But we have had many changes and new things in our lives so the blog has been pushed aside for a while but we are back in business!
First, our schedule. With dialysis still 3 nights a week we are adjusting back to our crazy schedule of rushing home from work, letting the dogs out real quick, and then rushing to dialysis. It's been a bit of a challenge with Alice back at school because the dogs don't get to go out as much and Finnick is adjusting to the new schedule but overall, they are doing well with it. Tuesday/Thursday nights (or non-dialysis nights) Alice has started working at Curves a workout facility for women only. (She also works Saturdays there) but it has been a nice part-time job where she gets to help women care about their health and workout herself!!!! Though, this does present the challenge of when are we going to cook and clean but we are slowly adjusting.
We have been blessed by our families who have helped out in many ways whether it is helping with meals, bringing us meals, driving us around when our cars don't work, or helping out with our boys, OR JUST PRAYING FOR US!!! We can say that we truly have the best families around!!!
We are always asked...How is David doing? Well my (Alice) standard answer is he is doing OK. With CKF (cronic kidney failure) and dialysis you will always have your good days and your bad days. Our prayers are that there will be more good days than bad days. For the most part there have been more good days. Our biggest battle right now is keeping David's blood pressure from dropping during dialysis. It's crazy because we used to worry about his BP being too high but now that it is controlled we have to worry about it tanking during treatment. The staff at the dialysis center have been great about trying different tricks to keep his BP up but we usually have, at least a few times a week, and issue with it going too low. David and typically feel when it is starting to tank and we can do something about it, but sometimes when he is coming off the machine it is hard to control and he doesn't always meet the requirements to go home (top number has to be over 100). But the staff has always been able to get him there eventually and we go home without too much delay.
We have received some news concerning David's transplant status that is a little discouraging. Basically David's Antibodies percentage is higher than we thought and this could mean a longer wait for a kidney. (It's more complicated than that but I (alice) and still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing). We are still doing more research on options and what this means exactly, but we realize we may be in this thing for longer than we expected.
The one piece of hope we can hold on to is we have been told by many sources that David's quickest and best chance of getting a kidney transplant is with a living donor or the Donor Exchange Program. A living donor would mean someone gets tested to be a match for David (requirement..you need to currently have 2 kidneys) and if you match you will give David one of your kidneys. The Donor Exchange Program is where someone WANTS to donate to David but they don't match him (whether it be blood type or antibodies) and that person would donate to someone else who has a person who would then donate to David. The donations would happen at the same time. This could be across the country even. (Example, You want to donate to David but you don't match him, they put you into a system and cross-match you with people all over the country. Once they match you with someone who has someone who matches David...they do the transplant. So your kidney would go to someone and their person's kidney would go to David. Clear as mud?!?!)
It's hard for us to ask someone to do this. It is a gift we can NEVER repay anyone for. But we also realize this is the chance of getting David off of dialysis and back to a "normal life". We know our God is BIG, we know He has a perfect plan and HE knows already who will give David a kidney. We know that but we also need to realize we can't just sit back and do nothing. We need to do our part in educating people on the importance of organ and tissue donation.
Life right now is not easy. David and I are limited in what we do, where we go, and much more. But we are blessed by a support system that is our saving grace. Our families and close friends have meant the world to us through this last year. We would be lost without them. We have realized who our supportive and close friends are, and what friendships we need to work on. We have realized how important our parents and siblings are to us and how much they love us. We have realized how much David and I need each other. We have grown so much closer to each other and our love has grown SO much. Marriage is more than hearts and flowers. When we vowed to each other to be there in sickness and in health I have come to realize how deep of a commitment that is and how much I want to honor that commitment. Some people when they get married simply say their vows (and we were probably guilty of that) but after almost 5 years, I am realizing how much those vows are true, and what they actually mean.
Well this post has turned out to be SO much longer than I originally anticipated. But I guess I had a lot to say! Hopefully there won't be so much time in between posts anymore, and I will be more faithful in updating. Maybe I will even talk David into hosting a post in the future! I am going to try to leave you with some pictures to describe our life the past few months...If I can remember how to load them!!
Thank you friends for your support and prayers!!!
~DAB!
