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