2/26 9:30 pm

 Ethan had a good night. No wretching. He slept well despite the two pokes from blood draws that were done by mistake. He has a port that they draw blood from so that kind of sucks but not the end of the world. 

Ethan was feeling “full” this morning and ate a mediocre breakfast. They brought Janice’s cousin, whom I dubbed Fran (after Fran Drescher). Fran has a caboose. Her stature is a bit wider than Janice but she can make just as much, if not more noise. The noise is different. It’s not nearly as offensive. It’s a cyclic hum type noise. So maybe Fran and I can be friends? We will see how she behaves.

My RT buddy brought a Naked smoothie for Ethan and a coffee for me plus some snacks. My favorite thing he brought was a friendly smile. I can’t say enough good things about our tower 9 friends.

Ethan, right on cue, started wretching just as rounds started. He has now earned a GI consult. Apparently we want to make sure he has a specialist for every area and are succeeding. 

PT came today to help Ethan kick some more ass. He got Ethan up and walking again.

He needs help but is getting there. They then used a sling to help weigh him.He promptly fell asleep right afterwards.  He didn’t wake up even when they hooked him up to dialysis.

While Ethan was on dialysis, I learned all about his new food restrictions. I also got clarification on liquids. Ice cream is in fact a liquid as well as smoothie and milk shake. 😡

We also have to be mindful of potassium and phosphorus intake in addition to the 500 ml a day liquid restriction. Moderation will be key. If we can do the low sodium diet, we can do this. So I got a ton of papers to read and learn. Asked a bunch of questions, still offered my two cents that I thought it was stupid ice cream was in the list, however, the kidney nutritionist nodded in agreement. I know she didn’t make the rules, she is just delivering them.

I found Fran really only made terrible noises when she was just starting and just finishing. Like super annoying, where I wonder who thinks this should be the noise of dialysis? Also, this machine hooks up to a secret sink in the wall. They just moved a panel and poof, there’s a sink.  The dialysis machine decided to flood the sink and flood the room. Luckily nothing was damaged but a few of my bags got saturated with water. Luckily it was just water.

2 hours into dialysis, Ethan’s blood pressure was hanging on by a thread. They weren’t able to pull off any fluids. His fluid going in was coming out, but not the 1.8 liters he had extra from no dialysis yesterday. They were going to just stop. But something made them continue. Ethan held steady and they ultimately pulled off 400 ml.  They will be back at 8 am to do it all over again.

Ethan got another spa day. I gave him an abbreviated mani-pedi which really only involved me clipping his nails and applying lotion. He got a nice hair wash and skull massage complete with a hot towel wrapped around his cold, wet hair.

He was visited by more Tower 9 friends and hugs were given. He got more beads to add to his already impressive Beads of Courage collection.

Our next move will be down stairs to the general floor. I was voicing my concern about we won’t have as much help moving him and it will fall mostly on me. Ethan argued that he felt he was mobile.  I asked him if he thought he could get off the bed into the chair. Without missing a beat he said “yes!  It might be a little rough but I will freakin try.” YES!!!!! There he is! That is the Ethan that I know and love.

This was a day of ass kicking for sure. Again thank you to everyone that has reached out. Our days are quite busy. I can feel us getting closer to home. That day will be so sweet!

Also, pre and post picture. The first picture is from the beginning of December.  The second picture is from this morning. Not quite 3 months later.