Ethan’s Journey

 I have heard from several people about facing the shower, putting your back to the shower or twirling. It seems the majority of people are twirlers. Little petite ballerinas in the shower! So funny. I am a stationary ballerina. 🩰 It’s probably for the best. I am not that graceful and would likely break a hip. I did some light reading during my coffee consumption time. It was a study on a medication that has been shown to help reduce protein in the urine, a side effect of kidney disease that Ethan struggles with. It seemed promising at first. All the cool things noticed in the study. Then I read the side effect of sometimes causing increase potassium. Potassium increases can be detrimental to heart health. Nope! Disqualified! I will keep reading, searching and asking questions! I asked Ethan if he would be interested in participating in stem cell therapy. They take donor stem cells (mine) and give them to the transplant recipient (Ethan). He said he would be interested in learning...

 I slept like absolute garbage last night. I felt tired but couldn’t fall asleep. There isn’t anything really stressful going on to put my “worry” module into a tailspin. Nothing other than the normal day in and day out business. Once I did fall asleep, I woke up dumb.  I say that because I lost my phone, forgot I was looking for my coffee -just wandering around trying to remember what I was looking for, put my shirt on backwards, used conditioner twice on my hair……my eyes felt heavy and my head hurt a little. I don’t care for that feeling. Two thumbs down! With some coffee and extreme focus, I made it through the day as best as I could. I had some help from other members of my team. They caught me up on some things which was so appreciated. This evening was party time. We celebrated my friend Sandy’s 25 th anniversary of her 25 th birthday. I sent Paul on a wild goose chase to Fairport when the pub was in Greece. Man, I am such a jerk! I didn’t know or otherwise I would not h...

Work is a lot. I knew it would be. I wish our software doesn’t break every day. Some day…..maybe? Moe was bugging me to go out and sunbathe at about 7:15 am this morning. He was out the majority of the day. I took him for a lap around the field. He jumped in the pond again. He also got a hose bath again. He will now be put on a leash prior to re-entering the yard. Dumb dog! He is very clean! Paul was pissed because the did some weed whacking in an area where there is poison ivy. His allergy is pretty sensitive. He saw that it looked like poison ivy, but still did weed whacking sending the poisoning to aerosol form.  He then asked questions. He didn’t like the answer. He even tried to tell me I was wrong and that it wasn’t poison ivy.  Any amount of denial won’t prevent someone from poison ivy onset. He had choice and colorful words after I confirmed that it in fact was poison ivy. He immediately showered and foreshadowed that his eyes would be swollen shut in the morning. Paul...

 Cousins weekend is over. The Diiulio’s (not us) have left the state. Paul and I caught up on yard work today. I was able to try out my mini chainsaw and cut up branches for kindling. I collected 4 bags worth so far.  We had a tree fall in our back yard a while back. Paul cut up the big pieces and I told him I would pick away at the smaller branches. We can use it for our campfires in our back yard or for more kindling this year. Ethan worked a bit in the garage. He took several rests. Yesterday morning he had to go to the lab. He signed in and had to wait for the 7 people ahead of him. He typically has several blood tests. They check his two rejection medication doses, CBC, chemistry panel to look at his organ function, some kidney related tests, electrolyte levels, tryglycerides, thyroid level, ferritin/ iron level to help assess kidney function. And more. He has an elevation in his potassium again. He has been so careful with avoiding potato’s, bananas, and potassium rich f...

 We had breakfast and headed over to the in-laws. Avery, Julie and I took a lengthy walk and it was quite humid and warm out. We spent the afternoon poolside at cousin Chadd’s house. It is right across the street. The tunes were on, we were listening to music and chatting away. Avery, Julie and I did our Target run. We picked up some hair essentials and sun screen.  We ordered a bunch of pizza and wings. We gathered for a picnic and ate together. Yum! We had some cake for dessert to celebrate Marcus’s birthday. We watched in real time, the 6 year old go from pre cake, no sugar state to a wound up Tasmanian Devil from the sugar. He started oversharing, telling us he pooped his pants on a roller coaster. I told him that Paul does the same thing…..you know, so he wouldn’t feel embarrassed by sharing that information. He looked at Paul and you could tell his 6 year old wheels were turning with many questions to answer. He chose wisely and didn’t ask any further questions. Ethan ar...

 I am pretty sure I got into the poison ivy. But t is that time of year. I don’t have the rash yet but am itchy all over. Even the inside of my ear is itchy.  I spent several days in the garden. It is my own fault.  I googled what the purpose of it is on this earth. It seems everything has a purpose.  Poison ivy apparently provides food to wildlife and birds in the winter (and summer). It also prevents erosion because it pretty much grows every which way. Really? There isn’t a plant that does those things that is less itchy? I headed over to spend time with my in-laws. Avery arrived late afternoon. We all worked together to make dinner. We tried to keep it as easy as possible. After dinner, the cousins were across the street. We all filtered outside. There were 6 teens plus Avery and the 6 year old….who was in his glory. Little Luca. He saw the big kids playing corn hole, badminton, bocce and throwing the football around. Luca said that it looks like a family carniva...