I we are nearing £750 (almost £900 including tax rebate). What is great is that friends of friends are starting to donate money and spread the world. This is great and I thank you all.
Today I feel pretty good - slept a bit and watched some TV. I am currently looking out of the valley and noticing how the trees have started to drop their leaves. Winter next..
I am back to Bristol tomorrow for dialysis at midday for 4 hours. Monday is plasma plus the next round of bloods and cross matching. It will be interesting to see what these results show. The hope is that the reactivity between the blood mixing starts to drop. I also hope that my hb has truly stabilised. Will keep you posted.
Showing posts with label dialysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dialysis. Show all posts
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Just got back from dialysis
Hi, Dialysis went ok tonight. My arm was burning toward the end, using a new needle site for the fistula and this was causing a bit of discomfort. I have plasma tomorrow in the morning and then am going back to Devon to stay with my parents until the next dialysis on Sunday.
I am looking forward to different scenery. For the past 7 weeks I have basically either been in my flat or at hospital avoiding human contact - it will all be worth it.
I am so thankful to everyone who has donated and is spreading the message about raising a million. The key is in the numbers - if we can all work together and tell people about the idea and the charity and that we are asking for
£2 plus telling 10 people about our fund raising effort that would be brilliant. When we get to a million I would like everyone who donated or told a friend to feel that they were a key part in raising a million.
A million thanks.
If by any chance you run a website or blog and want to be part of raising a million and would be kind enough to put the above widget on your site then please visit http://www.justgiving.com/amillionthanks and click on the promote this page link. You will be able to get the widget from there.
I am looking forward to different scenery. For the past 7 weeks I have basically either been in my flat or at hospital avoiding human contact - it will all be worth it.
I am so thankful to everyone who has donated and is spreading the message about raising a million. The key is in the numbers - if we can all work together and tell people about the idea and the charity and that we are asking for
£2 plus telling 10 people about our fund raising effort that would be brilliant. When we get to a million I would like everyone who donated or told a friend to feel that they were a key part in raising a million.
A million thanks.
If by any chance you run a website or blog and want to be part of raising a million and would be kind enough to put the above widget on your site then please visit http://www.justgiving.com/amillionthanks and click on the promote this page link. You will be able to get the widget from there.
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Weekend update
This weekend was good - I felt a lot better and managed to eat more and relax a bit. I am still pretty tired.
Went to dialysis on Sunday morning and managed 2 out of the 4 hours. When all the alarms went off in the unit on the machines. Someone had been doing maintenance on the water supply and the water went off. Basically when this happens the machines don't like it. After 20 mins you have to come off as the blood starts to get to cold.
I was taken off and asked if I wanted to stay until it was fixed. We had no idea how long that would take. I decided to come off - within 5 minutes it had been fixed. This basically meant I was 2 hours short of dialysis. At this stage I did not know if the transplant was going to happen on Friday or not so I said I would do 2 hours on Monday followed by 4 on Tuesday.
Plasma went fine on Monday and all the cross match bloods were done, at this point the indications of a transplant on Friday were good. I felt not so confident over this.
Dialysis was fine - 2 hours. My fistula is looking well used now. Got the nurse (who is great at needling my fistula to use a couple of new sites. That was fine. My hb was 9.6 - this is getting low. Speaking to the doctor we are hoping that is has now stabilized.
Went to dialysis on Sunday morning and managed 2 out of the 4 hours. When all the alarms went off in the unit on the machines. Someone had been doing maintenance on the water supply and the water went off. Basically when this happens the machines don't like it. After 20 mins you have to come off as the blood starts to get to cold.
I was taken off and asked if I wanted to stay until it was fixed. We had no idea how long that would take. I decided to come off - within 5 minutes it had been fixed. This basically meant I was 2 hours short of dialysis. At this stage I did not know if the transplant was going to happen on Friday or not so I said I would do 2 hours on Monday followed by 4 on Tuesday.
Plasma went fine on Monday and all the cross match bloods were done, at this point the indications of a transplant on Friday were good. I felt not so confident over this.
Dialysis was fine - 2 hours. My fistula is looking well used now. Got the nurse (who is great at needling my fistula to use a couple of new sites. That was fine. My hb was 9.6 - this is getting low. Speaking to the doctor we are hoping that is has now stabilized.
Friday, 7 September 2007
Pictures of dialysis
Some images from dialysis last night. I took these pictures - not great quality but they give you the idea.
The dialysis maching above with tubes attached. I have learnt to set the machine up which often saves time.
This is called the kidney. It basically does the job of the kidney using osmosis and diffusion. It draws the waste that your kidney get rid of and it also removes water.
My arm - you can see the bump (vein) and the red marks where they place the needles.
All hooked up - the blood leaves through the bottom needle and returns through the top needle.
The machine working...
The dialysis maching above with tubes attached. I have learnt to set the machine up which often saves time.
This is called the kidney. It basically does the job of the kidney using osmosis and diffusion. It draws the waste that your kidney get rid of and it also removes water.
My arm - you can see the bump (vein) and the red marks where they place the needles.
All hooked up - the blood leaves through the bottom needle and returns through the top needle.
The machine working...
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Tuesday - second day
Woke up at about 11am today. Had normal type of sleep on and off. Took a sleeping pill which helped. It seems that being on dialysis has a major effect on the ability to sleep. Many of us find this - I think the doctors should pay a bit more attention to these types of things. Normally they say see your GP - I am not sure this approach works with renal patients. Perhaps they need to make the communication better. I am lucky and I have an amazing GP and consultant who I can talk to openly and understand what is going on. But some of the reports I here from other patients is not as good.
Had some sad news yesterday - one of my fellow dialysis patients died on Sunday. I had been dialysing in the same slot as him for the past 18 months. So that is sad - he had major heart problems. Not much more I can say really, I tend not to get emotional over death - unless that person is very close to me. I feel that death comes to us all and have accepted that fact. When you have accepted that it actually makes living easier!
Dialysis in a couple of hours first time I would have dialysed on a tuesday - the television is shit as well which makes it boring. Probably take a dvd.
I am now on a full regime of antirejection drug in preparation for the transplant. I cant imagine what is happening inside my body at the moment. yesterday literally blasted all my white blood cells apart leaving with little immunity.
Had some sad news yesterday - one of my fellow dialysis patients died on Sunday. I had been dialysing in the same slot as him for the past 18 months. So that is sad - he had major heart problems. Not much more I can say really, I tend not to get emotional over death - unless that person is very close to me. I feel that death comes to us all and have accepted that fact. When you have accepted that it actually makes living easier!
Dialysis in a couple of hours first time I would have dialysed on a tuesday - the television is shit as well which makes it boring. Probably take a dvd.
I am now on a full regime of antirejection drug in preparation for the transplant. I cant imagine what is happening inside my body at the moment. yesterday literally blasted all my white blood cells apart leaving with little immunity.
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Dialysis
Dialysis went ok today. Arrived at 1 and set the machine up. Got on at 1.30 and away by 6 pm. Sundays are good - no waiting around. Normal wait time is between 1 to 2 hours. That can be a real drag.
Going to try and get a fairly early night tonight - after match of the day. Have followed the doctors orders to eat calcium to stop me becoming hypocalciumic during plasmapheresis. Basically been eating cheese and drinking milk..
Not much else to say. Emotionally feel pretty stable and have not got butterflies yet. I am not looking for to having all the drugs put into me - basically in one day I will go from having a pretty normal immune system to basically nothing. But it is best not to think of that. I am given anti viral drugs and antibiotics to to and offer some protection.
It makes me think when people complain about having to take antibiotics - come and join my world tomorrow, that would stop the complaining.
Going to try and get a fairly early night tonight - after match of the day. Have followed the doctors orders to eat calcium to stop me becoming hypocalciumic during plasmapheresis. Basically been eating cheese and drinking milk..
Not much else to say. Emotionally feel pretty stable and have not got butterflies yet. I am not looking for to having all the drugs put into me - basically in one day I will go from having a pretty normal immune system to basically nothing. But it is best not to think of that. I am given anti viral drugs and antibiotics to to and offer some protection.
It makes me think when people complain about having to take antibiotics - come and join my world tomorrow, that would stop the complaining.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)