Memorial Day

The Memorial Day week-end was like many other weeks in that it had ups and downs.

It takes a while to adjust to dialysis. The machine’s “coverage” has to be adjusted and the drugs they give during the process have to be adjusted plus Dan’s body has to adjust to the dialysis process. He was carrying too much fluid this week and it backed up to his lungs and caused breathlessness.

Additionally he is severely anemic (even though he is receiving epogen which builds red blood cells) and this also causes breathlessness. (There are not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen.) This whole thing of Dan not being able to catch his breath scares me to death. Fortunately his nurse noticed and acted on it during Tuesday’s regular blood test and we ended up at Dr. Hranac’s office and now Dan is scheduled for a blood transfusion on Wednesday…plus they took off more fluid during dialysis. I think we both feel better already.

Definite “up’s” over the week-end included: attending Friday’s coffee group; having Chris, Sara, Jim, Bridget, Ryan, and Alexa over for Sunday brunch; going to Dick and Sharon’s house for supper on Monday; and…drum roll….a goal was achieved when Dan roared around town in his Corvette on Monday morning with me clutching the armrest on the passenger side and yelling at him to slow down.

Finally someone calls or e-mails every day to lend a listening ear and offer support. That is a definite “up.”