Double Surgery!

I know, double surgery sounds pretty bad. I probably should have title this post: "More News from the Doctor" or perhaps "What I've Learned" instead of Double Surgery. But, I did not. Now that you are tired of me explaining my choices, I guess I should talk about my surgery.

So, if you've been reading, you've noticed that I've been complaining of a chronic cough for a couple of months now. My nephrologist scheduled a CT scan for me on July 14, and they looked at my chest and sinuses. From there, I was referred to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor (or ENT for short - and no, not the Ents from Lord of the Rings). This doctor looked at my CT results, and looked up my nose, and said that I would need surgery to fix my problem.

I would normally have complained about surgery, except that this is what the kidney doctor had recommended as well. Since the two doctor had never spoken, I am going to guess that the opinion of two doctors is probably pretty good.

So, you've all read the post about my CT scan results by now. And, if you haven't, then go read it at: http://nmccart.blogspot.com/2008/07/many-tests-later.html

I am going to have a "Nasal Septal Reconstruction" to relieve my Deviated Nasal Septum. I am also having "Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery" to relieve my Chronic Sinusitis. What does this mean? The first one, the NSR (as I choose to call it) will fix my deviated septum. It's basically the seperation between the two sides of your nose. Mine is not straight, and they are going to fix it. It should help me breathe and drain better. The second surgery, or FESS (that doesn't sound as good as NSR did) is to clean the sinus polyps out of my sinus cavity (in my cheeks). I think they must have been there a while, because they are a decent size, and I have a runny nose ALL the time.

The surgeries will be on Monday, August 11, in Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. It is outpatient surgery, so I should not be there more than a few hours. All I have to do now is to pick up my CT charts and pre-register. (The doctor wanted to look at the actual scans before doing any work).

Please pray that the surgery goes well and that I recover quickly. It should not be a long reocvery, but I am looking forward to getting rid of this cough and possibly even breathing easier all the rest of the time!

Enjoy your week everyone. I'll try to blog again after the surgery.

Nathan Finally Does Something (Unlike a Pirate)

Previously, you may have heard me blog something about having actually done something for a vacation. Well, it's true!

I have decided that I much prefer being post-transplant than mid-dialysis. This summer, for the first time since our anniversary, Jenny and I went on an actual vacation. We spent five days (including drive time) visiting a friend of Jenny's that lives just outside of San Antonio. We visited Sea World and the Riverwalk, and had a wonderful time.

As a dialysis patient, setting up a vacation of this length would have been quite a pain. I would have needed to coordinate with my clinic to have my treatments done while I was in San Antonio, and to have my labs and information all transferred down there and then to hope that everything was ready for me when I arrived. I would also not have enjoyed walking around at Sea World all day, as I was anemic while on dialysis.

As a post-transplant patient, things were much different. All I had to do to plan was to bring lots of sun block and remember to pack up enough medication for the whole trip. It's amazing what a working kidney will do for you. I was able to enjoy our trip, walk around all day, and not feel sick the whole time.

In addition, my dad came to visit us here in Texas about a week or so after we returned from San Antonio. It was nice to see him while he was here, and we got a chance to go and visit the Dallas World Aquarium, to which I had not been in several years. He had not been down to see our new house in person, so it was nice to get to visit with him for several days.

And, finally this summer, Jenny and I are going to back Arkansas to visit with my mom. This is not an unusual journey for us since the transplant, but it's always nice. I've enjoyed the fact that we hired a new person at work to do part of my job so that I am able to take vacations.

So, that's a big pile of good news.

And now, I have a special mention that I would like to make for my aunt (who lives in New Mexico). You may recall that she participated in a PKD walk last year and was able to raise a LOT of money to fund research. Well, this year, she is working with the Datil Educators Club to help them raise money. Here is some more information concerning the Datil Educator's Club:

This group gives a scholarship to a sixth grade student at the Datil Elementary School in the amount of (at least) $500. This money is given to the student upon graduation from Quemado High School.

They are also the Agency that supports the USDA Commodities program in Datil. We distribute the Commodities that are available and supplement the boxes by purchasing food from the Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque.

She has set up an account with Goodsearch.com to help earn the Dail Educator's Club some money. Here is the information:

What if Datil Educators Club earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities that its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodSearch.com also has a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores, including Amazon, Target, the Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause (the Datil Educators Club, I hope!). You can read more abut GoodSearh in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Datil Educators Club as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word to all your family & friends!!

Thanks in advance for your support!

So, if you are on the Internet, and need to search for something, you can use goodsearch to help the Datil Educator's club earn some free money.

Thanks for coming by today. See you all next time!