home dialysis

well hello all ,,were at home now just on the second week of dialysis ,i think all is going well we have done two days without any help,, but have made mistakes ,,like today i touched the wrong thing on the screen and had to do a manual wash back and Andy's blood pressure was low so that didn't help,but all was ok in the end ,,but i did panic ,need to be calm next time ,,we are still doing 12 hours a week and doing it in the morning but im hoping we can change the times soon because Andy will have dialysis in the morning and then spend all afternoon in bed so that's a day wasted, i think Andy should have it in the evening then go to bed . then we can plan a day out somewhere,,it was the whole point of having dialysis at home so he could have a better life ,,so here's hoping i can get him out and about and into a better routine ,,the pic is of Andy in his little cabin on dialysis,, ttfn,xx.

Dialysis training

hi all ,,well we have had a good week at the hospital training ,,i feel better now its all coming together i think another week will be setting it all up without reading instruction ,,,Cris's and Maggie who are training patients are lovely people they deserve a medal for what they do ,,,, i just hope im confident when we get home on the 7th of September,, every thing is nearly set up in the cabin we brought a couch for Andy while his on dialysis at home ws lucky to find it threw a friend who saw the advert in a shop window but we don't no if its going to be suitable yet ,,if not will buy a new one ,,machine and every thing else will be delivered at the end of this month so then were be all set to go,,this week has gone to quick but i think i need to get some early nights we have to get up at 5 15 and get picked up at 6 15 ,and were get back home about 2 ,so we go back to bed for two hours and the days gone ,,,still will be better when we get home ,, this picture is of the couch we got for in the cabin,,,ttfn xxx

home dialysis

hi all just to let you know Andy's feet are doing ok now only took three lots of antibiotics this time ,, well its been all go here we have had the porta cabin put in the garden its nearly ready to be used,,we had work men in for two weeks ,,and now were on our second week training to put Andy on dialysis,,,I'm really enjoying it but finding it hard to get into a routine with Andy because we get picked up at 6 15 am so were up at 5 15 and get to hospital for 7, am . theres alot to take in and remember but were get there im getting a bot more confidence inserting the needles,,which is the most important part of dialising and very scary,,but hopefully i will get used to it, i need to go now but will keep you updated, here's a pic of the porta cabin ,,very cosy but smells like a hospital,,,ttfn xxx

keep your swine flu to your self .

Andrews feet are looking a bit better , and his feeling better to ,his had sickness and loss of appetite,,but is eating OK now ,, the doctor saw him at the hospital and decided to change his target weight and lower his blood pressure tablets because his blood pressure keeps dropping,,so hopefully he will start to feel better after dialysis now,,we are very concerned about swine flu like everyone else in the world we are dreading the kids picking it up and bringing it home as so many schools have had a least one child at school who has swine flu ,,i feel that all children and people with health problems should have the vaccine very soon,its the last day of school and the kids are going to bored again because of this typical British weather,,wheres the sun?,, well that's all i got to say today ,,so ttfn,xxxx.

Seaweed on feet

What a day well last night i said to andy are you feeling ok because you feel hot,he said he was fine , then this morning i left andy in bed and went to town to open a bank account for laurens ema , and phoned andy about 12 to see if he was ok ,he said no im not well again its my feet again and im cold,, so i rang his mum and told her andy wasnt well and that im on my way home from town , when i got there Andy's mum and dad and friend Rachel was there,,Andy was shivering but had a temperature , he had called for a doctors appointment and was waiting for the doctor to call back,,two hours later the doctor rang and asked Andy to go to the surgery at five,Andy had a appointment with the chiropody at 4 15 first ,,,Andy got there and he told that his foot and leg is sore ,so she had a dig around and said he had some trapped blood under the hard skin that could be the infection ,so she dressed it with seaweed ,she wrote to give to the doctor which Andy gave to him and was sent home with antibiotics ,,,Andy has not eaten all day which is a bit worrying being a diabetic,,but he cant keep anything down ,,,hope fully buy tomorrow the antibiotics would of kicked in and he will feel better,, but its so worrying because its not like the other week when he got infection its a bit different because he wasn't feeling bloated and he wasn't so restless like last time ,,he looks a bit breathless which is a bit more worrying ,,,when any thing like this happens now i will ring the dialysis ward tomorrow and tell them because they do blood tests on him right away which puts me at ease,,Andy says i always panic but i suppose you do when its some one you love ,will keep you posted ,,,ttfn,xx

smoking with kidney failure

just to let you all no Andy had a heart scare earlier this year,,the doctor told him one of his heart chambers was not pumping enough blood round his heart,,so he put him on some Betta blockers and told him he must stop smoking,,,so with a little help from patches Andy has given up smoking ,wish i had the will power to stop ,,,tried the patches before but they didn't work on me,,,maybe its going to take something serious to happen with my health to make me stop, mind you it has made a big difference to him because his stopped coughing and doesn't snore any more ,,,he does still get out of breath and a back ache when his walking but that's something he has to put up with ,,his also had some trainers made for his feet so it will help his ulcers a bit when walking which is good ,his still having problems with his sight and cant go out alone in the dark ,,or in places that are not well lit,,,, well its nearly the schools 6 week holidays ,,daughter Lauren has left school and is going to college to study child care ,,,and jack goes up to year 8,his of to his dads for the 6 weeks he loves going there cos he gets spoilt ,,,and i love him going there cos we get some peace,,lol,well that's my post for today ,,ttfn xxx

holiday in sunny skeg

well its been a long time since i done a update .nothing has really changed with Andrew's health,,his still on dialysis three times a week ,,but recently we had a week in skegness in a caravan at winthorpe ,,,first day we got there Andy was feeling sick ,, we dropped him of at the dialysis centre thinking it was just the traveling,,,but Andy was sick while his was being dialised ,,when he finished a two hour on dialysis,, his blood pressure dropped ,,,it took about three hours for him to recover and he felt well enough to go out ,so we went to the market at fantasy island ,,,when we got back to the caravan after about 3 hours Andy was shivering but felt really hot ,,then he was sick,,followed by a cold sweat,,,i thought here we go again ,,,so we went to the local hospital in skegness and found that Andy had infection in both feet the doctor gave him antibiotics and sent us on,,,good start to the holiday,,Andy was ok after a day of rest , the weather got really hot so that was a bonus and we had a good five days there,,we are hoping to have dialysis at home by september,, i start my training in three weeks at the hospital to put andy on a dailysis machine which could take up to eight weeks but i have done it before so it wont take that long,, in the mean time we are waiting for the work to start in the garden so Andy can have a porta cabin there for dialysis because we have not the space for it all in the house. the hospital got the funding so its all systems go when they get permission from the council to shut the road of to deliver the cabin ,,,it has to be lifted over the top or the house by crane so that's why the road has to be shut of for safety reasons,, i just hope that i can cope with it all, because i no Andy is not the easiest of patients to deal with , any way will keep you updated to all who reads our blog,,,ttfn.xxx