Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Something new

Anthony is feeling good. He's been on his bike twice in the past two weeks and is planning on riding again in the beautiful weather on Thursday. He's got energy, he's a little more feisty, he wants to play with Lincoln when he comes home now instead of just sitting on the couch to rest. It's exciting that he's feeling like his old self again. He can't quit talking about how much better he feels. And Monday he went back to Dr. Bast in Lenoir and had the catheter for hemodialysis that was in his heart removed. One less thing to be hanging out of his body, and one less thing for Lincoln to fall into on accident. He showed it to me and it's literally a hole in his chest! They stitched it up on the inside somewhere, but didn't do anything else. He's not even covered in gauze, just Opcite...this clear plasticy sticky stuff. Weird. But last night he took his first REAL shower since January 20th! That was one long month! 
So the new thing is manual dialysis at home. Instead of using the machine every night he has the option to drain and fill several times throughout the day. So he decided to try it this weekend so we could spend a few nights without the buzzing and humming of the machine. It's the same basic idea: he fills up first thing in the morning, dwells for several hours and then drains himself. He refills again and dwells for several hours and drains again. He's supposed to get a total of 5 exchanges a day. That includes being full overnight. But it also means not being hooked up to anything, anytime! And no sleeping beside that machine. He can get up at night time if and when he needs to. It has less waste because he's using less supplies than he uses with the machine. The only downside is that he's gotta figure out how to do an exchange during lunch at work. He'll have to take a bag of solution with him and keep it warm. It's supposed to be body temperature when it's put in. He's not figured out yet how to keep it warm and store it at work. We timed it this weekend...from completely drained to completely filled takes right at 20 minutes. He only gets an hour for lunch, if he's lucky. So he'll have to eat at work, or use those puppy dog eyes and get someone to bring food back for him! 
He really liked this process this weekend. He said that he can tell it makes him feel better than the machine even did. It's more convenient because he can drain and fill when it's most convenient for him, as long as he gets enough exchanges for the day. It's also very nice that the night time is calm and quiet. He placed his order on Monday...so 2 weeks from now we'll get another giant shipment of medical boxes to fill up the garage. We're reveling in today, because they just came to pick up a huge bunch of boxes that he didn't need. The basement is sooo empty! It won't be for long, but it's a nice feeling for the time being. 

In other news I went to the doctor yesterday. We are 37 weeks tomorrow!!!! I was 50% thinned out and 1 cm dilated. Last week I was only 20% thinned. I guess the contractions I've been having all weekend and yesterday are doing something. I don't think this little one is going to make a late appearance like her sweet brother did. I'm OK with that. The end of this pregnancy has been very different than Lincoln's. He didn't cause any problems or make any trouble. She's very squeezy and I've got contractions quite often, she's in a different position than Lincoln and just feels uncomfortable. I'm pretty ready to get this show on the road. Not to mention it would be just fine to go ahead and be at home. Anna is on call for the whole month of March...so thankfully she'll be available no matter when Sweet Girl decides to make her appearance. Nana is on Lincoln duty and will swoop in to take care of little man. Erin said she'd move in with us if we needed her to, depending on Anthony's health and how much he can help. So I feel like I've got all my bases covered for now. Although, I just realized that I've packed a bag for me and Sissy...but not for Lincoln. He'll need clothes, shoes, diapers, pajamas and such for his Camp Nana time. Silly me. I'll have to get that together tomorrow. Then we'll be ready.
Her room is almost finished. I ordered her tree, but it's coming from Israel so it's not quite here yet. I can't wait to have that up. It'll feel more complete then. I'll take more pictures when that gets put on the wall.  


Meanwhile....here are a few pics from Disney, since I never did get around to that post!!




Disney is so fabulous for small people! It's so nice there are so many things that even tiny people can ride without the height requirement. This is Lincoln and me in front of  Nemo's The Seas. Very cute ride.


This kid loves Mickey Mouse!! He was so patient and waited in line at the Character Spot to see all of his favorite friends. He just kept saying "hug, Mimey Mouse!" Sooo sweet! Then he just had to touch him and hug him and kiss him. He was sad that we had to leave!


Rainforest Cafe is adjacent to Animal Kingdom so we hit that up for lunch on New Year's Eve. So cute!


Daddy and Lincoln riding the little Dinosaurs at Animal Kingdom. Lincoln loved it!! In fact he cried and cried and cried when it was over. We finally got him to talk to us instead of screaming to let us know he wanted to ride again. So he got to ride it again!
Next time we go we'll have two! What an amazing thought! I'm SURE it'll be a while before we take the both of them to Disney!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Lincoln is soooo cute! I am glad that Anthony is feeling better!!!!

Christy Buchanan