My leukemia's back.

[LittleLakePhil]

Glad the ducks are better!  that tomorrow finds you bounding out of bed, rearing to face the day!

Goodness, when you rest?????  Hope the sale goes well -- how many are you hoping to sell? 
I thought about you yesterday - my sister is preparing for an organ transplant and her transplant coordinator assigned homework of securing housing w/in an hour of the hospital for at least 1 month post-op, so she asked if she could sleep over up here (like she had to ask, right????) and I got to thinking about the time you spent up here wishing you could just go home already.  I now your's was a transplant of a different color, but any tips on how to make her time with us better/easier/less insanity inducing?  I know your recovery was a lot more like "lock down" because of the immune system issues involved with your transplant, but thought maybe you had some ideas on making the lay-up period more bearable.


So sorry about the pullet, Outpost, you did everything you could. 

Ooh, shepards pie -- so yummy and a great freezer type meal!

You know when I went through my transplant..... Reading was the only thing I really did a lot of...... Except sleep.
Really I didn't have the energy to do much else.

 

[donrae]

OGM, not knowing your sister, it's kind of hard to say what she'll need.

What I needed was to feel as normal and independent as possible. I was cooking my own meals, going shopping, doing laundry, etc as soon as I could. Made me feel like a person, not a patient.

Some folks may need more of a kick in the pants. I saw that with a lot of fellow patients. They were just lazy and liked to be waited on. But then, you have a lot of fatigue and literally can't do everything (I still can't), so that's a hard one. I wish I had a good, pat answer for you. I guess....a lot of passive type entertainment. Movies, books, whatever she likes like that. I did a lot of crocheting. I did a lot of researching chicken genetics

. I read a lot, and watched TV, and went for walks.

Little pampering things like a good body wash helped. Things to make you feel feminine, and like a person. You get so institutionalized, you feel like some type of science experiment. Your body is so out of your control. You're scarred and bruised and bloated and just icky. So, something that makes you feel soft and smell nice can help a lot.

Don't know if appetite/weight loss will be a concern. If so, tempting treats are good to have on hand.

I"ll be praying for you all with regards to this transplant.

 

[N F C]

Glad the ducks are better!

that tomorrow finds you bounding out of bed, rearing to face the day!

Goodness, when you rest????? Hope the sale goes well -- how many are you hoping to sell?
I thought about you yesterday - my sister is preparing for an organ transplant and her transplant coordinator assigned homework of securing housing w/in an hour of the hospital for at least 1 month post-op, so she asked if she could sleep over up here (like she had to ask, right????) and I got to thinking about the time you spent up here wishing you could just go home already. I now your's was a transplant of a different color, but any tips on how to make her time with us better/easier/less insanity inducing? I know your recovery was a lot more like "lock down" because of the immune system issues involved with your transplant, but thought maybe you had some ideas on making the lay-up period more bearable.


So sorry about the pullet, Outpost, you did everything you could.

Ooh, shepards pie -- so yummy and a great freezer type meal!

OGM, hope all goes well for your sis. Keep us posted, ok?

 

[Blooie]

I think she pretty much has a leg up on this transplant thing.... your love and help and Team Rachel in her corner!!

 

[donrae]

I just have to share with you all how amazing my Honey is

Yesterday we got a call about our cow that just calved. She'd been fine, but yesterday she prolapsed. It's been bugging me we have these cattle and no way to work with them or confine them, no small corral or squeeze chute, etc. Now, we've got one that needs to be doctored......well, I guess this is why we went with miniatures! Granted, ours are large minis, if that makes sense. But, he walked her down, got a rope on her, walked her down some more, then finally we got her on the ground. Cleaned things off best we could, and re-inserted the prolapse. I'm not sure I could have done it, the re-inserting part. She was pushing against him, and it took pretty much all his strength to get things back inside. Poor guy was up past his elbow in cow

. And poor cow, right? It took a while to get things to relax and stay put, but finally we let her go and she moved around and everything stayed inside. She ate, peed, nursed the calf, so those are all good signs. This is where it's driving me nuts not to have them on my own property!

So now we're thinking this cow is going to be a cull. I'm going to get more advice from cattle folks, but my understanding is if she does this once, especially on the first calf, she's pretty high risk for doing it again. Not exactly qualities we want in a breeding animal. And, we're not sure about Annie's future, either. Some say it can be hereditary, so I'm just not sure. Right now I'm just hoping momma makes it long enough to give Annie a good start. I really don't want to bottle feed a calf, although she is so stinking cute I could just stick her in my pocket and carry her around

.

 

[N F C]

Good job on your DH's part Rachel, way to go!

I don't know about cattle, hope there's some way around the culling. But it would be hard to keep an eye on things from a distance. Hope you get your "piece of the pie" soon and that it's big enough for all the critters to be in the same place.

 

[Blooie]

Yep, Honey dun good! Hope it doesn't come down to culling but I admire your attitude that less than desirable stock should not be allowed to reproduce those traits.

 

[donrae]

Good news on the blood sugar front--apparently, it's the strips I'm using. Per my machine, I was 342 this am. Had labs done, they came back at 122

. Pulled out a new vial of strips, it's got me in the 180's mid afternoon---that's acceptable. I don't know what happened to the strips, but I'd sure rather it was my machine than my body lol. Labs also showed my potassium and magnesium are pretty low. Not sure how I can physically choke down more replacements of those. The triage nurse called and asked if I'm eating bananas---nope, too high in sugar. I'm taking 80mEq a day in replacement. Most folks take 20 or maybe 40---I think we're past the point where bananas are going to help.

Cow is still good as far as I know.

 

[N F C]

Rachel, you probably know better than me (I'm just going on other people's word) but what about oranges or potatoes? Aren't they high in potassium too? Maybe potatoes don't work with the low carb thing but oranges maybe?

 

[Blooie]

I dunno know about oranges, Debby, since orange juice is one of the recommended quick fixes if sugars drop too low. I'd think taters would actually cause less of a blood sugar spike than oranges.

When I had my last heart problems last month, the cardiologist gave me a list of foods high in potassium. Ken has the scanner tied up with his reports from Grand Sessions at the moment, but I'll see if I can snap a photo of what he gave me and post it here. Maybe it will post large enough to read. He gave me that list knowing I also have blood sugar issues, and told me to use my common sense and weed out any foods I've had issues with in the past, which is what I'd recommend you do, Rachel.

Let me get that photo and then I'll come right back and edit this post.

Edited to add: Had to post it separately instead of right in this post, but I hope it helps. Remember, I have no medical background (unless you count being a victim a few times) so your own doctor's recommendations are always what's best for you and your health situation!