Ethan’s Journey

​I sent a note to Ethan’s kidney transplant team inquiring about a kidney biopsy. I never got a response back. I did submit it as a non-urgent medical question so technically they have 48 hours to respond. Maybe the doctor turned her attention towards “more important things”. I am still holding a grudge over that! It was nice out today and I had all the windows open!  I did LOTS of laundry and washed as much as I could wash.  It was a pretty quiet day. 

​we made it home today. The drive was very smooth. The dogs rode very well without a peep. There weren’t any dumb dumbs on the road. Well there was one. But for a 3+ hour drive, that isn’t bad. I chatted on the phone with my mom and listened to a pod cast to pass the time. Once home I unloaded my things while the dogs watered the grass.  Ethan was home and the dogs went crazy. All 4 of them were excited to see Ethan. Jiminy was the first! He been-lined right to Ethan and used his doggy stairs to get up on the couch. He began flicking Ethan as fast as he could. I send Ethan text updates about how Jiminy is doing….mostly because he is so easy to photograph looking cute. I unloaded the van and unpacked. I got a jump start on laundry with all the dog blankets and towels we have gone through. This evening, I chatted with my brother to catch up with him. It had been a while, so we shared a few stories of how things are going and what we have been up to. Tomorrow I have a busy work day. I...

​Today was a warm and beautiful day full of sunshine. It wasn’t too hot, wasn’t too cold.  Paul worked on waxing the camper in the morning. I worked on tiring out the dogs.  We did a few walks, a bike ride and Moe went to the spa. That means I trimmed his toenails and gave him a lake bath. He promptly dried off while sunbathing. Paul and I took out the jet ski’s and hung out with some boat friends on the less windy side of Fox Island. Getting there was quite wavy. I got soaked, I figured it was going to happen so at least I had on my long sleeved rash guard shirt. I wasn’t cold at all. The sun was helpful with that. The water is starting to become a little brisk when we get in. Damn it fall….I am not ready for you yet! We had a campfire fire until it started to sprinkle. We made plans to relocate Nextdoor and hang out at the neighbor’s cottage. It was myself and 4 men. The conversation was quite interesting and ranged in topics from lip injections, to music, to suppositories a...

It has been 25 years since the horrible tragedy that changed our word forever. 9/11 - travel has never been the same, people’s families have never been the same, the world by saying things like “that was pre-9/11. I was outside and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath in. I could feel the sun warming my face, I took a moment to think about how many people perished on that day. How many people helped and then got sick afterward. It’s like the bad regift that keeps on regifting. ​A little later, I went to log into my banking app. After three tries of facial ID, I saw my reflection in the phone. I had a heavy deep scowl. Very much a frownie face. Once I fixed it and relaxed my frown, it worked just fine. I think frowning is my default face. It kind of made me laugh.  My Aunt and Uncle arrived and we decided to go to dinner. We ate outside over looking the bay. I cleaned and organized areas of the camper removing things that I don’t need or use. It freed up a lot of space. Paul arrived...

​I reached out to Ethan’s Heart Transplant team today to find out how his prospera test went. This is the research study test that is supposed to help identify people that may have rejection through a blood test. The purpose of the test is to try and eliminate biopsies whenever possible.   Ethan’s last test was elevated. Normal is .18 or below. Ethan’s readings have been .42 and .34. His heart team has advised doing a biopsy to check for rejection. I asked if there was a chance that these elevated values do not mean rejection. Her answer was simple “it is rare for someone to have these kind of numbers and is not having any issues, but I have seen it happen.” Biopsy is the best way to see rejection at a cellular level and with Ethan’s Kidney values low, I do feel he needs to have this done on his kidney as well. He does both of these tests without anesthesia. He is a bad ass! I reached out to the kidney team asking when our next appointment is (it hadn’t been scheduled) and if we sh...

​It was a bit drizzly today. A perfect day to work! I took the dogs out in between showers only to find the gift likely an osprey left me. Gross! I had to be creative to keep the dogs away so I could take care of this guaranteed stomachache. I am thankful it was a fresh-ish fish head. It didn’t smell yet. There was not a bug infestation. All good things. I worked into the evening. I had some things to catch up on.  The dogs did get some outside time prior to the arrival of the rain. The rain was mostly steady. The dogs really had to run in between the raindrops to go to the bathroom today. I was saying “hustle, hustle, hustle!” They mostly did a lot of sleeping in shameless positions. Paul got stung by a bee last week. It was a bumble bee, the big fuzzy ones. They don’t have barbs on their stinger, so they don’t die. Well, he has been struggling with swelling, not feeling great and swollen lymph nodes. It is changing the way things taste.  He got his haircut cut today and real...

​I got to work very bright and early this morning. I did my calls from outside mostly.  I did have a helper. He sat it his little chihuahua camping chair and napped in the sun. After work, I hung out with my cousin and shoreline neighbors until they decided they were going to go out to dinner. I was invited but politely declined. I had dinner already planned.  My cousin and I had a fire and had some good laughs. These two joined us at the fire and snuggled. The doors went up in Ethan’s barn. Yay! Progress!