Monday June 25th,  by Lisa

(I made this a two parter  because it is lengthy.)

Many of you know about this part of my life but many of you do not.  In 2010 my husband Mark  found out quite suddenly that he was in kidney failure.  He had gone to the doctor for routine blood work and they called the following day to say that his creatnine level was unusually high and wanted him to have a renal ultrasound.

Mark has had high blood pressure for many years. Whether the kidney problem was due to the high blood pressure or the high blood pressure  caused the kidney problem who knows.  It could have been a shock to his system that threw everything out of whack.

Mark has always had a kidney that had never formed properly so basically he only had one good functioning kidney.  He did not know this until he was an adult.

I will never forget the day that he told me the hospital had called to have him come in and do an ultrasound.  He had not experienced any problems with urination or anything like that but his ankles were always swollen. He told me this was because he had to wear boots to work.  You know when you have one of those moments that you just know is going to change your life? well this was one of those.  It was a Tuesday in April 2010.  We were at home in the kitchen and I just had this feeling that our lives were about to change forever.

On the day of the ultrasound I was at home and just before the appointment time the hospital called and had some questions about an appointment they were setting up with a doctor I was not familiar with.  The appointment was for Mark and I ask what kind of doctor this was and the lady on the phone said the doctor was a nephrologist.  I said why does he need to see a nephrologist and she said ” because he is in kidney failure”!!!!!  my heart almost stopped. ( I don’t know who this woman was but I still want to drag her through the phone and slap her for the way she delivered that information to me.)

I cancelled an appointment I had that day so I could be at the ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that although there was no problem urinating the kidneys were not filtering as they should.

We later met with Mark’s primary care physician and he explained that the creatinine level should not be that high it was about 4 and a normal level is 0.5-1.2 for adults.   Something was going on and he wasn’t sure what. He told us rather matter of factly that in the near future Mark would probably be put on dialysis.  He set an appointment for the nephrologist for later the next week.

When we met with the nephrologist he also told Mark he was in kidney failure and had only about 30% kidney function. This would continue to decline but he could be put on a diet and medication regimen that could slow down the decline. He recommended he get the port installed for the dialysis. I asked about a kidney transplant and he said you were not eligible for a transplant until you had been in dialysis at least a few years. We later found out this was BS.  I asked if I could be tested and he said I would first have to have a kidney biopsy and this was very painful and dangerous. We also found out later this was BS.  All of this information was coming from our local doctors.  Mark had been seeing his doctor every six months.  We could never understand why Mark’s  creatinine  level was getting higher through the last few years and this was the first time we were hearing anything about it.

After hearing all of this we decided it was time for a second opinion.  A woman I worked with had a son with severe kidney problems and he had gone to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville and had gotten great results.

I called Vanderbilt and set the appointment but they couldn’t see us until the end of June. Vanderbilt is about a four hour drive for us. In the meantime we had a cruise scheduled for the Caribbean. We decided to go ahead with the cruise and Mark would watch his diet and take his meds.

 

  At Grand Cayman, one of the stops on our cruise.

The cruise was a lot of fun but with the worry of the kidney issue it did sort of cloud everything. We just wanted to get back home and get to  Vanderbilt for the tests.

The tests at Vanderbilt revealed the same thing. Mark was in kidney failure. However the doctors there had a different approach. They wanted him to have a kidney transplant.  They would do additional tests to get him on the National Kidney Transplant list.

Here are some  facts from the National Kidney Foundation:

Another thing was that Vanderbilt Medical Center was not in our network for insurance so we were receiving some crazy medical bills. I was afraid to go to the mailbox. Once Mark got put on the Transplant list he went into a National Network and he was covered but we still racked up a lot of medical bills prior to that. If your doctor is  not in the Network the insurance doesn’t have to pay 50% like you probably think or have heard.  They can actually pay whatever amount they choose.

The doctors at Vanderbilt wanted Mark to find a kidney donor otherwise it could take five years to get a kidney.  How do you ask someone for a kidney?

I knew that I was the same blood type and I immediately wanted to be tested.

Part 2 coming up on Wednesday.  I love this story and the way it worked out.  I love to tell it because I hope it will encourage living kidney donation.

Love your day your way.

Wednesday, June 13th by Lisa

Good morning,  how is your week going? how about your summer?

I decided a few weeks ago that I would take a week off from work and just do some things that I wanted and needed to do. I decided on this week.  June 11-15.

Our summer at work is getting ready to kick in and I knew there was no way I could take time off then.

Even though the Hubs could only get a couple of those days off , I wanted to get some things done for me and around the house.  We could then spend a day or two doing some fun things together.

Now of course me being the Type A person that I am I immediately made a list of things I wanted to get done such as:

Clean my floors

Clean my yard and cut my shrubs and plant some flowers

Take items to goodwill

Get a mani-pedi

Buy a car

Post some things on Poshmark

Have some quality time with my sisters and friends

Go to a Smokies game

Work on several blog posts

Read a couple of books I haven’t had time to read

Clean out my garage

I looked back over this list and thought, woman you are crazy!!!!  just because I’m not going out of town doesn’t mean I have to stay home and kill myself.  But never fear life stepped in and kept me from doing damage to myself by trying to get all of these things done.

You know they say that life happens when you are busy making plans, and that is exactly what happened here.

I have mentioned that my mother in law fell and broke her hip a couple of months back.  She had a total hip replacement. She has had a lot of problems with this including a serious infection where the prosthesis almost had to be removed to clear up the infection.

Anyway she has been staying in a rehab facility about an hour from us.  The facility called a few days ago and told us she was being released yesterday.  We had talked to her about going to an assisted living facility to try to get her a little more prepared for going home.  So that was the plan but we had no idea we would get such short notice.

I had to go into overdrive to get her to the doctor and get a release from the doctor and have her IVs removed, and try to get a room at the facility which is closer to us.  this is still an ongoing process with a lot of steps involved so we will just take it a step and a day at a time.

I guess I am disappointed that a lot of the things I wanted to get done won’t.  But it is also a good thing that I have time to get these things taken care of for my mother in law.  She can’t do them on her own and it is just me and my husband to take care of everything.

I planted some Marigolds over the weekend they are my favorite summer flowers

I did get to spend the day with my sister yesterday. We always have such a wonderful time together.  We hang out and bounce ideas off of each other, bitch, moan and complain and laugh ourselves silly. We did some shopping, had Starbucks and went to see a movie.   That is what we both needed yesterday.  She also went car shopping with me. She has a really good eye and is a stickler for details.  She asks all the questions I don’t think of.  (More about our car buying adventures in a later post)

So it is Wednesday and I think I will go back through that list and choose some fun family and friends things to do.  Life is too short to worry about cleaning  when you can be having a good time right?   I have to remember to take my own advice and live in the moment and keep it real.  I am headed outside to enjoy my coffee in this cool morning air.  What are you doing this summer?

 

Love your day your way

 

Tuesday, June 5, by Lisa

 

Yes I know it is Tuesday and not Monday but I didn’t get around to this last night for obvious reasons. Refer back to the title.

Yesterday I started the day with an early morning appointment in Knoxville at the UT Veterinary Medical Center. My little Scruffy was going to get his cataracts checked out to see if anything  could be done to regain some of his sight.  You may remember that Scruffy came into our family back in February. He was homeless and dumped out or Lost, we’re not sure.  He found his way to my sister’s house.  She was not ready to have another dog so she called me and  I saw him and fell in love. The next day I took him to the vet and had him checked out. He had a bad yeast infection on his skin and was malnourished and had cataracts.   I decided to keep him.

We got all of his issues taken care of. We could not find an owner and he had not been chipped.  I knew that we would have to address the cataracts. The vet determined that he was only about 6 or 7 years old.  Since then Scruffy has become such a part of our family I don’t know what we would do without him.

The Veterinary Medical Center is about an hour drive. We got there and was taken right back. The Vet Tech, Leslie, ran several tests on Scruffy’s eyes.  Dr. Ward came in to discuss other tests that he would need to determine whether or not Scruffy was a candidate for cataract surgery.  The tests would take approximately three to four hours.  I had the option of leaving Scruffy and picking him up later in the day, or returning with him at another time.  Having to schedule the tests at a later date would mean delaying the surgery if he was able to have it.  I decided to leave and pick him up a little later.

Since I had a few hours to kill I decided to head over to the mall and grab something  to eat at the food court and do some work while I was there.  After a quick trip to the bathroom I placed my food order and took it to a table.  I reached for my phone and it was not in my bag.  I often do this and keep searching and finally come up with it. But not this time.  I realized I had left my phone in the bathroom, probably in the stall or on the sink.  I had just gotten my food so I didn’t want to throw it out.  I spotted an elderly couple at a nearby table and went over and said ” would you please watch my food while I go and search for my phone?”  they did.  they were adorable.  I ran back to the bathroom in a panic thinking about everything I couldn’t do without my phone.  I hate to be that dependent on it but I am.  I ran back to the bathroom stall and there it was on top of the tissue dispenser.   At this point I had to question my sanity.

After working for about an hour I decided to walk around the mall and check out the shops.  You know it is really sad but the malls are just not what they used to be.  Many many stores are closed and shops are moving to the strip malls.  This leaves a lot of vacant space.  It seems like such a waste.

I finally headed back to the Veterinary Medical Center.  It was almost 5:00 and I wanted to beat Knoxville rush hour traffic if possible.  I went in and Leslie came out to discuss Scruffy and the tests.  She said Scruffy had two mature cataracts that were ready to come off. This is called phacoemulsification. How do you like that word?   All of his other tests were good. The surgery will take place in two weeks.

We did hit rush hour traffic and it took us until after 7:00 pm to get home. Y’all Scruffy and I were wiped out.  We hit the couch and watched TV the rest of the night.

A manic but good day because my Scruffy will be able to see again.  I can’t wait until the surgery is behind him.  He is such a good boy and he stole everyone’s heart while he was at the Medical Center.

Soooo how was your Monday?

Love your day your way

Sunday, June 3, 2018 by Lisa

Hey Y’all,  can you believe it is June?  Where has this year gone

I have been MIA over here at SP.  This time of year is a little crazy with my regular job.  Since blogging is a hobby for me it sometimes has to be the first thing to put off when I get really busy with other things. But  I want you to know I have really missed sharing with you.

I don’t know about you and I honestly hope that your situation is not like mine.  I sometimes feel like clutter is taking over my life. Throw in the fact that my husband wants to keep EVERYTHING he has ever owned in his life and that makes it doubly hard. My sister Sandy  has a great mantra that she uses . There’s a  place for everything, and if it doesn’t have a place then get rid of it.  I love it. If you don’t have a place for it do you need it taking up space?  I think not.

Now don’t get me wrong I am fortunate and blessed to be able to have extra clothes, books, items, food. I clear out and donate things regularly but it has become overwhelming.  I hate that feeling. My closets are bursting at the seams. Most of the time my bedroom looks like my closet and dresser have just thrown up.

When I realized I was still wearing winter clothes, because I didn’t want to tackle digging out my spring clothes, I knew I had to do something.  After all this is June it is getting very warm here in the south haha.

I am going to Eat That Frog. If you still haven’t read this book I mentioned in an earlier post,  I highly suggest you do. It has helped me learn to break down all projects into manageable bites to get them completed.

So here goes with my Clutter project step one.  The first thing to organize will be my clothes.   I am going to try to tackle it in three steps.

Step 1.
I got out all of the winter clothes that needed to be sorted.  Luckily I have a room that I use as a small den and I can put stuff in here while I work on it.  You can see I have a little visitor there.  Can you find the Kitty in this picture?

Step 2:
I put the clothes into separate categories  One for storing away until winter. One for Goodwill and One for items to sell on Poshmark.  I will have the Poshmark items up in a few days. You can look for me on Poshmark at sheknowsclothes.

Step 3:
The clothes have been divided into separate tubs.   I did this on a Saturday so I had a lot of time but you could do this over a period of several days to get your project done.   This has been something I have been putting off.  I knew I needed to get rid of a lot of things but actually, 1. Getting them out in the open 2. Sorting them into the appropriate category and 3. Moving them out whether it be to donation, storage or selling has uncluttered by closets a little and my mind a lot. HA HA!!!!

So let me know how you deal with your clutter, do you “Eat That Frog”

Love Your Day your Way!!!!