Monday, July 30, 2012

More independence for Glenn

Glenn continues to feel much better. His dialysis 4 times a day is pretty routine for him. He hasn't been able to start the night time dialysis simply because the nurse who does the training is backed up with people to train. But soon it will be his turn. He actually has most of his hair grown back on his head and it's time to cut it. He had to  start changing his dressing on his tube because I went to help our daughter out with an urgent issue a couple weeks ago. Now he does it all on his own. :-)  He has made remarkable progress with that. This week he will be home alone for almost 4 days because I am going on a camping trip with some friends from church. He was signed up to go, but he started dialysis since we signed up for the trip. I'm having mixed feelings about going, but I'm going anyway. He will make his first trip to G'ville alone while I'm gone. I told him to put his phone on speaker and let me hear everything the Dr. says because when I get the information from him, it's never quite what the Dr. has said. I try to take good notes whenever we talk to any of the Dr.s.  I don't like not being there for his appointment but it's on the first day of the camping trip and he feels fine about going without me. I'll give you a report of what happens at his appointment on the other side of the camping trip.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Happy Birthday, Glenn

Today is Glenn's 61st birthday. He had a wonderful day. Our daughter AND one of our sons, (Joey) came to church with us today and took us out to lunch afterward. They came home with us for a while and Joey cleaned Glenn's gun for him. Our other son, Andy, came over and took us over to Glenn's sister's so we could go for a ride in their boat. He LOVES riding in boats. Oh, and yesterday he got to be on the radio, Flighttime Radio. He really enjoyed that a lot, too. He's tired but very content now.
He continues to feel better, although he said he hits a wall and realizes that he's not completely back to wellness yet. But he's happy for what health he has at this point. And he is totally amazed that he has made it to 61. He wasn't expecting to make it much past 35 the way he treated his body when he was younger, and then not past a year, with his diagnosis. I think he will be surprised how many more years he will get to enjoy.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Uneventful days continue

Hello all, Things continue to be pretty uneventful here. Glenn has gotten used to doing his dialysis. Tomorrow we go to the (dialysis) clinic for a check up and we're hoping he will be trained for the night time dialysis. He is feeling pretty good over all. His weight has stayed pretty much level at a low point, but he looks like he has  a little more muscle than he did two weeks ago. He was happy that he was able to go to church two Sundays in a row. This past Sunday he even wore regular dress pants, with the shirt tucked in and a belt on! That's the first time in many months that he's been able to do that comfortably. We are still two and a half weeks away from his appt in G'ville when we will find out if he will have to start on chemo again. We actually miss that "community"  and seeing everyone there. I've heard people say that they become like family; well I'm here to attest to that. We might just make an appt to have his labs done just to make sure everything is ok, (and to see everyone ;-)  ). His "port" that is used for IV access is supposed to be flushed at least every two or three weeks anyway. We won't let anyone here touch it since our experiences in the ER and hospital stay. They don't know what to do with it and it requires certain sterile care because it is a direct access to a major artery and infection in it would be a serious thing.
So, anyway, that's about all there is to report.  A much welcomed boring period for us.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Lull

OOOOOHHH, I hate it when that happens! Some how what I just entered erased! I wish I knew what button I push that does that. Any ideas anyone?

Well, as I said in the last entry, things would probably be pretty uneventful for a while, and it has been pretty much that. Glenn has gotten over the shock of doing dialysis and the process has become pretty routine for him. He still won't look at the site of the tube coming out of his stomach when it is uncovered. I told him we would take it one step at a time. Last night was the first step: he didn't hold the pillow up over his eyes when I changed the dressing. He said he watched almost all of it except when the dressing was off. He knows he has to be able to look at the site if he wants to take a shower. He has been given the go-ahead to take a shower, but that's the one thing that holds him back. It's a good incentive for him to make himself be able to look at the site.
He found out that the reason he was so skinny and was so drained was that he actually was drained--too much. He was dehydrated from taking so much fluid off. There are 3 (actually 4) strengths of solution to use  and he was using the strongest for every exchange so he was taking off too much fluid. (Didn't I say that? But, nooo, he had to hear it from a professional nurse.) So he has gotten more balanced and he's feeling better and adding a few pounds on now. He's hoping that soon he can start doing the nighttime dialysis and won't have to be doing exchanges 4 times a day. 
The oncologist is gone on a month vacation so we don't see him for a few more weeks. We will know at that time if he is going to start Glenn on chemo again. He will check some of his lab levels and see what they have done to determine that. So for now, Glenn's hair is growing back in and he's feeling fairly well. He has recovered from the soreness of the surgery and is moving around well. He still "needs" his nightly foot rubs. (I'm just too good to him.) It's nice to have a lull between stressful events, to catch our breath. TTFN.