What an incredibly busy last month! I can honestly say it was the hardest I've ever had. We've ever had. As you can see from my last blog, we had moved and were loving our new apartment. However, even as we were moving Gio was feeling rotten. First we just thought he was sick then we thought it was the flu but it just wouldn't go. Next he developed a bizarre infection in his mouth. I'll spare the gross details.
After about a week he finally gave in and went to an urgent care center where the doctor was pretty stumped. He gave in Nystatin hoping it was some kind of candida but really didn't know. He suggested he take the 10 day RX course and then see a specialist. After 8 days there was not change in his mouth and he was getting more sick. He couldn't eat and was loosing a lot of weight. He could barely walk, had abdominla pain all the time and could only stay awake long enought to go to work.
I begged him to go see his doctor but he kept fighting it because he didn't want a pile if bills. After the his Rx failed to work and being misserable he finally went to see his primary care physician. She said he just had hear burn and took a swab of his mouth since she had no clue what it was either. She said the office would call in a couple days with the results.
The heartburn medication didn't work and the couple days turne into four so Gio called and they said part of the test came back and it definitley wasn't candida but somehow the other tests were misplaced so could he come in again for another swabbing. He was really irritated but went in and told the doctor he still felt like he was going to die. But they just told him to keep taking the heartburn RX and then gave him another RX for like a herpes treatment.
He was a little curious but they said that's probably what it was since it wasn't yeast. We couldn't afford it and didn't want to dump out a bunch of money on a guess. A couple days later it was Easter Sunday and He honestly loked like he was going to die. He couldn't stand, had lost about 20 pounds, was a white/grey color and said the pain was unbearable. I told him this was ridiculous and that he HAD to go to the ER. He agreed and I took the children to my parents for Easter. I ate real quick and was getting ready to leave when he called me.
I couldn't make out what he was saying but he sounded like he was vommiting or having some kind of attack. I flew home and when I git there I had to change his clothes and help him to the car. I was afraid he was going to die on the way to the ER.
Thank God there was vallet at the hospital and we went right in to a crowded waiting room. The nurse checking in said she'd prefer if he checked himself in but as he tried to she realized he was about ready to pass out and quickly put a wheel chair behind him. He stared throwing up fluids and sweat was pouring off his face. She wheeled him into the back right away.
Once there they were pretty quick about drawing blood and giving him fluids. They did an EKG which was okay and then we waited. We didn't hear anything for about an hour and I was going to put up a huge fight if they came in and said it was just the flu. But as I was going out to call and check on the kids, the doctor stopped me and said we needed to talk right away in Gio's room. He told us that his kidneys weren't working and that a specialist was coming in right away. We needed to plan to stay for at least a few days.
Part of me as terrified and yet I felt better knowing that someone finally found out what it was and didn't just brush him off. The specialist was there in about 2 minutes and told us a load if things that would be ahppening over the next couple days. He figured from the levels in his blood test that his kidneys were working at only 5%. The doctor, Dr. Brokenbrough, is the nicest guy ever and worked thoroughly with us.
So Gio stayed until Wednesday night. He had an IJ catheter put into his neck to start dialysis and we spend the few days there gathering tons of info about living with kidney disease and dialysis. There is a very specific diet (extra high protein, low potassium, low phosphate, low sodium, low dairy) and dialysis 3 days a week for 4 hours each time. He does this in the evening after work. There is a center just a couple miles from his work on the way home so that's very handy.
A lot will be going on and the biggest is a transplant. He's on a waiting list and we know of a guy who's willing to donate but our insurance won't cover a transplant until we've been with them over 12 months. We've only been with them 4.
So that's why we moved...again. There are so many appointments, mini surgeries, medications, dialysis (oh, our insurance doesn't cover that either) and we are not sure how it would affect his work. So we are living with my parents. They have two spare rooms and now my mom is thrilled to have her grandkids back.
Now that we've finished moving twice and we're settling into this new lifestyle I really hope to keep my blog updated. So don't give up on me!! Keep checking back. :)
