April 1, 2008

Well, Caitlin had her dialysis treatment yesterday and her numbers still aren't looking good. Her albumin is 2.0 (L), her BUN and creatinine are high, her hemoglobin is 8 (L) which means her hematocrit is low and her blood pressure is high - at one point during dialysis 176/115. The doctor was notified of these numbers during the treatment and a prescription was called in for another blood pressure medication to be started today. She is trying really hard to eat but by the time she gets home from dialysis - at about 7:30/8 p.m. - she doesn't feel very good. She did say that she was hungry for a Subway sandwich to eat for dinner last night so about 9 p.m. she did her best to put a dent in a 6" sub. She got 2 bites into it and started vomiting. It seems that she is her worst after a dialysis treatment, so I talked with her today about changing the diet plans around a bit on dialysis days. We're going to try to get her to eat a good lunch and then just have a smoothie to eat during dialysis and right after. Maybe that will help with the nausea/vomiting that she is suffering. Her skin lesions continue to heal, some are worse than others and will most likely leave scars. All in all, a small price to pay for such an aggressive bacterial infection. She is starting to really feel the effects of being pretty much home based except for MD appointments and dialysis treatments. Any of you folks out there that want to send her messages of encouragement, her address is: Caitlin Brison, 7114 Boone St., Fairview, TN 37062. She's not much into talking on the phone - it just seems to take a lot out of her - but it would be great if she could get cards, postcards, etc. from you to lift her spirits. The prayer chain has worked wonders and if you could make a card chain, I really feel that it would help her in encouraging her during her recovery. Please feel free to pass this address on to anyone you think would send words of encouragement. Thank you again to all who have been sending notes of encouragement, bringing meals for the family, and most especially keeping her and the family in your daily prayers. I will never be able to fully thank everybody for the overwhelming gratitude I have felt and continue to feel during this time in our lives. Chris