Crazy kids

The kids have been doing great, I thought I should update everyone on them.  It has been a different sort of summer for them. Not the usual running, here and there with summer activities for them. They have been going to lot's of different people's houses to stay while we go to doctors appointments.

Elizabeth~ is growing like a weed, she is so tall and her face has changed so much. I love the new little freckles that are cropping up across her nose. She has been taking gymnastics for the summer with her friend Huntar. She was really excited last week to watch "The best of both world's" concert on TV. I know how my parent's felt when I watched my New Kid's tapes over and over. She has gotten to spend some time with her two best friends Huntar and Tasha over the summer.

Conner~ has been such a big help to Marty and I. He has really done a lot of things around the house to help out. He is getting so big and I hardly can believe he will be 11 in a few months. He still makes us laugh everyday with his crazy little sayings. He has been able to have two friends over this week. His face never changes much, still freckles all over, I just think they are so cute. Marty and I never had them so we just love seeing our kids with them. Conner was really intrgiued by the earthquake and spent time calling my parent's yesterday to learn all about it. One big thing is he took apart a bike we bought him and switched the part's out from another bike. He put it all back together and it rides great, we were really proud of him.

Here's a few pictures to make you smile

Hurry up............to wait

The report is now in the hands of doctors at Stanford, now we have to wait. There is a cardiologist that will read the report, then pass it on to the surgeon. Then the surgeon takes the report to the selection committee and presents the case. I guess they are officially deciding on the pancreas portion of the transplant. Then they will activate him on the waiting list after that. So basically, a bunch of red tape has to be gone through and then we can sit and wait.

A healthy heart

We went in for the test yesterday, things went fast once we got there and they took Marty in right at 3:00. At about 4:30 I started to worry because the procedure is only supposed to take 30-40 minutes. The phone finally rang and the nurse said " The doctor had a emergency and Marty is still back in the hall waiting.", so frustrating. So my friends Robin, Michelle and I went to get some food. We got back and they finally called at about 5:30 to give me the prognosis.

Marty has a very healthy heart, there was only a little plaque build up in on artery but his heart was very healthy. The doctor has cleared him for transplant and will be forwarding the information on to Stanford within the next week. He told Marty " For having diabetes as long as you have, your heart is healthy. Keep doing what you are doing."

We have both continued to have a strong feeling that transplant would be this fall. We are praying that this is true and his time on dialysis is short. As always think of the person that will be giving their life and pray for them. Pray for a good match and a long lasting kidney, I would love to see our family grow together.

Amazing news and transplant update

Last Thursday we got a letter in the mail, it was a appointment with the heart specialist. We were thrilled to have been referred finally, especially since this was the big reason he had to go on dialysis. The appointment was for today and we didn't have to wait long. So we went today, I can tell you I now know the hip happening place in Visalia is for the 70 and over crowd. We always get a lot of stares going into these offices that people our age don't go to.

So the doctor comes in and says "Hey guy, what are you doing here? you are too young to be here.", yeah tell us something we don't know. So we told him about Stanford and showed him the letter saying he needed to have a angiogram. He said he could do that for us and proceeded to check Marty out, as he was checking we asked "how long will he need to be off work?" he told us a week. We explained he has been off for six weeks already and that we were trying to avoid more time off. He said "Let me see" and walked out of the room. He comes back in a minute later and says "Will tomorrow work?" and we said "YES!!!!!"

He said " I really appreciate the fact you want to work, you could have gone on disability a long time ago. I like it that you are contributing to society and wanting to work and care for your family. Instead of just sitting back and being sick. I really want to help you out along the way and so I made some arrangements."

WOW, how often does the world look and tell you "good job? We live in a society that rewards people that abuse the system. It was as if God himself was in the room saying " it's going to be okay." We are so thrilled that the whole reason Marty went on dialysis will be fufilled tomorrow. We are scared and hope everything is found to be normal. But this really makes a huge couple of steps in just a short time, we are hoping that the next step is waiting. It is a scary thought to think after tomorrow Marty will no longer have any kidney function left at all. But the dialysis is working and I know it will be okay, just keep on trusting and obeying and it will all be okay.

Think of us tomorrow at 3 pm ( or today most likely if you are reading this on Tuesday) and say a prayer for a good procedure. We are hoping he can come home tomorrow night if nothing needs to be done. I will update you as soon as I can.

Angel's in disguise

A sweet friend sent me this angel today,  the one with the sunflower in the middle, what a blessing and such a nice gift. It goes well with the other two I have and also fits the theme. They were all given to me as gifts, I love them. Thank you dear sweet angel friend.

Walking through the valley

I am sure some of you are wondering what is going on around here, a quick update:

~The cycler came on Monday and we started at home dialysis

~Monday night, we were up all night with a beeping machine and a grumpy Marty feeling *horribly* bloated and miserable.

~Tuesday we called the nurse and she came out and changed the settings, lowering the amount of fluid in the exchanges.

~Tuesday night, we only were woke once by the machine in the night and in the morning were woke to a drain problem. I called the nurse and company to get some tips  for tonight.

So far his blood pressure has dramatically dropped to normal range, we were able to use a lower solution last night. The biggest thing right now is getting him adjusted to letting the fluid dwell, something that is uncomfortable at first. So far our biggest problem is being tired and trying to remember all the steps we need to know.

Pray for us during these days as we walk through this valley. My husband is quite heartbroken about starting dialysis and has been generally miserable. We covet your prayers and thoughts during this time.

We have been waiting for Fed-ex

Here are the much promised sunflower picks from this week, you can see the bloom on the big guy which is bigger than in this pick now.



So here we are on Friday and no dialysis yet. Our supplies came on Wednesday, they didn't tell me that they were sending a pallet full! I am sitting in my bed typing and looking at about 60 boxes stacked in the corner. Only one problem with the order, they forgot to send the cycler machine that does the dialysis, that's a big problem. I called Wednesday and they told me it would be Fed-ex same day and it didn't come. Then we stayed home in shifts yesterday and guess what? it didn't come again. The nurse called this morning and said she would track it, that was 2 hrs ago. I know in God's time it will come and all will be okay, we just have to wait. I am so glad that the doctor told Marty he can't go back to work this Sunday, I can see why God orchestrated that now. He probably won't even have started by Sunday at this point, the rate things are going. Pray for things to go smoothly, for no infection and that the heart test will be scheduled soon.



We have been watching a documentary on John Hopkins on ABC together. It has brought to life what we will go through someday, hopefully soon. One thing that is glaring for me right now and is bugging me in some ways, I will be alone in the waiting room. Stanford is 300 miles from our home and I know we are going to have to rush up there. My family lives 300 miles from us and so it is 600 miles from them. I think God has been preparing me for this, it is hard but it might have to just be that way, his will not mine. But it is something I think about and wonder about, I don't want to be alone physically but I might have to be.  I was reading Angie's blog this morning and I was really ministered to by her writing, I know we are never alone.



**update** As  I was typing this, Holly called and said the machine was never shipped. So now we have a start date of Monday instead.

Time to pick up the slack

I have been slacking this past week, actually I have been really busy and finally things have settled down. We did a lot last week, which was good but very tiresome. Our schedule has been off since Marty has been home, which is good but also difficult. We are on a mini vacation, only we stay home and deal with tough stuff. It has been a pleasant time as a family and we have been having some good bonding time together.

Marty is doing great, he has been playing his bass the past week and even played in church on Sunday. He does have to take two more weeks off, which is a blessing and a hard thing. He wants to get back to work and not miss out on anything.   But he does want to see how the dialysis will affect him and be sure he has a good handle on that before going back. He starts this Thursday and is hesitant, he says " it is something I know, I have to do but something I don't want to do." We know the path is laid out before us and we just have to keep our eyes fixed on the goal. We are pushing hard to get the catheter test done before he goes back to work. We are hoping to get a referral soon to the heart doctor, I still have hope the heart doctor will not want to do the test.

The kids have a sinus thing going on and are both miserable. The air is really bad because of all the fires in the mountains on the sides of our valley. In fact our favorite camping spot at Big Sur is on fire and we are sad seeing the smoke. So we have been staying indoors as much as possible, that makes the kids antsy.

Our big sunflower bloomed today and I will share a story and some pics later this week. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer.