On Wednesday the 23rd of March, we returned to the hospital for blood work and to check my temporary/permanent catheter that had been installed the day before at Memorial Hermann Hospital. It had bled a great deal and the dressing was changed. The long line catheter that had been put in my right arm in ICU was removed.

Thursday was a much-needed day off and Arthur and I enjoyed the day but the bleeding of the catheter continued. I knew I was losing way too much blood because the catheter area would break and here came the blood. Then my right knee, where I had fainted and fallen, began to bleed and we could not get it to stop for several hours. At times my nose would start bleeding. So, as you can see, I was having a major problem and was growing weaker.

Friday, March 25th was my first day at the dialysis center that was recommended to us. My creatinine serum levels indicate the problems with my kidneys. Normal is 0.7-1.4 and mine has been as high as 8.7. Today my numbers indicated the creatinine level is 2.4 and this is the lowest it has been in a very long time.

The dialysis takes four hours and counting the time it takes to hook you up and then to take you off at the end, the time is about 4 ½ hours. We get there at 6:15 AM and are finished about 10:45-11:00 AM. It does get to be a long and boring time; they do provide individual TVs for each chair and I can read, do crossword puzzles and of course…sleep. We are hoping to get the days down to two per week but the doctor at the dialysis center said that two days a week would put too much of a strain on the body. On the basis of my blood work that is done at the dialysis center, the decision will be made but it does not sound like the days will change anytime soon. I am always curious about the machines and the treatments I am having and asked how many times my blood went through the machine. I was told in the four-hour period, it would circulate through the machine about 86 times. Its purpose is to do what my kidneys are unable to do at this time. My kidneys are acting and I cannot really tell much difference than before all this started. This is encouraging to me. My days for dialysis at this time are Monday, Wednesday and Friday. My kidneys were in worse shape than they had thought and I had less than 30% output.

Tuesday the 29th we returned to M. D. Anderson to find out what the next step was to be. I had blood work and my numbers were not good. Examples of the numbers are: white blood cell count 3.0 (normal is 4.1-10.0), red blood cell count 2.88 (normal is 4.00-5.50), hemoglobin 8.8 (normal is 12.0-16.2), platelet volume 9-critical (normal is 140-440). The dreadful platelet count was the reason of the excessive bleeding. Dr. Anderlini told us that my platelet count must reach and stabilize at 80 so I have a way to go. They are giving me platelets and blood to help jumpstart my system. Today, April 5th, the numbers are: white blood count 2.6, red blood count 2.88, hemoglobin 9.0, and platelet volume count 21. The low hemoglobin is a major reason I am light headed so they are giving me blood occasionally to help bring this up.

A.G. (our oldest son) came down last Friday and reported for duty so Arthur could go home and take care of several things and go to work this week. A. G. left on Sunday afternoon and Mark (our youngest son) came in Sunday evening and will stay until next Sunday morning, when Arthur returns. It is great having them here and I know they had to rearrange their lives to be able to be here but it does give Arthur some time away and he can get caught up on things that need his attention.

Our days now are dialysis-MWF and M. D. Anderson-TTh and sometimes on Sunday so there goes the week.