Rick's Version of the Last Two Weeks, Part 2

Dec. 5, '09 sat.
04:30 My guts feel like they're going to fall out. Everything hurts like hell. I can hardly move. This could be the day that dialysis kills me off while trying to save my life.
10 days to heal! 8 more to go!
Drew went down sick with a cold yesterday. What wrecks we all are!
Oh yeah – almost forgot. Temperatures have dropped into the low 20s and the roads are iced up.
By golly, I'm glad this week is over! I've been not looking forward to it for quite some time now.

Dec. 6, '09 Sunday
7 days to go. The dressing over my peritoneal catheter is only about 2” x3” and like the one over the fistula, is a piece of absorbent adhesive that's stuck to the area over the incision like an abalone to a rock! I can't imagine how it can be removed except by amputation.
At any rate it feels like both dressings actually have nerves which tingle and tickle maddeningly when even a breath of wind blows over it. Maybe I'm naive to think the PD cath will ever quit hurting (like when I cough or sneeze).
Sigh. Let go. I must continue the practice of learning to let go.
Still, as I examine the fistula on my left forearm, I notice they didn't bother to shave off any arm hair before placing the death grip adhesive dressing. That'll be fun to rip off when the time comes.
Somewhere in my worst nightmare I hear them saying, “Don't worry. You'll be under general anesthesia when we do that.”

12/7/09
Mary writes: 25º at 8 a.m. Dog has been FED. There are two open cans of dog food in the refrigerator.

Allysan writes on sticky note: “Deer LOLO I HOOP YOU GET BEDr: From Allysan”

Rick writes:
12-7-09 Monday (cont.)
6 days to go and I'm counting every minute. Morning is the time I dread the most since that's when it's time to purge the lungs. It's already becoming less painful for the belly muscles to cough or sneeze or even laugh.
Having yesterday and today off is a wonderful reprieve. We were even able to put up the plastic Christmas tree yesterday while Allysan was here so everything worked out just great! Today Mary had to go to Tacoma for a root canal job so I'm just hanging out around the house. Cindy came over to volunteer a house cleaning and wouldn't take no for an answer.
Rick:
12-8-09 Tuesday
Hi, Love – I'm off to West Seattle. Pup Pup went outside and I fed him breakfast.
5 days left in the marine engineer-approved healing schedule and it actually is feeling pretty good at this point. I still have to hold my belly to support it when I cough or sneeze but the general overall effects become less drastic every day.
I went up to get the paper and noticed the dome light was on in my truck – the door wouldn't shut for some reason – so my battery was dead! Fortunately noticed it while there was still time to deal w/it.
Seize you later,
Love, Yr. R
Mary: What kind of God allows these things to happen? I'm off to sing at the nursing home – wearing a low cut blouse and freezing. Hope all is going well on your Big Adventure.
Love, M. also too yesh

12-9-09 Wednesday – Today's paper predicts that there will be only a 4º difference between the high and low temp for that day (41-37º; Low – 33º
We're off to see Dr. Oliver and Dr. Pham to see how my latest body piercings are doing.
If they don't decide to tear them out and start over again, I'm 4 days away from the 10-day marine engineer approved healing time. Doing pretty well, too, except for an opiate-induced case of constipation. Snarl!
(Here there is affixed to the notebook page the large pink “WED” sticker, next to which Rick has written “30 years and counting...”)
These are “screening tags.” In the parking garage at each one of the clinics we go to, there is a screener standing in front of the elevators who asks everyone entering the building if they have “a cough, a fever, or sneezes.” If the answer is no, you get a screening tag that means you're not contagious. If the answer is yes, you get a screening tag and a paper mask to wear while you're inside.
Dr. Pham removed the bandage on the fistula and PD catheter so I can see what they did now. It turns out she did shave my forearm before putting on the bandage and they actually both came off pretty easily.
Dr. Pham grabbed me right away as soon as I got there and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the fistula incisions.
“I worried about it all weekend,” she said. “I had such a hard time getting the connection to feed right. The artery was so deep...” She breathed another sigh of relief. “...but it's good. A strong, vigorous pulse.”
She patted my cheek. “You're my hero!” she said.
Prior to seeing Dr. Pham, we paid a visit to Dr. Oliver who also said everything looked great and we discussed training for me to use the PD catheter, if I was comfortable with taking that step (which I am).
So, we made appointments @ Dr. Oliver's for Jan. 11, '10 @ 11:20 a.m. And Dr. Pham for Jan. 11 @ 13:00 for an ultrasound scan and 13:45 for Dr. Pham herself.
I don't know what the 13:45 appointment will be for but today I discovered my PD catheter is completely buried underneath my belly epidermis and will need to be surgically extracted before I can put it to use.
Another owie for me.
Also mentioned that I've been encouraged to get on the kidney list but I understand the requirements are pretty demanding & I may not qualify. Dr. Oliver said, “Oh no, you'd be a great candidate except for the bladder cancer issue!”
Well, I'm sorta in remission at the moment, I think. She said I may have to be in remission for at least two years but she would double-check on that.
12-10-09 Friday
I'm off to Water District # 19 (for the first time this Volume*) to talk to a lawyer regarding a long standing leak we fixed on Dockton Road last August.
Mary took the Honda to Burton Shell to have the front brake pads replaced today.
*This Volume of the table top diary. We just started Volume 6.
12-11-09 Sat. Morning temp. 28º w/clouds
Last day of dialysis for this week. Two whole days off. I might need them, too. The weather forecast is dithering between rain and snow. The warm-up period is supposed to start rolling in tonight when the warm jet stream arrives from California and starts mixing it up with the cold arctic air that's leaked into the state through the Fraser River Valley for the last 10 days or so.
For now, all is quiet and shrouded in clouds. Not a breath of wind.
On Wednesday the 9th, high and low temps for today were predicted to be 37º-33º; actual high & low today 37º-30º.
From an article in today's Seattle Times: SUB UMBRA SEDE = “sit in the shade.” The motto of the principality of Seborga, courtesy of Prince Giorgio Carbone I, R.I.P, Nov. 25, 2009, aged 73 years.
12-15-09 Tuesday
Oh, this is sad. Drew's Ibanez guitar, his favorite, the one he's had since high school, was stolen at one of his gigs last weekend.
I drove myself in to Di-Alice's Restaurant today since I'm feeling so perky and all these days. For the last several days the weather reports have been hedging their bets, saying snow is on the way or maybe snow with rain or maybe just rain but when I headed out this morning it was 48º and definitely raining and looking altogether northwestish. The great Northwet has returned.
My left hand and forearm has slowly been transforming itself into someone else's appendage, growing larger and larger. Actually, it would be more accurate to describe it as swollen. Although my fingers have stayed the same size, the knuckles on my hand have all but disappeared, the wrist and forearm have thickened and hidden all the formerly visible veins except the one which is now being fed by the artery which is now connected to it via the fistula. That vein is now about the size of a soda straw and pulsing like it has a life of its own. It pulses and vibrates like an electric wire with every heartbeat. The base of my thumb has increased in size and is sore to the touch.
Once the fistula has “matured,” i.e., inflated to accommodate the increase of blood flow supplied by its new arterial connection, it will be ready to use as a hemodialysis connection to replace the Quinton catheter to the jugular vein in my chest. I'm still fairly clueless as to how this is supposed to work except that it looks painful. Some of the other patients have theirs used every time they come in and it seems to take about half an hour to 45 minutes to access it and get it working. I don't like the looks of it. When I arrived this morning there was a blood trail from the front door, through the waiting room and into the dialysis room (about 25 feet) where a patient's fistula had popped as he was exiting the facility. BRRR!
When I got home, there was good news. Drew's Ibanez was not stolen. He sent a flood of emails to all the groups that played at the gig last weekend and got a flood of returns, including one from the stage manager of the event who said he had Drew's lost guitar locked up in the office. Drew drove over this evening and brought his baby back home. YAY!