Hallejuah

Saw my  kidney doctor this morning.  After such a terrible week and the hospital stay due to the high potassium, it has come back down to a normal level.  But the kicker is I've got to go back on the blood pressure medicine that made it shoot up so high in the first place.  My blood pressure is down and has been down for 2 weeks with the exception of the jump because of the high potassium scare.  I guess it's going to be a problem for a while and blood testing 2 times a week for another month to make sure it doesn't jump back up.  Then when it does we'll go thru it all over again  I know I am not I eating another banana.  Never liked them in the first place but I tolerated eating them because the potassium was low!

And the second hallejuah is the sun in out and has been for 2 days and above freezing both days so it's slowly slipping away.  By Thursday which will be the week anniversary we had -20 we are suppose to have 73!  The joke is "In Arkansas if you don't like the weather just hang loose it will change".  But I'll take 73 in February any day!

Last night we took our first born grandson out to dinner for his 20th birthday!  I know somewhere during that time he had 19 other birthdays but I sure thought he was still around 5 years old...oh, they tell me that's the way I treat him.  He'll always be my baby and he'll get his birthday card, Valentine card, Halloween card and his Christmas stocking as long as he's my grandson.  And of course the cards have that proverbial green stuff in it...started with $5 then went to $10 and now it's gone up again.  I have 4 grandchildren and they all look forward to their "cards" .... I may be old but I ain't no old fool cause I know it's not the card but what's in the card they want.

So with those words of wisdom, I'm saying "goodnight, Gracie" and off to bed.

You Won't Believe this!

Monday I went to Dr. Hannon to get my blood work done.  Been going twice a week but the potassium was coming up so they cut it to once a week and naturally with the bad weather last week I didn't go in.  So Monday morning we were there bright and early.  Had a great day, we ran errands, had lunch out, went to Victory Walk where we volunterr with people who have spinal Chord injuries, to help those guys out, stopped by to see my sister at work, went by to see the guys at "my" office and then picked Bobby, my brother in law, up at dialysis.  Had a great afternoon and was feeling great.  Came home and we were going to pick up our friend Joy and go to a family  funeral visitation of a guy we use to work with.  Were just walking out the door when Dr. Alam's office called and said "go immediately to the hospital ER and he will probably admit you.  Your potassium is way too high".  Scared the pee jeevies out of me and you can imagine what it did to my blood pressure.  Well, we get there at 5:45 and sign in.  Have to wait about 15 minutes before the admitting person called my name and then all she did was take vitals.  Then had to go sit and wait for about an hour before the triage nurse called us to her office where all she did was ask me why I was there and what I was allergic to.  When I told her about Alam's call they began to look for orders so I wouldn't have to sit and wait with the hundred other "sick" people.  So they couldn't find them so that meant I had to wait another hour before the insurance lady called you to her window and took all your personal info, drivers license and insurance card.  Then we had to wait another long time.  At 8:15 I finally got back to the ER exam room and boy did they start busting their behinds to take care of me.  Dr. Alam wanted them to do all the workup and recheck the potassium to make sure it was as high as it was and then admit me.  They put me in bed, after I went to pee and they told me didn't need to catch it.  Then guess what...yep I had to drink lots of water in order to hit the cup.  From then on it was DO NOT GET OUT OF THIS BED!  They rolled in with the EKG machine, then Xrays, then the vampire came in, then came the IV's and they pushed medicine in for the potassium.  On top of all of that, I had to drink a caramel chocolate milkshake (yeah sure it was) in order to clean me out...if you get my drift.  And let me tell you as soon as it hit my belly it worked.  So they brought in a potty chair and before Joe, nurses and anyone else who came in well it wasn't a pretty sight!  For about an hour that went on.  They have to watch your heart because at any time I could have had a heart attack - either while the potassium was so high or while they were bringing it down.  So I'm hooked up on heart monitors and also given a breathing treatment because the albuterol in the treatment meds pushed the potassium into your system so you can absorb it.They we had to wait because you have to stay under observation overnight.  It was 1:30 this morning before I got in a room and from then on it was one person after the other.  Today I saw 7 different doctors but the blood pressure is back to normal and the potassium has come down to normal and knowing me by Friday when I have to go back to the doctor it will be too low because that's where it usually stays.  Talk about a fun day.

 

Anyway, I'm home.  Feeling okay and the weird thing is I never felt bad with the exception of Sunday I was dizzy, nauseous and had an upset stomach which I now find out are symptoms of high potassium.  It lasted about 4 hours and I had the best day I've had in a long time on Monday.  And on top of all that I find out my right lung has a wheezing in it and I have a urinary tract infection which may be coming from my kidney and had to start an antibiotic for that. 

 

I guess this is just going to be a way of life from now on!  Keep praying!

1

Snow, Snow and more Winter weather

Well, nothing new to report on my health other than - great blodd pressure news.  We've probably hit the right medication because my bp is holding around 123/68.  Not bad for someone who has been running 200/104,  Didn't make it to the doctor to have my potassium level checked.  Gonna try to do it tomorrow if the weather holds. 

We've lots and lots of snow and winter weather this week.  Kids were out of school for 4 days.  That just means they will have to go longer this summer.  We are suppose to have 5 more inches by Wednesday.  Our street is still in bad shape but the main roads were pretty clear this afternoon.  We got out just to run to Office Depot for printer color ink.  Thankfully Office Depot is only about 2 blocks from the house.

I've been working on my Hawaii scrapbook and it takes a lot of ink to print pictures.  Probably will just take my disk to Walgreens and print them off.  But Joe's going to have to help me with where they were taken.  The scentery all looks the same - BEAUTIFUL!

I will see Dr. Alam this comint Saturday for my first trip since I was in St. Louis.  He'll probably run all new kidney tests to see where I am.  Will keep you posted.

Stay warm and happy and healthy!