Top Ten Anti-crazy list

How are we surviving the 5 days until Ev and Keith undergo major surgery?

"I'm excited transplant is soon, Momma."

10) Pull frozen meals out of the freezer or thank friends when they bring the warm kind. Hot dogs also a winner.
9) Blog feelings; don't vomit them onto strangers to explain spontaneous tears.
8) Avoid public places. No illnesses allowed. Don't apologize for total germ phobia. Even if it looks like crazy, it isn't. I think.
7) Don't clean the house. Gratefully accept generous family members gifting housecleaning for a couple months.
6) Walk to the grocery store and let kids walk at their own pace. Twice as long, twice as peaceful.
5) Ask for an in-home hair stylist referral. Thank friend who brings stylist to home (first trim I've had in 9 months).
4) Listen to a 5 year old's silly stories. Be sure to catch the cute smile of satisfaction at the end.
3) Sing "Where is Thumpkin?" with one's 2 year old in the hospital cafeteria because she wants to. Loudly if necessary. Even "tall man", just don't look at who's looking.
2) Plan a date night for Sunday afternoon/evening. Select the best babysitter (I have her number if you need it) and the best date in the world (he's my hero).
1) Don't finish lists.

Just plain crazy

Happy crazy

Administrator of beauty

Chief Silly Officer

Always playing it cool

The best man I know.

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

Ready or not, here comes transplant

I've been thinking about The Princess Bride. "Let me splain. No, stoo much. Let me sum up."

Wednesday, September 26 - official diagnosis "renal dysplasia", "vesicoureteral reflux nephropathy", and "end stage renal disease".
Thursday, September 27 - transplant scheduled for November 28
Wednesday, October 3 - transplant rescheduled for October 31

My treasured mug

We are really excited to share this news with all of you who have walked with us up to this first milestone. It took me a few days after we heard the first scheduled date to feel happy about the delay (we had thought for many months it would be in October). One month may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things but 4 days a week for 6 hours every session is a lifestyle and not one one wants to prolong. A couple things helped put my thoughts in perspective. First, I asked God to help me. Second, my mother gave me a Bible bookstore mug. Now I have been known to mock Bible bookstore paraphernalia but I must tell you that I treasure it because it came from her heart and because it spoke truth directly to our circumstances. Third, my husband has met many of the other patients and parents in the dialysis unit (a 12 year old has been on 3 day a week dialysis for 10 years, received his first kidney 2 years ago and is back in dialysis. His father had to lose 40 pounds to donate his kidney and they live in Bellingham!). Their stories have reminded us that we are blessed:

1) Keith is a match and he's, in my sister-in-law's words, a bean pole.
2) We live close to the hospital.
3) We have family, friends, church, co-op, nurses, and doctors who are caring for us in so many ways.
4) I found my sense of humor at the beach (it had been on vacation there and couldn't get a ride back).

So when they called today to tell us we were scheduled in a little more than three weeks we were overjoyed. But it wasn't the change in circumstances that made me happy. God had already gifted that to me. The news today was just icing on the cake.

Not robbing a bank.

Mary Poppins was right - kites are therapeutic

Our Take Them A Meal page

Lunchtime in the hospital's hallway

The past few weeks we've been blessed by Marilouise's school co-op and other friends with lunches, snacks, dinners and treats (thank you!!!). Others have asked about bringing us food. Our friend from church, Michelle Housel, has graciously organized a Take Them A Meal page, if you wish to join the effort. Our humble and grateful thanks.