Where have I been?

That is a question for you and for me. I guess for you since I have been MIA for a week and an half and for me, because there are blocks of that time that I am not sure where I was. My last post found me at my Mom's for a Christmas Party on Sunday Dec 11. The extreme fatigue and leg swelling would not let up and some blood work showed a Hemoglobin of 8.3. Time for 2 units of blood on Tuesday the 13th. They told me after about 2-3 days that my energy would come back up as the hemoglobin rose. By Monday of the following week I was not able to stay out of bed for any meaningful amount of time. I also had a ridiculous thirst that I could not catch up with. On top of that my left leg is holding a ton of fluid and is obviously swollen greatly. They tested my hemoglobin to see if I was losing blood again, but the hemoglobin was steady, but not great at 9.3. No transfusion, but they thought some fluids would help with the dehydration. I took the fluids by IV and came home. I immediately fell asleep on the bed. My wife woke me up a couple hours later with a much greater degree of swelling in my foot, my let, and all the way up my groin. We called the doctor line again. This time they suggested that I get to the Downtown Main BJC Emergency Room. We did that. By the time we got to the emergency room, I was in Acute Renal Failure with a creatinine rate of 5.96 (normal around 1.o). We still had to wait for 6 hours, but my right kidney had been damaged from the cancer for the last year or so, so I knew that function was low. What happened was the enlarged lymph nodes pinched off every bit of fluid drain in my abdomen effectively shutting down my left kidney as well. At the same time, they did manage to locate a blood clot in my left groin. Problem is, it could not be treated until my kidney function restored itself since the blood thinner, Lovenox is processed through the kidney. So The day I arrived on Tuesday, I was so toxic I don't remember anything. Wednesday I was given a twighlight drug to put nephrostomy tubes in my back to bypass my kidneys and bladder. It is temporary right now, but we will review in a month to see what to do with it long term. Within the first 24 hours, they drained over 5.5 liters of fluid from my left kidney alone. So I do not urinate in the conventional way, it drains through the tubes into pouches that I empty periodically. That part, while it sounds bad, is actually more convenient than what I have dealt with over the last few months. The good thing is, I am home, I'm mostly stable, and I greatly appreciate the friends and family that I have been blessed enough to be with. I can't say enough about our church, our family, our friends, people I blog with, etc. I will write more later. Worn out.

Love all of you more than you will ever know.

B.