Ok we have had just about as much Christmas as we can stand. We had Christmas on Christmas Eve, Christmas day and the day after Christmas. The tree and decorations have been packed away until next year. Call me hum bug if you want but I had to get it put away because this week will be busy.

We are trying to use the access in Steve's arm, this is not going so well. He has went a few times to train with this access. (By the way thanks Gary M. for going with him, it really helped me out a lot). The training nurse is having trouble finding the right spot. She can always get the Venus line in with no problem but the arterial never works. Usually they stick him 1 to 3 times and end up hooking the arterial line up in his chest catheter. They stuck him so many times the week of Christmas and it infiltrated that his left arm looks like he has been in a bad car wreck. It is badly bruised from the elbow to the wrist. The nurse thought it was good he wasn't coming back for a few days to give him a break. Blair went with him one day last week and I warned her if blood, needles or any of that bothered her she might not want to watch. I have to admit it is not good sitting and watching this pain. I have never had any problems with this kind of thing but I have to tell you I found myself getting a bit queezy one day last week watching all this.

Today we went an things did not go any better. They get the Venus line every time time but not the arterial. The training nurse called in another nurse today that does this on a daily basis and she did good. Steve wants her to start doing it all the time. It is so painful that he keeps telling me he doesn't want to go back. He is really discouraged this week.

With the way the weather has been and sounds like more snow tonight, with his arm being so badly bruised and the pain I think we will be doing this the month of January anyway. What they are trying to do in case I haven't made that clear they are trying to form what they call a button hole. The vein builds scar tissue from all the sticks and it makes it tough so he can stick it in the same place once the button hole is formed. Easier said than done.

We know there are a lot of you that have been praying for him, please keep it up he is needing it now more than ever to keep his spirits up. We go see the Nephrologist at KU on the transplant team before long and also the first of February we are going to KU to do a CT scan with contrast which he has not done in years. They warned him doing it with contrast is the best picture but could cause whatever remaining kidney function he has left to fail. We said we knew that. At this time they will discuss what it looks like. The ultrasound from Dec. 11 show a slight change, nothing that they were alarmed about, probably just normal detieration of the kidney. Probably will make a date with the urologist to have it taken out. He would like to keep it as long as possible if they think it does not have cancer because it does help with the water balance and he is still peeing some which is good. If they take it out he will have to be more strict with eating and fluid intake.

Thats all for now. Take care and God Bless.
Love Steve, Christy & Blair

Steve will start tomorrow accessing the fistula in his arm. This means going back to St. Joe again for more training. This will take at least 6 to 9 times. As of Friday we have done the dialysis at home and it is going pretty well. He doesn't like the time it takes to do this, approximately 3 hours but it is better than driving to St. Joe. We have been working this schedule around Blair's basketball games. We can't miss that. He is anxious to get started with the fistula because this means the pump speed on the machine can be as high as 500 which we think will shorten the time he is actually on the machine.

We had an appointment at KU Friday and they want him to come back the first of February to do a CT scan with contrast to take a good look at the kidney with the cyst. They see a slight change but nothing significant. At this point they want to talk about taking it out. We are also trying to set up an appointment with one of the doctors on the transplant team to see where we are at.

We will let you know how things go this week. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
The Schmitz's Steve, Christy & Blair

We officially today did dialysis at home by ourselves. Yesterday the dialysis nurse came to our home and helped us set up and get started. Whatever jitters we have now I guess won't be first time jitters anymore. I got him hooked up and he watched the Northwest game while the machine was running. This kept him occupied for a couple of hours. It is now 5:00pm and he is still walking, talking and breathing so I guess we did everything ok.

Steve has an appointment Monday with Dr Lukins the vascular surgeon to check the work that was done on the fistula. The dialysis nurse thinks it looks and sounds really good. So maybe Monday the Dr. will give the ok to use the fistula. If so then it is back to training again to learn how to stick the vein for the dialysis access. The nurse briefly explained some of this. You start with a 17 gauge needle and work to a 15 gauge which is very large. You stick in 2 places one for blood going out and one for putting it back in. Vampires would love this.

All we are asking for this year for Christmas is this next year to pass quickly.

Happy Holidays from the Schmitz's

It will be 4 weeks tomorrow Steve has been on dialysis. With any luck we hope to do his first home treatment at the end of the week. We are anxious about getting started at home. 2 hours driving everyday is starting to wear on us. He still has the catheter in his chest. We will have to go back once he gets the ok from the vascular surgeon to use the fistula access in is arm which was fixed last Tuesday. We will have to go 6 to 9 times so he can stick his arm and form what they call button holes.

He is feeling better but they say it will probably be mid January before he will feel real good. Our appointment with KU for Dec. 11 has been cancelled. It will be rescheduled. This is the appointment to do another ultrasound on the remaining kidney. His kidney is still working but not sure how much. This test is not in yet. We are working on getting his Hemoglobin up. He is still anemic. They are now wanting him to eat lots of program, meat, eggs, etc... People on dialysis need lots of protein to keep from being anemic.


I will let you know when we get started at home. Happy Holidays!

Christy