We hate to jinx her, but Alyssa has had two good days in a row relative to blood pressure...the best two since she fell ill in January. This can be attributed to getting her down to her target dry weight and an increase in her BP meds. Whatever the reason, it is so nice to not have to worry about how we'll get her numbers down.
Friday, Alyssa is scheduled for a plasmapheresis treatment, then an introductory meeting with the Peritoneal Team at the Dialysis Center. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peritoneal_dialysis. This form of dialysis will allow Alyssa to live a more flexible life style. Within the next few weeks, she will have a catheter surgically implanted into her abdomen. As she sleeps each night, fluid will be placed within her peritoneal cavity through this catheter. The solution, which performs the dialysis function, is then drained from her abdomen before she awakes. This will eliminate the need for her to go through daytime dialysis, which is currently set at three times per week. It will also allow her to travel as this process can be performed most anywhere. While we haven't yet given up hope that her normal kidney function will return, each passing day makes it less likely, so we are now looking into long term alternatives such as peritoneal dialysis and kidney transplants.
Thanks to Aunt Sandy for performing "nurse" duties tonight so that Dave and Debbie could go to dinner at the home of their good friends, Jim & Sue LeBeau. It was great to talk to people that didn't have a stethoscope hung around their neck!
They have begun the genetic analysis at the University of Iowa, but we have yet to receive any results.
dd
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