What to say....

So....it's 824 more minutes until go time (okay, 13 hours, but I have a flair for the dramatic :)

Today has gone surprisingly well.  My day started at 7:00am, and we've been going ever since.  In fact, I'm STILL here at Mayo at my last appointment, which is the IVIG infusion.  Here was my schedule:

• plasmapheresis
• on-call nephrologist
• surgeon
• dialysis
• IVIG infusion

This is the machine that I had today for plasmapheresis.  The glass bottles are the albumin that is replacing the plasma that they removed.  I'm not sure why albumin is in glass bottles, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that albumin is a protein.

After plasmapheresis, Annika and I went back to the hotel to have breakfast with Joacim and Izzy.  I still have my PD catheter to take care of, so here I am emptying my peritoneal cavity and flushing the catheter.

The appointments with the nephrologist and surgeon were uneventful.  The surgeon was a smaller man, so I'm guessing he had smaller hands.  Win.  He did say that they won't be using staples (another WIN) and that the surgical opening would only be 4-5 inches long (and the TRIFECTA of wins!!!!).

We then had a break for lunch and went to Jimmy John's.  For those of you at work who are reading this, you can commiserate with me.  Just kidding...it's close by, and not too heavy of a meal before dialysis.

Dialysis today was also, thankfully, uneventful.  We only pulled 1.5L of fluid off because they want my body to be well hydrated so Adam's kidney has something to work on tomorrow :)  Adam, Noel and Adam's dad stopped by for a visit and I was able to catch up with his adventures today.  I'll admit that I was a little weirded out (for lack of a better term) last night when we met up with them all for dinner, but seeing Adam walk around the corner with that infectious grin alleviated any weirdness I had.

And last, but certainly not least, is the IVIG (which stands for intra-veinous immunoglobulin).  Essentially, it's fake plasma with some great antibodies in it.  This is actually what I'm hooked up to right now as I type.  Another glass bottle means another protein.  They gave me benadryl before the drip started to ward off any reaction to it (just like the Rituximab treatments) so I'm a bit sleepy but still hanging in there.

So that's about it for me today.  Once I'm done here, I'll go back to the hotel to see Izzy and my parents (who arrived today), and then off to bed.  I'll check in to the hospital at 5:30am, which means I have to get up around 4:30am so I can shower with the special soap and get myself together.  Surgery is scheduled to start at 8:00am tomorrow, so be on the lookout for a post around then.  I've asked Joacim to post from my account when the surgery starts, and then again when the kidney is in.  Any other posts are all up to him :)

And lastly, but most certainly not the least, I want to send out a HUGE, immense, never-ending stream of thanks to all of you that have taken a moment out of your day to send Adam and I prayers/karma/juju/wishes for a successful #operationrelocation tomorrow.  Even in my best days did I expect this amazing outpouring of love and support.  I'm not going to go getting all gooey now as I'll save my babbling tears and emotions for tomorrow :)  Adam, you have amazing family and friends.  You aren't so bad yourself :)

2 more days!!!

I had planned on blogging a little every day while I'm here at Mayo, but Friday's dialysis session kinda wrecked that, so let's recap, shall we?  Here are the appointments I had that day:

• Office visit for dialysis
• this was just a quick exam and a review of my previous dialysis sessions in preparation for my first session at Mayo
• my transplant nephrologist
• this was a review of my labs on Thursday and another overview of the transplant itself
• plasmapheresis
• According to the inter webs:  "Plasmapheresis is a process in which the liquid in the blood, or plasma, is separated from the cells. In sick people, plasma can contain antibodies that attack the immune system. A machine removes the affected plasma and replaces it with good plasma, or a plasma substitute"
• In my case, they are replacing the plasma with albumin





This is the machine that they use...in the lower compartment is a centrifuge that is used to separate the plasma from the blood (i.e., it's loud)






I look rotund in this photo.  I'm convinced it's just the shirt and a bad angle ;)






The great thing about plasmapheresis (if there is such a thing) is that it doesn't hurt a bit.  I really don't feel anything at all except a slight tingling around my mouth.






These are the bottles of albumin that are replacing the plasma.






And this is my plasma waste bag after the session was over (it lasts around an hour) .

• dialysis
• This dialysis unit at Mayo was very nice.  Each of the chairs is semi-isolated with half walls and glass panels, so the noise level was much lower than the other unit I've been at.  The session itself went pretty well until the very end.  We pulled off 3L of fluid as I was 3.5 L over my dry weight (I'm blaming the difference in the scales :).  I also wanted to try to push it a little because it was the weekend and I knew that I had 2 days until the next session (which means an extra day of fluid gain).  I was successful in pulling that much, but I think it was a bit too much because I started cramping the last 2 minutes of the run. The cramps are in my calf and my feet/toes.  They always hurt tremendously, but they usually last 10-15 seconds, but these cramps on Friday lasted for several minutes.  I can't walk when they happen....I just have to try to stretch them out, but even that wasn't working on Friday.  My entire leg locked up and I just couldn't do a damn thing about it. It got so bad that I just started crying....sobbing, actually.  The nurse was very calm with me and did everything she could, trying to flush a lot of saline back into my body to try to rehydrate my body.  Eventually the cramps subsided, but I was exhausted from the pain.  My blood pressure was 170/111 when I left due to the stress (I'm guessing).

After dialysis I was completely spent, so we (Annika and I) came back to the hotel room.  I got my jammies on, got an ice pack for the headache that I knew would happen and crawled into bed.  I watched a little TV, took my evening meds and then went to sleep.  Real exciting life we're living here in Rochester.

I woke up on Saturday and felt much better.  We were able to take it slow in the morning and have a normal breakfast.  I had another plasmapheresis treatment at 10, and then after that we went to Target to get a few things like drinking water (the hotel water is heavily chlorinated) and then came back and waited for Joacim and Izzy to get here (YAY!).  Izzy was VERY excited about the pool (score one for me!).  I read somewhere that they had trick-or-treating at the mall, so I helped get her dressed for that and off we went for some indoor trick-or-treating.  This must be a very popular activity here because it was PACKED!

After trick-or-treating, we went out for dinner, back to Target for an emergency pajama run for Izzy, and then back to the hotel for some swimming.  I'm so appreciative of Joacim's willingness to get in with her (because I can't).  I DO wish I could've sat in the hot tub though, because dangling my feet in it just seemed like such tease.

After the pool, we came back to the room, took showers, Izzy put on her new Minions jammies (they're an adorable little onesie-type jammie...I could just snuggle with her forever in those things) and hung out.  I had gotten Izzy a couple of gifts to help pass the time, and she couldn't help but dig in right away.  Joacim had a beer and watched the Wild game, and Annika tried to fix my terrible knitting that I was attempting :)