Enjoying the eye of the storm

Anticipation
Yesterday marked two weeks until Ev's first transplant. The anticipation is very similar to expecting a baby. Knowing the big event brings lots of changes, wanting to have everything set because the next 6 months will be difficult. In the meantime, our lives have been surprisingly peaceful. Thanks to all the wonderful people who have brought us meals and watched our non-dialyzing children, our lives are predictably chaotic. I didn't think these words would ever come from me but I'm really thankful for dialysis. I've learned a lot about dialysis, its blessings and curses, these past few weeks. The biggest thing I've learned is that I'm thankful for the pause it provides us before transplant.

Did you know?
1) Dialysis began in the 1940s.
2) The first adult outpatient treatment center started here in Seattle 50 years ago (Thank you, Northwest Kidney Centers).
3) The word comes from Greek dialusis,"διάλυσις", meaning dissolution, dia, meaning through, and lysis, meaning loosening or splitting
4) The three kinds of dialysis are hemodialysis, peritoneal, and hemofiltration.
5) Dr. Willem Kolff, a Dutch physician, constructed the first working dialyzer in 1943 during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The first-ever patient successfully treated with dialysis was in 1945, a 67-year-old comatose woman regained consciousness following 11 hours of hemodialysis with the dialyzer, and lived for another seven years before dying of an unrelated condition.

New hardware
Keith & Evelyn arrived for dialysis last Wednesday at 8:00am. Unfortunately, her hemodialysis catheter was stuck so they had to replace it. They fit her in the schedule at 5:30pm, afterwards heading to dialysis. In those 9 hours of missing dialysis and her medicines (she had to fast before surgery) her blood pressure was back up to 166/100 (that's scary for a 2 year old who's ideal would be 95/58). I realized dialysis has literally given Evelyn life until we could get scheduled for transplant.

Unexpected Preschool
Keith takes Evelyn to dialysis Monday and Friday. I take her Wednesday and Saturday. Besides getting to spend a lot of one-on-one time with her, we have had the opportunity to do preschool (ABCs, numbers, cutting, tracing, gluing). Evelyn has to sit in her chair for more than 4 hours. A lot of the children watch movies and play video games. I'm not sure if it is because we don't have a TV but Evelyn's media limit (before she falls apart and gets really cranky) is about 30-45 minutes. That leaves us with a lot of time to fill in with other activities. Thankfully, we get to play with play dough. We do Legos. We read books. While it's not always fun (dialysis sometimes makes her "cramp" or throw up or cry because she feels lightheaded and miserable) overall she's made the best of it.

The eye of the storm
On the days when Keith takes Evelyn to dialysis I stay home with the other cuties. Our house was hit by a minor bug this week so we stayed home from our school co-op this Monday. Marilouise, the social butterfly, was so disappointed to miss her friends and her class's "back-in-time travel". However, I painted her nails after math and reading and thawed out a frozen treat from our friend, Kirsten (sweet potato casserole). We sat and read a book together on the couch during Ada's nap. This isn't what I expected with dialysis. And it is thanks to all of the people in our lives who are loving us in practical ways and lifting us in prayer. I don't think I want to build a summer home here but our lives are actually quite lovely.

Nail therapy

Saturday after a special service at church