My leukemia's back.

[Blooie]

Well, you dropped that bomb so nonchalantly. Is there a possibility of a transplant, in the near future?

If I can maintain my current GFR at the 27, or even reverse a bit and get back into the 30s, I can live for years with this. They don’t start talking transplant or dialysis until that GFR drops to the 15 bracket. He did tell me that transplant might be a non-issue with the other medical problems and me being allergic to steroids, which are essential and long term for transplant patients.

I’m going to do all I can to reverse whatever damage I can and try to get back up to 30. People live long and happy lives for years at Stage 3 and Stage 4 Kidney disease, and I plan to be one of them. I think about Linda all of the time, and Ken and I have talked it over. If that time comes when dialysis is the next step, we are just going to get my affairs in order and wait it out. I don’t have Linda’s courage, humor, and strength. I can’t do what she did for 4 years, 3 times a week. It’s not in me. And I don’t want to put the family through what Linda’s kids and husband went through. That’s a new normal that I don’t have the courage to tackle. So now you have the whole ugly part if the story. We’ve also already discussed that choice with the kids. Kenny and Jenny have enough on their plate without helping take care of me. Tammy‘s schedule is so weird that she couldn’t do much even though she’d exhaust herself trying. They protested, long and. loudly, but it’s not their decision, it’s mine. And I’m determined that it’s not going to come to that anyway. God love Katie. She sat across from me and quietly said, “Just promise that you’ll have somebody from the family with you, Gramma. You have never been alone in your whole life, and you shouldn’t be alone when it ends.”

Okay, enough crepe hanging. It’s not going to come to that and that’s the end of that! I have a diagnosis and a treatment plan. That’s more than I had a month ago.

So what else have I missed? I’m almost afraid to ask and stick my foot in my mouth. Feet aren‘t on my kidney diet. I’ve missed you all so much! I guess I should have said something when all of this started, but I didn‘t know much anyway.

Kendra is starting to talk a little bit. I have her this afternoon for a few hours. She’s so doggone funny! She and “Fidoda” are inseparable when she’s here. She’ll point at Fee’s bed and tell her, “Fidoda, that’s enough. Down.” and the dog does it. Temporarily. Then she has to come back to Kendra and snuggle down by her. Quite a duo.

Katie’s been on the honor roll now every quarter of middle school. She gets to go to Boston with her class next year and the year after that she’s been nominated and selected to go to Europe. What autism? Evan has found his niche in his new school and he’s thriving. He loves school, and missed honor roll by a decimal point!

Guess that’s about it for now. I can’t possibly catch up on 6 months of posts, but you can fill me in as we go. I love our “waiting room”.

 

[bruceha2000]

People live long and happy lives for years at Stage 3 and Stage 4 Kidney disease, and I plan to be one of them. I think about Linda all of the time, and Ken and I have talked it over. If that time comes when dialysis is the next step, we are just going to get my affairs in order and wait it out.

My Dad is in that same position but he is 91. Pretty good health otherwise, his GFR decrease was "helped" by the drugs he has to take after his triple bypass close to 20 years ago. Like you he will do what he can to keep his kidney function up but if it comes to dialysis he's done. Figures he's been around plenty long already.

Since everyone's GFR decreases, starting at 30-40, if nothing else gets us first, we will all die of renal failure eventually.

 

[Alaskan]

If I can maintain my current GFR at the 27, or even reverse a bit and get back into the 30s, I can live for years with this. They don’t start talking transplant or dialysis until that GFR drops to the 15 bracket. He did tell me that transplant might be a non-issue with the other medical problems and me being allergic to steroids, which are essential and long term for transplant patients.

I’m going to do all I can to reverse whatever damage I can and try to get back up to 30. People live long and happy lives for years at Stage 3 and Stage 4 Kidney disease, and I plan to be one of them. I think about Linda all of the time, and Ken and I have talked it over. If that time comes when dialysis is the next step, we are just going to get my affairs in order and wait it out. I don’t have Linda’s courage, humor, and strength. I can’t do what she did for 4 years, 3 times a week. It’s not in me. And I don’t want to put the family through what Linda’s kids and husband went through. That’s a new normal that I don’t have the courage to tackle. So now you have the whole ugly part if the story. We’ve also already discussed that choice with the kids. Kenny and Jenny have enough on their plate without helping take care of me. Tammy‘s schedule is so weird that she couldn’t do much even though she’d exhaust herself trying. They protested, long and. loudly, but it’s not their decision, it’s mine. And I’m determined that it’s not going to come to that anyway. God love Katie. She sat across from me and quietly said, “Just promise that you’ll have somebody from the family with you, Gramma. You have never been alone in your whole life, and you shouldn’t be alone when it ends.”

Okay, enough crepe hanging. It’s not going to come to that and that’s the end of that! I have a diagnosis and a treatment plan. That’s more than I had a month ago.

So what else have I missed? I’m almost afraid to ask and stick my foot in my mouth. Feet aren‘t on my kidney diet. I’ve missed you all so much! I guess I should have said something when all of this started, but I didn‘t know much anyway.

Kendra is starting to talk a little bit. I have her this afternoon for a few hours. She’s so doggone funny! She and “Fidoda” are inseparable when she’s here. She’ll point at Fee’s bed and tell her, “Fidoda, that’s enough. Down.” and the dog does it. Temporarily. Then she has to come back to Kendra and snuggle down by her. Quite a duo.

Katie’s been on the honor roll now every quarter of middle school. She gets to go to Boston with her class next year and the year after that she’s been nominated and selected to go to Europe. What autism? Evan has found his niche in his new school and he’s thriving. He loves school, and missed honor roll by a decimal point!

Guess that’s about it for now. I can’t possibly catch up on 6 months of posts, but you can fill me in as we go. I love our “waiting room”.

Great update on the kids.

As to your kidneys....

Sure is nice to hear from you.

 

[Blooie]

My Dad is in that same position but he is 91. Pretty good health otherwise, his GFR decrease was "helped" by the drugs he has to take after his triple bypass close to 20 years ago. Like you he will do what he can to keep his kidney function up but if it comes to dialysis he's done. Figures he's been around plenty long already.

Since everyone's GFR decreases, starting at 30-40, if nothing else gets us first, we will all die of renal failure eventually.

True, decreasing GFR is common in aging. For someone my age, normal is expected to be greater than 60. In February of 2016 when I was in the hospital after my heart attack, mine was 90. Excellent! By May of 2017 it had dropped down to 45. In October 2019 it was 34. In December 2019 it was 29. In January 2020, it was 27. And those aren’t the normal rates of dropping for someone who is only 69 years old.

Shoot, I always thought cancer or my heart or COPD would get me. I never in a million years ever expected my kidneys to be what gave out first. My angiogram in October was only done because the cardiologist wanted a good look at the stent that had been placed in 2016. I’d had the stress test done the week before and I sailed right through it but he wanted to make absolutely sure that stent wasn‘t beginning to block like the ones in my legs tend to do. But the report said he didn’t do the left ventriculogram because of “renal insufficiency”. I asked the nephrologist what that meant. He said to do the left would require additional dye, and the labs said my kidneys couldn’t handle more. So that’s what started this whole thing. What makes me so angry is wondering how low that GFR would have had to go before anyone said, ”By the way, there are some results in your blood work that we need to investigate.” 20? 15? Dead? Grrrrr

Well, off to a town council meeting. I’ve been trying to wade through this Planning and Zoning garbage and it’s time they either decided they have a P&Z Commission or drop it. Couldn’t even get an answer when we were trying to find what town requirements are for manufactured homes. I was on the Commission when we started updating and revising the regs, and then I was elected to Council. Ken became a member of the Commission 6 years ago and they’ve only held 4 meetings, right at the beginning, doing more revisions. But they never finalized anything, the town hall doesn’t have a copy of any of the regs, and the updated version has never been voted on. When something comes up, the Chairman has been sending out emails and that’s how they decide on compliance. Not having it. I worked too hard on P&Z and the council to see this trash happening. So I’m holding them all accountable, on the record, tonight. Wish me luck!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Go get them @Blooie !
Some of those small town councils tend to run a little too loose and free with regs.

 

[Blooie]

I got ‘em! Yayyyy, me!!!

 

[getaclue]

Good Luck!!!

Life has been a bit interesting around here the last few days. I noticed I was having a rat problem, but was out of the baits I use. Dd was going to town, so she picked up a box of them for me. She finally took them out of her trunk. I'll get them put out tomorrow morning.

Around the time I noticed the rat problem, we got bad weather. A thunderstorm, which didn't last very long, but brought 55 mph wind gusts for 2 days, and nights. 1 tarp came loose at the bottom, on one of my coops. I stapled it back, very good. The next day, again the tarp had been pulled loose. Again, I stapled it. None of the other tarps were affected, just the one.

A couple days after the high winds had stopped, once again, the 1 tarp was pulled loose. Yesterday, I asked Dh to temporarily relocate one of the security cameras, so I could see the back side of my coop. I suspected a raccoon was involved. He fussed. He didn't see any tracks, blah blah blah. There was no raccoon going back there, and I was nuts. BUT he did put the camera where I asked, so I could see that area.

You know that Geico commercial, where he wants the man cave, and she wants nature? Well, I've got my own Geico commercial going on behind my coop. First, a huge opossum tried digging in. Not a big worry, since I do have a welded wire pen skirt around the entire thing, but I took off on the tractor, and ran it off. About 30 minutes later, here comes a big raccoon. Yes, I ran that off too. Not long after that, I had to go to sleep, so I could go to the State Fair today. Dh played back the video footage. An hour after I ran off the big raccoon, a smaller one returned. It tried to pull the tarp from the coop. A bit later, it was joined by another small raccoon. In a bit, they left. 3:30 am, and here comes the big raccoon (mama), and her 3 youngsters. All 4 kept trying to get into the coop, for about 15 minutes. Apparently, they heard something stirring in the shrubs, and took off. It was the big opossum. It took off after about 10 minutes of trying to get in. Suddenly, two rats took off out of the coop, and ran into the field.

Dh was semi-freaking out, as he watched all the footage. He's very concerned. This morning, as I was leaving to go to the fair, he said something about live traps, yada yada, and I told him that for the next 3 nights, when I saw them (the camera does an audio alert too) I would take the tractor out, and chase them off. IF that didn't teach them to stay away, after 3 nights, I would go out, and shoot them. He was horrified. Suddenly, he remembered all the things I had bought 2 years ago, to put up electric fencing. For 2 years he's fought me about putting up electric fencing around my coop. HE's suddenly got this great idea to put up electric fencing, when he's off this weekend.

 

[getaclue]

I figured it would go well, when you got your hackles up. Congratulations!

 

[Blooie]

Oh, man, Clue! I thought MY life was exciting! Congrats on building such a secure setup, though! All of those attempts ending in failure for the doggone critters? That’s a heck of a success record!

 

[getaclue]

Thank you! When he was freaking out a bit earlier, worrying about the safety of my chickens, I told him this has been going on for awhile. He just found out about it. I reminded him that, I had good reasons for us building the coop the way I wanted it. While it made no sense to him at the time, he's starting to see why I insisted on certain things.