know more.

A Few Things...

I realize that I haven't been around for 2 months, time flies and all that. Some things that have happened over that time.

We got the computer and I've been messing around with iTunes making playlists, not blogging.

Organized a birthday party for my husband. Which was last night and turned out to be really fun. I was pleased with the turn out and that my husband had a good time.

We went to California for a week the beginning of October. My husband met our nephew Matthew for the first time. We celebrated my cousin's husband's 50th birthday hawaiian style. We had a special time with my family and had a lot of activities with them. Ate a lot of food that we missed.

My husband and I have worked our asses off (unfortunately not literally). Our company is so busy right now and it it's only going to get busier and bigger!

Adopted a bunny. I know I mentioned this before but we need to figure out what to do with her because apparently some of our neighbors don't like that we have a hutch sitting on the side of our house. The only way that you could see the hutch is if you were standing right in front of our house. We'll take care of it, I'm just in the frame of mind that it's none of their business if I have a hutch on MY property or not.

We are in the process of trying to condolidate our debt, so we can make one payment and be done with it. I don't know how we got to a place of this magnitude but we're trying to take care of it now before it gets out of control.

I know a lot of this isn't very glamorous like we were off filming movies or ran away to Hawaii but it has kept me from keeping in touch with you. I'm going to try and be better. Meanwhile I hope all is well with you and drop me a comment.

As of Tuesday my age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.7181996086157 years old.

That doesn't makes me feel better about turning a year older.

But my husband, family and friends make me feel better being 33.

We had a beautiful Japanese dinner that was sauteed and grilled right in front of us. I just had so much fun with our friends and the food was delicious! My friend Tina made me two kinds of cupcakes. One was her special recipe peanut butter with chocolate chips and a Reese's cup in the center and the other kind was an ice cream cone cupcake. Do you remember those from when you were a kid? I think that was the last time I had one of those. Both were fabulous though!!

I felt very special and loved and that 's how it should be. There's only one thing that I wish I would have gotten.... to see my family. There's always next year.

So, go on ahead and wish me a belated birthday! ;0)