Hello friends,
Happy New Year to all of you! I am so glad for a new year to begin! I am excited about what God has in store for me– continuing to meet some neat people and sharing my story… of course, everyone is hoping for a new kidney for me (and so am I)

Well, let’s see what has happened these past couple of week…enjoying time with a great guy and his family…he’s very considerate and has driven me in his 4 wheel jeep as we’ve had a few blizzards. Snow White (for those that don’t know–that’s my car’s name) doesn’t like to be driven in deep snow.

I have also babysat little Nicholas– he just gets more talkative every time I see him…still so adorable! I had the pleasure of helping another friend out by house sitting and pet sitting for a week. This is something I enjoy– so if you are needing a house sitter or know of someone that may need one, please let me know.

While I was house sitting, I experienced a fibrin clot for the first time. This is something common in peritoneal dialysis. What is this? Is a clot of protein. It’s white and squishy. I did take a picture on my camera phone and once I actually read the instructions of how to use my phone, I will add it to my page for your enjoyment!

So, having found the fibrin clot, I then had to inject medicine called Heparin via syringe into my dialysis bag three times to break up the fibrin clots. Since I was by myself and at someone else’s house, I was a little nervous about doing this. Of course, I am “never alone” as I can always call the dialysis hot-line (the after hours number). Injecting medicine via syringe is a very tedious process. First, I have to take a beta dine swab and squeeze a drop on top of the medicine vial to disinfect the top that will be injected. Then, I take the beta dine swab and tape it to the port on the bag to also disinfect what the needle will touch. I then wait five minutes, take the syringe, fill it with the appropriate amount of medicine, inject it in the port, without touching anything else. I then swish the bag to mix in the medicine. For some of you that are not familiar with Heparin- it’s a blood thinner. I was really nervous about taking this as my mother is allergic to this medicine. To my knowledge, I am not. I did however, find myself very sore from about the waist down– I was kind of achy, my joints and muscles ached…very strange.

I continue too get my epogen shot each week– the nurses still joke with me that I don’t have any fat to grab to inject me. I know…it’s crazy.

Nothing like getting a healthy Christmas gift– I got a huge box of balance bars. I try to eat one about once a day to help increase my albumin. My next lab appt is Jan 11- lets pray that the numbers have improved.

I was richly blessed with bison and elk from some new friends! I had the pleasure of trying Elk last evening– I slow cooked an arm roast for about an hour in the oven– turned out rather flavorful, yet a little dry. I added some mustard for taste as I ate it- actually tasted quite good!

Still getting Christmas gifts- its nice and pleasantly surprising. A dear friend assisted with getting my “kidney from Tiffany’s”- I wear it proudly, enjoying showing it to others and telling them why I bought it.

Well, i have writer’s block and cannot think of anything else to share, so I will close.