Bye 2017

Hello World!

The past several months have been a little crazy. It all started back in September.... well I guess it initially started way back in July. I woke up 4th of July with crippling kidney pain. Turns out I have a kidney stone (its still in there) which cause an infection which created more injury to my kidneys - starting this lovely trend downward with my kidneys.

After that incident in July, I was relatively ok for the rest of the summer and early fall. Sometime in September I picked a bacterial infection. and for 4 months it created havoc for my body. I had everything from fevers, to no appetite, to throwing up, to extreme fatigue, to extreme dehydration, to edema (swelling).... on and off for months. Putting me in the Emergency Room this December.

That day I woke up with a slight fever of 99, took some Tylenol and it went away. But by the end of the day the fever was back with a vengeance and was at 103. I took more Tylenol hoping it would go away and by morning I would be better. Well the fever only dropped a little bit and around 3:30am i started to feel dizzy. so I did all the fighting i could at home and gave in and let Brian take me to the ER. Turns out I was dizzy because my blood pressure was so low, dangerously low, from dehydration. I also ended up having pneumonia in my lungs. All these things sent my kidneys into freak out mode even more and my kidney function sky rocketed.

Since getting released from the hospital I have ANOTHER brand new diet change. Low Potassium, Low Phosphorus, Low Calcium, Low Sodium, High Protein... while watching my sugar levels because they have been sky high lately. So I have a whole sheet of paper with approved foods on it. I never realized how picky of an eater I was until I was given this list. The toughest part is keeping food interesting, so I'm not eating the same thing everyday. I now take insulin daily - although we are still working out the kinks. I'm rarely "normal." Its either in the 400s or around 30. Its been fun. My pneumonia is gone. My lungs feel much better. However I was not happy with my last PFTs, because they showed a decline, to 26%. That's a 10% drop from where I was. Now this could just be from the pneumonia and it will bounce back - that's what I'm hoping for. But it could also be my new baseline because the pneumonia did too much damage. Only time will tell. A plus is that I feel good, so hopefully its not permanent.

In the coming month I will be meeting with Cleveland's Kidney Transplant Team and hopefully walk away with a direction we are going in - whether it be dialysis or transplant or nothing. Just some answers and direction would be nice. I'm tired of the "lets wait and see." I also have appointment to get my skin cancer removed coming up. It originally had to be cancelled because of the hospital stay.

OUTSIDE of all my medical shizzz life has also had its pockets of crazy. 2017 has been a great year - overall! We started out rough and ended rough but that ride in the middle was beautiful! We successfully survived another year of marriage. We got to settle into our home even more - connected more with neighbors. Really starting to put some roots down. I got to celebrate my 5 year post lung transplant anniversary. We started fostering dogs. We got to be reminded just how AWESOME our families are. When we did hit some rough spots this year, our families were always there, in some way, to make everything better again. We know we are lucky and very grateful. But when everything seems to be going wrong and the world is dark, the light of our families pull us through every time.

2017 has been a great year. In 2018, things will change. New roads will be traveled on and we are ready. As long as I have Brian by my side and my family at my back I can do anything. I'm ready for anything. Its not "New Year, New Me." Its just a new year. A fresh start.

Lets do this 2018!

Breathe Easy