Hello friends,

Wow! What a week!  Let me give you the update-  I want to apologize my emails are so long– there is so much to cover.  This is why creating the facebook page will help.

I had to redo my labs Thursday and Friday last week. I tell you, I was beginning to look like I used recreational drugs- with having both arms utilized. Sheesh!

I had the delightful pleasure of meeting a new friend- this is my doctor’s other young patient.  This gal is younger than me, had the same disease and she celebrated one year Monday of having a successful transplant.  She and I have been texting back and forth for about 6 weeks- it was really great to meet her!  She and I are becoming fast friends and I am able to share my faith and witness to her.  How cool is that!?

I have shared many times how touched I am by the outpouring support of new friends- here are a couple examples of this last week:

A friend read my email and called me, I shared that I was at my parents house and will be moving some stuff over.  This person jumped in their car and headed straight over, eager to help.  After an exhausting couple hours, I needed to call it a night and head home.  This person insisted on following me  home to make sure I made it safe.  No sooner had I pulled in the driveway, my Dr. calls.  Okay, it’s 10:30 PM; why is the Dr calling?  The lab place called her and notified her that my Potassium is critically high.  I had to go the ER immediately to receive medication to get the potassium out of me.  My friend that followed me home was still there and offered to drive me to the hospital.  Wow, what a friend!  I called my parents and asked them to meet me there.

You’re probably wondering what is the big deal about potassium?  Well, in my education of understanding what all is happening– my kidneys are not able to flush out the toxins in my body.  They are only releasing 10% of these toxins; the other 90% are staying in my body and causing havoc.  Since the toxins are not being fully released, I have to really watch my potassium, phosphorus and sodium intake- this is where the fun diet restrictions come in. Having too much potassium is deadly- it can cause heart failure.  My levels were critically high Thursday that I could have died overnight.  I had to go the ER to flush this out of my system.

It was not a fun night.  The nurse missed the first attempt at getting my IV in; and had quite the trouble getting the second hole poked.  I was in tears because of the pain.  While I was enduring this, I had to drink this nasty, chalky gritty tasting thick liquid to help flush out the potassium.  It reminded me of something along the lines of mylanta.  Blech!  I also had 6 viles of blood taken.  So, I am just lying there, with the EKG machine thing, monitoring me, cords everywhere and a yucky taste in my mouth. Thank God I still have friends that are awake after 11:30 PM to text with!  The other example of the great support: My new friend I met earlier that day offered to come up to the hospital and sit with me so my parents could go home to sleep.  I am truly amazed at this generous offer as we met just hours earlier that day.

After a while, maybe 30-45 minutes, the ER Dr comes in and says: Good news, you are being released!  You don’t need to stay overnight.  What probably happened was, when I took my labs earlier that day, the blood had sat too long and the cells began to separate.  This had caused a much higher reading of my potassium and gave a false reading.  Now, I know it’s better to be safe than sorry; but come on.. going through all this and i didn’t have to?

I won’t go into graphic detail- I spent most of the night in the bathroom getting rid of the potassium.

I got all moved into my parents this weekend– it’s an adjustment for all of us.

I met with the surgeon yesterday- what a great lady!  Since I am now at a very critical stage and trying to not fall into single digits; I will have to have a temporary stint put into my chest cavity to start immediate dialysis while my other catheter that is in  my abdominal area heals.  I am scheduled Friday, 7/31 to have both catheters inserted.  This is an outpatient procedure however, does involve anesthesia.

Some great news- God provided a digital camera and He’s working on the laptop!  These are to make communication to you easier through all of this as I will be spending a lot of time in bed.(Thus the need for a new, comfortable mattress). Made some temporary adjustments to the current mattress; hopefully this will work.  God doesn’t put scriptures in the Bible for the fun of it- He wants us to use them. I took Mathew 7:7 to heart.

I have received some great feedback from my emails– I am inspiring people. I have had people ask to let them share my emails with their staff. Again, this will be handy with facebook as you all can read each other’s thoughts.

You are still asking how you can help– I feel sad and at a loss, now that I am moved back home.  Seveal of you have already come to visit me, thank you.  Many more are eager to.  I ask that you be flexible as it’s still hard to plan ahead, unsure of how I will feel that afternoon or evening.

Here’s something to think about: what creative name can I call my facebook page? Many of you know me quite well. Kidneys for Carmen is too boring. Anything else you want to know about what I am going through or dealing with?