We're So Excited!

And nervous

and slightly afraid.

You see, we received a letter in the mail today. It was not your typical letter or bill (although we have been getting a lot of those). This particular envelope contained an acceptance letter. An acceptance letter for what you may ask? Nope, neither one of us are going back to school. Not that we want to at this point. Maybe someday. So, what was so special about this letter? Well, it was for insurance for Lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We are now just waiting for the official card to arrive and then we can start the transplant process. It will probably take a few days to get here. Our awesome social worker now also gets to call all those people that are wanting money from the last 8 weeks of hospital stays, blood draws, ultrasounds, biopsies, and catheter insertion. What fun for her! And all those bills have added up to quite a chunk of change. We don't have an exact figure, but we do know a ballpark figure, and well, I am not going to state here how much it is, just know that it will probably make you sick to see the total. It was quite a shock for us to see the amounts that are being charged for little things.

Anyway, once the transplant team gets the referral, they will send us a packet of papers to fill out, which we will in turn, send back to them. They will then send us a letter stating when we can come and visit them for a few days of tests and thousands of questions. After that, it is another waiting game for a, hopefully, live donor. It may not be until June or so before anything happens. 

Lot went back to work for a few hours today. The first time since January 21st. He is slowly gaining back strength and energy. He now has 3, 2.5 hour cycles with a 4th cycle lasting 2.5-4 hours, instead of 4, 1.5 cycles with a 5th lasting 2 hours. It still works out to be the same amount of time, but the dialysate stays in him longer because the waste products are slow to move into the fluid. Some people move the waste fast, some slow. There is no right or wrong way. Everyone is different. 

They also took him off of tidal. Because Lot was an urgent start for dialysis, they put him on tidal to lessen the drain pain (the suction of the catheter up against internal organs) and to help him heal. Tidal is when they put a certain amount of dialysate in, say 1000mL, but when it comes time to drain, the machine is programed to only look for 750mL so that the catheter is less likely to cause drain pain. It does not get rid of it completely, but it is less. Since Lot is no longer on a tidal, he feels the drain pain more often. But is also depends on how he is laying whether or not he feels it. He has slept through a few. He sleeps in in the mornings and usually has to take a nap at some point during the day. Lot hooks up to the machine around 9 at night and is done around 8 the next morning. It is a long process, but essential to life right now.

It has been a long ride and we are in no way close to the end of it. Perhaps we will always be on this roller coaster ride, but at the moment, we are coasting.