tomorrow will be Larry's 5 year LVAD anniversary... LIFE IS GOOD....

 Sometimes it is just so hard to remember to update this blog… especially when all is going so well….

I cannot believe that it has been 4 and 1/2 years since Larry received his LVAD…. 

It has been 3 years since we moved to Florida…

It has been 17 months since his hospitalization with kidney failure…

All of this and he looks better than he has in years…. Still has heart failure, kidney disease, diabetes, but he is up and going and doing….  We have just finished the project of closing in part of our underneath for a classroom for me and a workshop for him.  Doing most of the work ourselves….  

I am becoming active in the community and making wonderful friends…. Larry is supportive and finds my friends are also his friends….  I was appointed to the Hernando County Fine Arts Council and am involved in the arts, as well as Rotary.

Ok… life is good, we are so happy here, so adding some photos… just random shots of our home, and the gator who us now no more…   This is all just the underneath living area….  Which we are able to enjoy year round… always a gulf breeze and seldom any bugs….  Embracing my silver hair and the Florida lifestyle… where the sunrises are as wonderful as the sunsets….  

 Time sure flies fast, or sometimes it seems.  Today is March 18, 2021....  sounds like a fictional date, but it is today.  Lots has happened, but most of it is tiny, insignificant daily happenings.

Larry and I are both in good health....  well as good as he can be. His kid use have rebounded well,  We survived the Covid Pandemic, at least to date. We are both 6 weeks out from our second vaccine shots so we feel blessed.

Passed the 4 year anniversary of Larry’s LVAD implantation....  he had his 5 hour annual clinic and equipment check, of course I am still car bound for these.  I periodically send our nurse coordinators photos of his driveline when I do his sterile dressing changes, and one told me us was pristine....  I feel proud to be his caretaker...  

Just wanted to take a moment to say yes, we are thriving in Florida.....

 Wow....  yesterday gad his telemedicine visit with his kidney specialist.....  Dr Sanders is one of the ones who saved his life at Tampa General Hospital in April...

Anyway good news, he is doing great...  he is back to the levels he was before his heart pump...  while his kidneys will never fully recover, and he is not eligible for transplant, he is better than anticipated... Still at Stage 3 chronic kidney disease....

But again we are thankful for our days each and every one.....

Larry is doing really good... After his kidney failure recovery, he surprised us all and his kidneys are rebounding...  still weak after muscle loss, but is making great progress...  we are trying to maintain all of his new diet restrictions....  no potatoes, no tomatoes, are the hardest for him.

Sorry I just forget to post, not many still follow this blog, but a few do.

So how about some photos...

Just ordered a LVAD charm from a really nice lady on the LVAD Friends facebook page.  Wanted one that said Husband is LVAD strong....  and wow, she made it in like 3 hours....  after visiting with her, I learned that her husband just got his LVAD in March, and the day he had his surgery is the day they began NO VISITOR policy... he is young, 36 years old, so please keep them in your prayers, and here is her Etsy page.

Liz Wyser.    Www.coppermillstamping.etsy.com

Sometimes I wonder....  actually A lot of tines I wonder....

But here are my updates....  Larry was doing really good until last week, he started getting fuzzy brained and tired...  so with my OCD record keeping I realized that his potassium had been almost low, not dangerous, at his last blood draw, yet he was still taking potassium blockers with each meal, aw well as staying on a very strict low potassium diet.

So I began to get concerned.. and I had him stop taking that med as well as the sodium bicarb....  yep, I was right on...  had another blood draw on wednesday and his potassium was low, Kidney dr office called snd said stop those 2 meds and his torsemide (for 3 days) and take potassium for 3 days.
BUN is at 18
Creatinine is 2.31
Potassium 2.7

So, happy to report he again seems to be on the mend....

Thats all...  just staying home, staying safe as we can.

Wont know more about kidneys until next telemed conference, Dr Sanders wants to see what his kidneys will settle in at.....

Not really any news, Larry is continuing to make progress, he is getting some strength back, but slowly.  He does walk around the house fine, but uses his cane when outside...  he does go out everyday for fresh air and swing time...  and has done a little bit while out there...

next week is another blood test to see where those numbers are, but his home numbers are good... of course we are watching his diet very carefully, what he eats as well as drinks.....
Example no more sodas....   he loved his powdered lemonade mix....  no more... too high in phosphorus.   He is drinking water or old fashioned brewed ice tea...  no more of his loved vanilla i e cream....  in fact cow milk is gone....  lots of changes....

We are so pleased with our move to paradise....  we chose just the right time to relocate to this peaceful beautiful area of the earth....  in between health issues and before the shutdown....  cannot be at a better place to enjoy every moment with my million dollar man....  Lol, he hasnt gotten those figure yet, but it will be up there....  this last visit was 17 days....

Thursday, April 30th, 1pm

Ok.....  update after talking to Dr Charles Sanders who was at UAMS for a while....

they have not received yesterdays labs, but he wants to do labs again in 2 weeks, then again in 4 weeks.  He is not going to schedule the AV fistula right now..

he said usually the GFR is about 20 before they do them...  and he wants to see where his creatinine is going to level out....

They will do that surgery in TGH with the transplant team and vascular surgeon...  when done...

Larry liked him from the hospital,
I think he said his daughter or son went to Lyon...  played soccer...

So for now, it is just rest up and continue on....

Phosphorus is in everything....

Cheerios may be heart healthy, but they are not kidney healthy.