Today was an early start.  I had to be at the hospital for labs early because we ha plans to go to Dollywood the amusement park and wanted to be there when it opened at 10am.  So I made to the hospital for labs, stopped for gas on the way back and made it back home by 8:05 am.  We made it to Dollywood around 10:15 am, they opened at 10am.  Our tradition in our family is that we have a family day and/or night before one of us goes away for an extended period of time. My step-son is heading to his mom’s for the summer so that meant a family day was in store.  What I learned today was 1.) handicapped parking when at an amusement park is a life saver 2.) you don’t realize how much lung power you use while riding roller coasters until you are out of breath while riding one 3.) long lines for rides give you time to calm your breathing and regain control of it 4.) your inner thighs get sore from “holding on” and finally 5.) I was right when I said that I could see a lot of coughing from laughter in my day.  We sealed family day by playing a game of Sequence after dinner. 

My labs this morning we perfect with a creatinine of .75 (between .5 & 1.1 is normal) and a BUN of 16 (between 6 & 20 is normal).  As you know I was in the hospital for the acute kidney injury/failure a little over a month ago so we will be watching my creatinine and BUN very closely.  I will have labs drawn every Monday, Wednesday and Friday while on IVs.  I am not starting the IVs until Sunday morning so that I can have my labs drawn on Tuesday and not have too much med in my system just yet.  The Amikacin is especially hard on the kidneys so we have to keep an eye on it.  I will try my best not to use ibuprofen while on antibiotics since it is also processed through the kidneys and I don’t want a repeat of last time.  I will make sure I drink plenty of water as well.

The Amikacin is every 24 hours and the Aztreonam is every 8 hours.  Luckily both antibiotics come in “Oscar” form (aka IV ball/eclipse) which makes things so much easier.  I swear these things are pretty much the best invention when you are talking home IVs.  When I started doing IVs 22 years (man that makes me feel slightly old) ago we had to mix our drugs, fill the bag, fill all saline and heparin flushes and hook it up to an IV pump like the hospitals have.  Slowly but surely things moved forward and became much easier.  Now I can be on the go and be doing IVs very easily.

One more day of freedom and the it’s lock down for 21 days.  I also wanted to say thank you so much to everyone that purchased Shannonigans gear!  It means a lot!  I will update if/when there is something to update.  Everyone have a safe holiday season and remember the real reason for the holiday, those that served our country and paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Oscar and Oscar II

Game night!

This is what happens when you are typing a blog update and your vest gets done…you leave it on until you are done. Which happened to be a good 20 or so min. haha

Until next time…