August 14

Dialysis on Saturday went well. I went weighing 68.2 kg and left weighing 67.0 kg. They took off 2000 cc of fluid, as well as balancing my blood chemistry and removing wastes (which is what normally takes place in dialysis). There was only one small problem. When the technician put in the needle for the return access (the arterial side), my vein started to swell up. She called over the nurse who merely moved the needle over a little bit. She said that the technician had probably scratched the wall of the vein. They were worried that they had poked the needle all the way through the vein (called infiltration), which is a common problem for dialysis patients. This would be a problem as I would then have bleed all into my arm. Fortunately, this didn't happen. In fact, once they started the treatment, the swelling went back down to normal.

Just to compare, a friend of mine from church just had her baby. She ended up getting a C-section done. Her son was 9 pounds, 12 ounces at birth. We talked about how uncomfortable it was to have something that large stuck inside your abdomen. I'll have to ask her (when she gets out of the hospital) how many staples she ended up getting. Her bonus is that she ended up with a baby, while all I got was to not be in horrible pain anymore. I don't recommend the nephrectomy to anyone, in case you're wondering.

Here are my current Prayer Requests:

• Jenny started teaching last Monday, which puts me at being home alone again (until I get back to work). Please pray for her as it has been a stressful summer and she was not ready to get started working again.
• I have an appointment with my cardiologist on Friday. Pray that she will be able to figure out what is going on with my blood pressure and heart rate and to get them under control so that there aren't any problems.