Being a Living Donor and Everything Around That!

I told you I’d be back with news!

I am a match for Greg’s kidney transplant!

Wow, so much has happened in the last month that I have to check my journal so I don’t miss anything.

Just a quick re-cap.  Well, not really. 

This is a longer post, but good.

I’m writing this in date order, not in order of importance.

~February 22, the same day I went into the Foothills for my extensive match testing was the same day our puppy “Meeka” passed away.

~March 9^th Greg got the Shingles.  We just couldn’t believe his luck, but he was very lucky as they were contained to mainly his left side of the neck and down around the back and chest.  It was an amazingly small area after seeing the images on the web.  Then as quick as they appeared they seemed to go away.  The scars or blemishes are still there and sometimes he feels them ache but I think he was pretty lucky.  He hates when I say that because I had really no clue how painful they were, whether you have a few of a lot, they are still apparently terrible.

I only did a small photo - I think Greg would prefer that :)

After Meeka passed, we toyed with getting another puppy, but when was a good time?  I checked periodically on the web and found lots of cute pups but still wasn’t sure.  Something wasn’t sitting right as I looked at these little guys.  Greg was also searching the web and he thought the right puppy will find us! 

Well he sure did.  He was a lone pup and that still seems to be a bit fuzzy to us.  He was definitely the cutest of all we’d seen and the color we wanted so why only this guy left?  Greg called the lady and she did a short interview on the phone.  She is a championship dog breeder and wants to make sure her pups go to the right home.  I don’t blame her.  After talking with Greg she said she had made her decision. 

 ~April 8^th we bought our puppy. We had seen only 3 pictures of the “wee monster” as the breeder called him and we fell in love.  But we had to wait 3 weeks to pick him up.  He was born March 6^th. 

~April 20^th I had my appointment with the kidney doctor and found out I was a match for Greg’s kidney transplant!  Another chapter in life just opened up.  We were so happy but also scared because the next step brings up more questions and concerns.  I do have to change my blood pressure by more exercise and they will test this in 3 months again.  If there is no change then they will put me on pills.  They prefer I do it without drugs because after surgery I will definitely NEED to be on the pills.  I also need to do another EKG on May 6 because when my doctor looked at the printout, she noticed that one of the markers they put on my body was probably placed wrong as it gave a straight line read-out. 

~April 22^nd Greg had his 3^rd Rotaximub infusion at the Foothills hospital.  Because I was off work that day I spent most of the day with him.  It feels strange to see this drug that saves your husbands life go into his blood stream and you just hope there’s no complications.  

Careful! This photo MAY be offensive to some!

Greg is always trying to use that finger in my photos-he knows I hate it, 

but it's become a game to see how fast I am at taking pics.  

Sorry hon, this time I used the photo.

~April 29^th we picked up our puppy.  His name is Gunner.  We named him after Sam Palladio who plays Gunner on Nashville.  Greg loves the way that guy sings and plays guitar on the show.

~May 6 my EKG went fine.  No problems with the read-out this time. 

Gunner is 2 months old today and we have started a growth picture album for him.  Yup we are those people now.

~May 7 it was time for some family fun.  We celebrated my sister’s 60^th birthday.  It was good to see my mom and dad there.  Time will come when they won’t be able to come to these events anymore.

~May 8 Mother’s Day.  I love and hate this day.  I brought my mom a bouquet of flowers and gave them to her yesterday at the birthday party.  I told her I brought her some flowers for Mothers Day.  Her response was weak as she does not comprehend these things anymore, or should I say she does in the moment, but it just does not register what it actually means.  So sad, but that is dementia.  I have 2 children and they are married to great spouses and I’m very happy that they are happy.  I love them all dearly!  My lack of love for this day is because we put so much advertising and commercialization into the day that I feel so bad for the mom’s without children.  This is a very sensitive matter in our family and it makes my heart ache.  This year the kids gave me a plant.  I love plants and I hope I can keep this one alive, so far so good. 

Here's my sister Brenda on the left and me on the right. 

Our mom, Virginia or "Ginny" of course in the middle. 

I knew you'd know that but I still had to mention her.

Me and my sister.

My dear hubby.  

You'd never know he was waiting for a new kidney, but he's not mowing the lawn here.

Our nephew, Dustin, who turned 33 on his mom's birthday.

~May 18 Greg met with his doctor to discuss a possible surgery date as I have been matched.  It was quite depressing for Greg to hear that they still need to wait until his kidney function is below 15% for 3 consecutive testings before they will do the transplant.  He is now at 16/17%.  My kidney function is at 98%.  The doctor said he would be quite happy if Greg stayed at this level for the rest of his life.  Greg told him that was not acceptable.  And we understand policy but if there is a kidney available that is healthy today, why are they risking waiting.  What if things change for me in a month or 6 months?  What if I get sick and everything is put on hold for Greg when they decide the time is right for him?  On the other hand, Greg is not on dialysis so we are thankful for that.  He finds it so hard to mow the lawn and have to rest repeatedly in between.  He pushes himself to work hard physically and I wonder if this is good for him but I understand that he feels he needs too.  He was raised to work hard and do a good job so not feeling like you can do it all is very hard for him. 

~May 25 Greg met with his Rheumotologist, Dr. Fifi-Mah.  She calls all the shots with his vasculitis medication.  She is now slowly reducing the Prednisone that Greg is on.  For one month his doses with decrease.  She said it’s good to sometimes give your body a break and let it rebuild itself and see how it goes.  If Greg notices any symptoms where his vasculitis is getting out of control again, then she will increase his dose again.  This will also cause his kidney function to go down.  Without saying more, perhaps this is a way to get around policy.  Either way, I hope there are no serious side effects for Greg and he will get his new kidney sooner than later.

~May 27 was our first camping trip of the season with Gunner.  It drizzled most of the weekend but we didn’t care.  We still sat around the fire, went for walks and a drive, and did a lot of talking (mostly me).  

Wrestling with Gunner in the camper before bed.

A drive to Canmore overlooking the dam.

 Thanks for staying and reading.

See you next time,

Bonny

Union Jack Chest

This was probably the most challenging project 

I have done . .  ever!

This chest belongs to my son and his husband.

They wanted it painted like the Union Jack flag.

Well, I had never attempted anything like this

before but they were excited and gave me the 

confidence that this could work out beautifully.

In this picture you can see the gold detail but

what you can't see is the indentation that these

gold designs have.  This now created a new

problem in painting a nice smooth flag.

I proceeded to fill in the indentations with

plaster and with a lot of sanding we 

achieved a pretty smooth finish.

This took a few evenings for me to finish.

The guys dug right into the paint and 

I sat back and encouraged them.

We started with a few coats of 

Anne Sloan's chalkpaint, 'Old White'.

Isn't this work room great?

We actually knocked out the adjoining

bedroom (on the left) where I store all my 

projects and I paint in the storage room.

It didn't take Craig very long to do the 

measurements and then the fun began.

Here the guys are using 'Emporer's Silk'.

Another night to add 'Napoleonic Blue'.

She was so pretty sitting there.

To make sure everything looked great before it left for

its new home, we brought it upstairs to see what

she looked like in the real light.

Here we are just adjusting some of the dark wax

with some clear wax.  

A glass of wine before dinner is good also. 

We did just a little distressing around the edges.

The guys didn't want the flag lines to be too 

distressed but rather a sharp line, so we had

to make sure we didn't over distress in other areas.

Aren't these just the cutest knobs!

They purchased them at Interiors to Inspire,

right here in Calgary.

Here you can really see the brush strokes.

Like Anne Sloan says, brush strokes add

character and this chest has that for sure!

Off to your new home now.

I hope I find a chest like this of my own

that I can perhaps re-do and keep for myself.

~ till later,

Bonny

Weekend at Home

On a little happier note post . . . wait, I guess this post is all about how I spent this last weekend and it wasn’t all that happy, but we did have a few laughs and some tears again.  But I did manage to get a few odds and ends done with projects.  So, with that said, my husband was diagnosed with Shingles on Thursday, the 10^th.  That was the teary part.  We spent a very quiet weekend and it’s allowed me to catch up on a lot of stuff inside.  Greg said I should go do something like go to the mall, that I shouldn't have to spend a lovely weekend indoors just because he was sick. But I’m just not that person to leave my itchy, aching husband home alone while I say, “I’m outta here for a bit”.

So here’s what I did this weekend:

Bunnies are getting a make-over in time for Easter.  Now that I’ve removed all their fuzzy gross hair I’m replacing their skin with fabric.  I'll post those pics at Easter.  I think they are cute, Greg's not so sure about the whole ordeal as he sees we modge podge fabric onto styrofoam bunnies. I sit on the floor in the family room with all my tools in front of me on our huge coffee table.  Greg & I sit downstairs and watch TV as his comfy man chair is down there.  It just doesn’t match in the living room upstairs (sad face). Here's the before pics.

This little cabinet now has some lining.  I used pretty wrapping paper from a gift from my mom.  There are doors that go in those grooves in front and I’m working on covering them but I’ve hit a road block in just what to do.  

Yes, I'm showing off my cute clay tags in this photo.  

You can add them to anything such as I did on this candle jar 

that I covered in paper.

This is the cutest jewelry box I seen in a long time.  I covered up the old dark brown wood with Old White chalk paint.  That color is my favorite!  Then I lined the drawers with pretty scrap booking paper.  I have one regret though.  I should’ve wiped the drawer pulls after painting them.  I may use paint remover yet to do that.

Craig and Luke are using my work room to do a project of their own.  I can hardly wait to see it finished.  It will be so cool in their new home they purchased.  They want to have it done by end of March.  I promised them I'd do a few touch-ups on it before they return to finish it.

I have given this rocking chair a little paint as well.  Underneath is a dark blue color and that made it look old and dumpy.  I’m not sure if I’m 100% satisfied with the results but it is shabby-chic.  It’s armless and a bit smaller than most rocking chairs.  If I don’t sell it as is, I might just change it up again but who knows.

 Still no word this week on the results of my kidney match tests I did on February 22^nd.  It’s definitely been a few hard weeks.  Lots of tears but there’s always a few laughs too along the way.  Greg has not lost his sense of humour either thru all this.  When we decided to go for a short drive to get out of the house and get a coffee, Greg stood in the entrance with a look of pain on his face and a little slumped to one side, the side that is so sore with Shingles.  I said, “How are you hon, you really want to go?”  He gave 2 thumbs up and a silly grin, “I’m excellent, never been better!”  We both laughed, then teared up at all the luck we were having lately, knowing we were both lying and we looked like crap but didn’t care and left to get a coffee.  The drive was short but it was good to get out for a few minutes.

Talk to you all later,

~ Bonny