It's been a while...

Well summer has come and gone, the days are shorter and darker...

We successfully did a few trips this summer.  Dwayne was able to do dialysis in Calgary, Abbotsford & Powell River.  Too bad we couldn't collect airmiles!  All in all it was fantastic to have some time away.  As much as dialysis is a nuisance while traveling it is nice to be able to spend time with friends & family.

Now that fall has settled in we continue the rise & fall of Dwayne's health.  He is coming back from quite a dramatic weight loss which had me quite concerned and they have been balancing out his dry weight.  If I haven't described "dry weight" before it is Dwayne's weight without any fluid on board, his ideal weight.  Every time he goes to dialysis he has to weigh in.  This weight tells the nurses how much fluid he has above his dry weight (ie. everything he has drank, every ounce of fluid retained from food etc.) as Dwayne does not get rid of fluid like the rest of us.  The dialysis machine then filters out that fluid, as well as takes out any toxins and hopefully brings him back to that dry weight.  So if the dry weight is incorrect (too low) he can suffer really bad cramping in his legs, hands, feet but if the dry weight is too high he will have too much fluid on board causing problems with the fluid building up around his chest (very painful, makes it hard to breathe).  This was the battle we faced the last couple of months but it is starting to stabilize now. 

Dwayne is also having problems with his fistula (the vein/artery in his arm where they insert the needles).  It appears there is a clot which means he is going in for emergency surgery within the next week or so.  This is VERY painful afterwards as his arm is so sensitive and he has to continue dialysis following the surgery pretty much right away.  It is times like these I realize how tuff my softy husband is!

There is one more surgery being planned and that is to go back into Dwayne's neck.  It looks like they will have to remove more of his parathyroid.  This too is a painful procedure as Dwayne literally gets cut right across the neck!  (He will tell you it was when he was playing hockey and some guys skate got him in the neck...boys-insert eye roll).

So that is the latest...we will tackle these things before we meet with the doctors again to discuss options for a transplant.  Life is changing for us so we shall see what is on the horizon!