PREPARING FOR KIDNEY REMOVAL

I apologize for my lack of updates, but I spent all day Friday enjoying a round of golf with some great guys and for a good cause.  Friday evening was also great because Piper came home after dialysis earlier in the day and all my people were home, which was sooo nice.  I have to thank April Fedale for relieving me at the hospital on Friday morning so I could make my tee time.  It was great to get out into some fresh air and have a fun day.  I made good use of a Sharpie so I could feel extra special about hitting a golf ball really, really hard.

Friday night was also fun because Lindsay and Brooke Pavlish were still with us and James and Des Headley came over.  We enjoyed some adult beverages and some games and stayed up a little too late.  It didn’t matter though because we were all so happy to have Piper back home.

Saturday was a good day as well.  Piper needed two hours of dialysis so I took her in for that while Erin, Lindsay, Brooke, Sophia and Harper had fun down at the mall.  Frankly, I’d rather be at dialysis than at the mall anyway!

In the afternoon, I got a few hours to myself and enjoyed watching a bit of college football.  Then I brought dinner home to everyone and we suffered through a South Carolina defeat over the Georgia Bulldogs.  Piper was not happy about that and neither was Daddy!

Sunday has been great as well.  Although Lindsay and Brooke have gone back to Charlotte, my parents have arrived to spend time with us and help us this week with Piper’s surgery.  I’m so happy to see them and have them with us.  Plus, Sophia loves having her Poppa and Gogo with us!

As for Piper, she is definitely experiencing the side effects of being on three blood pressure medications.  The most recent concoction of dosages causes her to be very fatigued and sleepy.  She mostly just wants to be held and to sit in my lap on the floor or couch.  We’d love for her to be able to get rid of one or two of her medications, but her blood pressure just gets far too high and could cause her some real problems.  From everything we’ve been told, the removal of her kidneys will solve this problem.  Although she’ll only be able to get rid of excess fluid with dialysis once her kidneys are gone, we’ll no longer have to worry about the development of the Wilms tumors or the high blood pressure.

So…here we are.  On the eve of a major surgery that makes us very nervous on one hand, but gives us great hope on the other.  Erin and I got to spend some time together this morning sort of discussing our feelings about all of this and I have to admit, it is overwhelming.  You never think you’ll have to deal with something like this with your children, and although it is very scary and emotional, we feel very optimistic that the removal of the kidneys is the first real step to giving Piper the best life possible.  Hopefully all will go well and in a matter of a few weeks she can transition to peritoneal dialysis with the new dialysis port they will install in her abdomen.  That way, she can get dialyzed every night while she sleeps and not have to go into the hospital 4-5 times a week for treatments.  Then, hopefully a few months after that we can get her a fresh, new, fully functioning kidney from her Daddy!

She goes in for dialysis tomorrow and then they’d like to dialyze her again Tuesday morning before the surgery.  Then, assuming all goes to play, the nephrectomy is on Tuesday and we’ll be in the hospital for about 2 weeks for her recovery.  Please continue to keep us all in your prayers and know we feel very confident and positive about the next steps in this journey.  I will try my best to keep you all updated every step of the way!

Thanks again for all of the love and concern.  We appreciate you all all!!!

Love, Chris and Erin

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