Sunday, March 25

It's been several weeks since Jackie has been at home and she is working hard at getting healthier. She has lost most of her appetite and Fred stays on top of her to make sure she gets enough nutrition. She is making progress at moving around by herself. Most of her activity is around going from the bed, to the recliner in her bedroom, to the living room chair or the bathroom. She has gotten to the the place where she can make the transitions on her own. Though it is still exhausting for her. The nice weather has allowed her to sit in the sun a couple of days which has been nice since she is always cold.

Physical and operational therapy comes to the house a couple of times a week and she has been working hard with them. A nurse also comes by to check her wound on her back from the surgery. The back surgery seems to have relieved a lot of the pain as it was supposed to. But there were several tears in the dura that the surgeon tried to patch Which seem to have not worked. There is still a lot of spinal fluid leaking and the biggest concern right now is that the tear(s)in her dura (the covering over your spine that holds in the spinal fluid) isn't repairing on its own which would require another back surgery. She is very anxious about the idea of having to go through another back surgery so we are praying it will start healing faster on its own. She will learn soon how they feel it's progressing.

She goes to have the feeding tube from the hospital removed this week and is excited to have it gone. Her kidney function is looking good, which is such a relief. We are still planning on participating in the national kidney foundation walk taking place the morning of May 20 at the Detroit Zoo, which is the Sunday after mother's day and Jackie's birthday. A wheel chair for Jackie if she's up to it, but we are hoping everyone will consider walking with us (they ask for a $20 donation for each walker.) Email me or my mom and we can get you signed up on our team or you can make a donation on our page.

Wednesday, February 29

Jackie celebrated leap day by going home!  She returned home around 1:00 p.m. and had a pleasantly uneventful day.  She is fighting a stomach virus that she picked up in the hospital so she won't be accepting company until it clears up, it is highly contageous.  She is on antibiotics, so hopefully it clears quickly.

A nurse will be coming to the house about four times a week to check on her incision.  She has physical therapy excercises she is supposed to do daily as well.

Please save the date, May 20, we would love for you to join us for the Kidney Walk taking place at the Detroit Zoo.By joining our team to walk you can support the Foundation with your $20 registration fee and stay after the walk and celebrate Jackie's birthday with her at the picnic that follows the event. Click the "Join My Team Button" and register online.

http://donate.kidney.org/site/TR/Walk/Michigan?px=1922118&pg=personal&fr_id=4415

If you are unable to attend, please consider supporting Jackie, Fred and I by selecting the "Donate" button from one of our walk pages. Your contribution will go to programs and services that benefit kidney patients, transplant recipients, organ donors and their families: early detection screenings, research, education for professionals and patients, and much more.

Tuesday, February 28

The best news yet!

Jackie has been scheduled for release from the hospital and will be going home tomorrow morning, Wednesday, February 29.  They have closed up her tracheatomy and she is now assessory free. (No bags, bottles, tubes, etc!)

She is doing great, so great in fact, they are confident that her kidney function is back and have removed the dialysis ports!  That is the most amazing news, we were very worried that dialysis would be a part of her weekly life and it is such a blessing that she will no longer need these procedures.

We really appreciate all of the support, and wishes and help everyone has offered over the past month.  It has meant a lot to our family.

We have learned so much about Kidney Disease over the past four weeks and would like to express our gratitude over her recovery by supporting the National Kidney Foundation at their 2012 Walk taking place on Sunday, May 20 at the Detroit Zoo.

We hope you will consider joining us at the walk, which will take place just one week after Jackie celebrates her 72 birthday.  By joining our team to walk you can support the Foundation with your $20 registration fee and stay after the walk and celebrate Jackie's birthday with her at the picnic that follows the event. Click the "Join My Team Button" and register online.

http://donate.kidney.org/site/TR/Walk/Michigan?px=1922118&pg=personal&fr_id=4415

If you are unable to attend, please consider supporting Jackie, Fred and I by selecting the "Donate" button from one of our walk pages. Your contribution will go to programs and services that benefit kidney patients, transplant recipients, organ donors and their families: early detection screenings, research, education for professionals and patients, and much more.

Tuesday, February 21

Today we received some great news.  Jackie had her first day were her kidney numbers where good enough that she was able to skip dialysis.  We are hoping they will stay that way and she can be done, but one day at a time!

She has also been given a release date of Wednesday, February 29.  If she continues to progress at her current level she will get to go home in one week.  We are proud of how hard she has been working and what a great positive attitude she has kept.  She has also been granted a home visit so on Sunday she will get to spend a few hours with family at the house.  Such great news!

Because they work her so hard all day she is usually too tired to have visitors at the hospital right now, she prefers to nap when she can.  I will let everyone know when she is looking for some company again!

Friday, February 17 -video

Jackie had a great day on Thursday. Steve flew in again from Texas and she was moved out of ICU to the rehab floor at Crittenton. We are so thrilled that they accepted her to the floor. Her first day of rehab was Friday and the nurses reported that she worked hard and had a great attitude.

She had her scheduled Friday dialysis and as of Saturday her kidney numbers are moving in the right direction and her urine output is great. We just need the kidneys to start filtering so she can be done with dialysis. The temporary ports are starting to clog a little so we are hoping they kick in soon so they won't have to put new ports in.

She still has a special vac on her back wound which is collecting much more fluid than expected. This, along with the headaches she is having makes the doctors concerned about the possibility of spinal fluid leaking. When they did the original back surgery the protective coating around the spine had tears which the surgeon tried to patch, so this has been a concern from the start.

Wednesday, February 15

The Petosky girls surprised Jackie with a visit on Monday.

Jackie is progressing nicely and has really been in great spirits with her brother Bob in town.  She has been talking up a storm with the cap on her tracheotomy, and we anticipate them removing it all together in the coming days because she is doing so well with her breathing.

She also received news that she is moving to Crittenton's physical therapy floor on Thursday.  Great news, this means she doesn't have to be transferred to a nursery home for her physical therapy.  Jackie will have to work hard to remain in the unit, three to four hours of theraphy every day.  But this will get her strong and home quicker so we are excited for this opportunity.

She is still on dialysis three days a week, and we are still optimistic that once she is up and moving around more that her kidneys will kick back into gear and start functioning all on their own. 



Monday, February 13 - SURPRISE!

Jackie had a rough day, she didn't sleep well Sunday night.  But things improved when my dad showed up at the hospital with her brother who flew in from Nevada!  He is staying until next Tuesday to help her keep her spirits up and do the hard work to get her through physical therapy.