many people are floored at cory's quick decrease to dialysis and the sudden need for him to be admitted to the hospital. he is 29 years old and is in good health, high blood pressure does run in his family and all of his immediate family, including his father, mother and two sisters all have been forced to take high blood pressure medication to maintain a safe pressure.
symptoms?
his symptoms as we look back, may have been more than we realized. his number one symptom was the fact that for the past month straight he was throwing up every morning. about two weeks ago i heard him and joke now that i thought he had an eating disorder, or we both joke that he was going to be the first pregnant male. jokes aside, he should have been seen by a doctor weeks before but thankfully with a little push by me he finally made an appointment. other symptoms were swollen feet, and a friend of the family said that within the last week he did not look or act the same as he usually did. his eyes seemed glazed over and his appetite was not to same, not to mention he did feel as if he was short of breath during his sleep.
everything else about him was normal. he felt no chest pain or head ache, even though his blood pressure was probably randing somewhere between 170-190/upper hundreds. this was the scary part and if he wouldn't have taken the doctor's orders to get his ass to the emergency room, this blog may be of a different theme and tone. we are blessed that he was able to be taken care of before it was too late.
timeline?
cory arrived at the hospital on december 28th in the morning. he woke up and without even saying anything about receiving a phone call from the doctor he woke me up and said he was going to the ER. i asked if he wanted me to come with him and he replied no, so i went to my dentist appointment where i got the news that he was going to stay over night for testing. what turned into confusion quickly turned into panic. i quickly called his mother, erin, and his sister courtney, who was sick that day. erin was very upset and rightfully so, her family has a long history of kidney and heart disease, some ending in death. we all came together in the afternoon to surround his bed with good energy and love, he was certain he would get out the next day. at around 2 or 3 courtney was admitted to the hospital for her symptoms as well, the family was going back and forth between courtney's room and cory's. closer in the evening cory's kidney doctor, dr. fung arrived and examined cory's neck, feet, chest, and blood tests. what started off with a simple questionnaire ended with doctor fung closing the door and informing cory that he was going to begin dialysis this evening to control his blood pressure and try to salvage his kidneys, which he explained were only working at 9% out of 100%. later, we also found out that cory's kidneys were different in size, one being almost 50% smaller than the other, for how long? we would never know. for the next three days cory under went kidney dialysis and was placed on a renal diet. the first day of dialysis lasted for 2.5 hours, they were trying to maximize the amount of blood they could clean but wanted to minimize the size affects on cory's body for never experiencing dialysis before. the second day the nurse came in for 3 hours, most of the time cory was able to luckily sleep and the second day for four hours he was hooked up to the dialysis machine. with the help of dialysis and overall after the three days his blood pressure went down to it's lowest of 130 where as when he was admitted it was easily in the 200's. he was in ICU until Saturday night when he was admitted to a lower urgency wing, he was free of all of the cords he had to wear 24 hours a day in ICU and could finally take a shower, walk around, and unfortunately share a bed with me. i have left him four times since he arrived and every time i do i feel guilty. i would be with him 24 hour a day if i could and i am if my job permits. we have shared his hospital bed two nights now and i'm praying that tomorrow will be our last stay and finally he will be able to come home. new years was spent in his room with family and friends celebrating the uphill battle we are winning with his condition and basically celebrating cory being alive and well enough to smile and most importantly give me a kiss on new years. the fright and heartache is definitely left in the dust with 2011 and all of the positive energy has been created and constructed so that 2012 will be a year of successful and triumphant memories only making cory stronger, and skinnier at that. i forgot to mention cory has lost almost 10 pounds since being in the hospital and says that his new years resolution is to get down to 215, which i will gladly help him with. today is a rest day and tomorrow is another day of dialysis and a meeting with dr. fung consulting him on his next steps with dialysis.
what is dialysis?
in the photo above you see cory in the bed with his nurse, rich, who has become apart of the family. he has all of the answers to all of our questions, good or bad. the first day cory had reggie, who was incredibly helpful as well from the northwest kidney center. these men and women travel throughout 9 (i believe) different hospitals throughout the area and set up this giant machine (which is also pictured above) that slightly resembles a mixing table or a large tape recorder. the set up for the machine takes about an hour and it consists of the doctor prepping the machine and also cory. cory is able to have visitors during the process which ranges from 3-8 hour periods. the machine is prepped by cleaning the entire thing with saleen solution. the machine is bleach free and the water that is created after it is cleaned is the cleanest water available, oxygenated and completely purified. once the machine has been cleaned the doctor cleans cory's catheter which at this moment in time is located on the right side of his neck, which is called a central venous catheter is used when performing hemodialysis. hemodialysis works by circulating the blood through special filters outside your body. blood flows across a semi-permeable membrane (called the dialyzer) with solutions that help remove toxins. because hemodialysis requires a blood flow larger than a regular IV tube would allow, dialysis uses unique ways of accessing the blood in the blood vessels. This access can be temporary (dialysis catheters) or permanent (surgically joining an artery to a vein.). blood is then taken from the access point in the patient's body to a dialysis machine. chemical imbalances and impurities in your blood are corrected and the blood is then returned to your body. typically, most patients undergo hemodialysis for three sessions every week. this type of treatment takes place at a dialysis center, and each session lasts about three to four hours. Northwest Kidney Centers locations offer patients a variety of amenities to make each session more comfortable. i should also mention that it doesn't hurt at all, cory cannot feel the catheter.
what is a normal blood pressure for him?
i would say anything under 150/90 would be to his best benefit. he was once down to 131/85 and erin quickly took a photograph of it because it was such a momentous occasion.
will he be able to work?
so far dr. fung has said that it will be just fine for cory to return back to his job at boeing. he plans to take some time off before he does that and get used to his life on dialysis.
what about your trip to hawaii?
great question :) we are still going, cory and i planned a trip to hawaii months ago and once he was admitted it was the first question out of everyone's mouth, if it was going to be possible for him to travel. the advice i have gotten from other dialysis patients is that if you are willing and able, then nothing is impossible. amazing things happen and we are both ready to go on the adventure of continuing his dialysis down in hawaii. after he gets his set dialysis schedule on monday we will know more about the location on maui where it will take place and i will obviously keep everyone up to date through the blog on how it goes.
how are his spirits?
i really haven't mentioned much about how he is feeling about all of this. with the help of all of his friends and family and all of the guests he has had in and out of the hospital there has been little time to feel like a victim. a good friend of mine, jonathan moore under went a kidney transplant from his wife this past year and he gave me the best advice which i listened to and ran with. he told cory to be an advocate for yourself, it is your body and you are in charge, listen to your doctors but never hesitate to research it yourself and never be afraid to speak your mind and vocalize your opinions to your doctors. be positive and most importantly realize that your life isn't over and you can live a fulfilling life on dialysis and with a transplant. he has been smiling and cheerful and most importantly he has realized that his life was just saved and that he will continue to live every day to the fullest from now on. he is my hero.
if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to e-mail me, tessaquigley@gmail.com, i'd love to answer.
happy new year!
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