Merry Christmas

It seems like I am always a step or two behind these days. We have had a truly delightful holiday this year. We are so grateful fo family, friends, music, lights, too many goodies, but mostly for the birth of our Savior.

Christmas Jollies

Tonight Lon and I went to the Mall. It was pretty crazy. Our strategy is to be super patient, cheerful, kind, etc. A sort of "Kill 'em with kindness" mindset.
Lon was in the cell phone store (boring) and I was in a nearby store and bought a couple of things. He was thoroughly engrossed in the salesman's spiel about this phone and didn't notice me when I walked in. I walked up behind him and stood as closely as I could without quite touching him. He didn't do anything. Then I leaned into him. Still no response. I had the silent giggles so I had to lean back while I gained control, then I leaned again until I was actually moving him forward into the counter. Still nothing. Finally I couldn't stand it and gave him a shove! He noticed me and started laughing. I asked him if he even felt what I was doing. He replied that of course he felt me and thought I was just a really rude person.
It takes so little to amuse us (the clerk thought it was pretty funny, too).

It's official! I'm turning into my Mom.....

I am so fortunate to have fourteen beautiful grandchildren. Four go to school and the rest are preschoolers (we have three that will start kindergarten in the fall and four two year old's this year!). Trying to find toys for each of them has been terrible this year. It's true that anemia fits into the picture (I fade after less than two hours), but still two hours is two hours for a pro like me! The selection is so poor. I was trying to find a baby toy that didn't screech or flash or annoy. I also looked for a car or truck that could go in a sandbox and get hosed off and be sturdy. I couldn't get close. The toys are so over packaged and over priced and look like junk.

What does this have to do with my Mom? She claimed to love grocery shopping and hate shopping for clothes. She would wait until the last minute, then we'd go shopping. She'd reluctantly pick out a couple things to try on. She'd then look in those three-way mirrors and declare that she had to reduce! And that was that and shopping was over.
So she would send me off with explicit instructions what to buy for her (even shoes). The problem was that they hadn't made those styles in ten or twenty years. It was very frustrating. I ended up sewing many of her clothes and her shoes kept going and going.

Now I feel just like she does. I'd like to get some fun, sturdy toys that aren't overpriced, but I fear I'm ten or twenty years too late. I guess I'll just give a heads up to Karen--watch out!

So Grateful

I can't help but thinking that somewhere in the Central Valley there will be a Thanksgiving table set that is missing a place. That place belonged to the donor of my liver. Somebody's daughter, sister, wife, friend.....
I am so incredibly grateful for this gift of a better life that has been given to me by a stranger. How wonderfully kind and generous and compassionate.
I wonder if the decision was made long before or if it was made the morning I got the call to come to the hospital.
I think by now I would be on dialysis and the amyloid would be silently at work destroying other organs. Instead I cheer my weekly blood tests hoping my kidneys will be a little bit better. No more amyloid is being produced, so my other organs are now safe.
I am so grateful to this unknown young woman and her family. I am so grateful I can be with my family a little longer. Donating an organ truly is a gift of life.

Prednisone!!

So my official diagnosis was "mild to moderate rejection." It is treated by massive doses of prednisone. In the hospital I had 1500 mg. IV prednisone the first day and 1200 mg. IV the next day. I went home with a taper schedule beginning at 200 mg. (oral). I have heard that I should be able to fly around the room or at least have some spurts of crazy energy. The exact opposite seems to be occurring. I feel quite mellow and am sleeping no worse than before, actually maybe a little more. I find myself having to "force" myself to get anything done. It's really frustrating--it takes me forever to get the simplest stuff done.
I'm back to bruised arms--blood tests are back to twice a week. My lab results are improving--thank goodness for that!
It's tough learning patience the hard way, but I've decided that I am stronger than all this stuff going on!

Back to the hospital

Monday I had my regular labs. They were terrible. Early Tuesday we got the call to come to UCSF to be admitted and have a liver biopsy. We got here about noon and waited until about four for our room. As soon as we got here, they took me to ultrasound to mark the spot for the biopsy. It was quite a long ultrasound, They looked at all of the plumbing and tried to find a good spot for the needle biopsy. They finally decided on my right side between two ribs. They could go 2 cm to 6 cm deep. Yuck! they used a sharpie to mark an "X". But then the technician thought the mark would disappear, so he extended it to make a giant X. I may never get it off.

They were going to do it in my room. I had to be awake to cooperate (that's an oxymoron). I talked them into giving me some ativan before they numbed up the biopsy site. Then they got busy and got the sample. I looked at it. I thought it looked like a dinky piece of hamburger. The doctor thought it looked like a worm. Maybe we shouldn't be looking at this stuff. I then had to lay on that side for an hour, then my back for two hours. Then they took a blood sample to make sure I wasn't gushing blood into my gut. Then they had to wait for results. Since I had no food since dinner. only my nasty meds, I was a tad bit concerned. No breakfast, no lunch, and no one caring about dinner. Was I on Survivor or Candid Camera or something?

The squeaky wheel got some grease--but not much. I got a tray with chicken noodle soup that had been in a blender, a tiny carton of cranberry juice, and herbal tea.

I wanted to ask if my chewing abilities were impaired or even if I had teeth left. Finally the nurse got a hold of the doctor to give him a little tutorial on ordering meals and I finally got a real meal about 6.

Now the nitty gritty part--I took three tries from two nursrs to start an IV. It is on my wrist at a weird angle, but it works. The most painful part of the biopsy was the ativan going into my IV before the biopsy. It really burned! I truly didn't feel the needle getting the biopsy.

I get to come home late tomorrow. I am so grateful. There really is no place like home.

A good tip

I was recently talking to Brian about taking pills. Of all the different types of pills I've taken the sodium bicarbonate has been the one of the hardest to take. Some background--it is basically baking soda. Lon went to the pharmacy to pick it up and was told it is available over the counter. Easy. Not. It took him eight trips to four different drugstores to get it. It was way affordable too. Only about $8.00 for a hundred tablets. They are bigger than an aspirin and I think I took two in the morning and two in the evening. So what was the trouble? They were not coated or compressed or something like other pills, so every time I took one they started dissolving and making my mouth nasty and gaggy. It was bad.
Back to Brian. He told me that sodium bicarbonate tablets go down easy with some vinegar. Since I am a veteran of many a Cub Scout den meeting and many science fairs, I knew immediately that when sodium bicarbonate and vinegar are mixed there is an immediate and exciting reaction--lots of foaming and bubbling and sputtering. I called him on it right away and we were both laughing over it. Can you imagine a foaming mouth full of pills? Then he got a second good idea. He thought I should do it in front of Dad and scare him. I told him I had scared Dad enough and he didn't need any more scaring.
Incidentally, I have lots of leftover sodium bicarbonate tablets. If you'd like a few....