Well, I have not been very good about posting and keeping all of you updated. Hopefully now that the holidays are past us I can be a bit more consistent in doing so. A lot has happened in the past couple of months.

In November, Blake saw a nephrologist in Shreveport to help establish a relationship with a transplant team locally (as Mayo is in MN, it makes more sense to have doctors closer to home for potential follow-up post transplant or to potentially transplant here). While there, the doctor informed Blake that his numbers had changed significantly (GFR 13), warranting him to start preparing for future dialysis while awaiting a transplant. Blake was then scheduled for surgery.

Blake had surgery a week before Thanksgiving. They inserted a dialysis catheter for peritoneal dialysis. It needed a few weeks to heal before starting actual dialysis. He then began training at the dialysis center in Ruston on how to do PD dialysis manually (as that is how he'd start out). He did this for about a week and was then allowed to do in-home PD. As of today, Blake has been doing dialysis at home for about 4 weeks now. It's not been easy but he's a trooper.

What is PD dialysis? It's a treatment that uses the lining of your abdomen (belly area), called peritoneum, and a cleaning solution called dialysate to clean your blood. Dialysate absorbs waste and fluid from Blake's blood, using his peritoneum as a filter (since his kidneys can no longer keep up with the job). Blake has to keep his surroundings absolutely clean/sterile. He has to keep his site and equipment sterile and has a very strict care routine (as well as dietary). He hooks up to his catheter at least 4 times a day. Each time he drains the dialysate from the previous treatment and then fills back up on fresh dialysate. This is about 2 liters of fluid that he has in his "belly" at all times. It takes him on average 45-60 minutes for each treatment (to drain & refill) - the fluids are in his belly for about 4-5 hours in between treatments (with the exception of when he sleeps - that of course is in there for about 8 hours). Eventually, he will move from manual to a machine that will do all of this while he sleeps.

It's really crazy the amount of medical supplies it takes to do in-home dialysis. We moved our younger son out of his room and into the playroom so that Blake could have a dedicated, clean & sterile environment for his supplies & treatment. If you look in the photos, you'll see a pic of the supply boxes in the room.

We were really hoping and praying that Blake would have a kidney donor by now. Unfortunately our second person that was being tested was not a match for Blake nor approved for the paired donation. We so very much appreciate her efforts in being tested though! If you or someone you know may be interested in donating a kidney to Blake, here's a link at Mayo Clinic to find out more about it: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/living-donor-kidney-transplant/pyc-20384838  and here's the questionnaire form to fill out: https://survey.livingdonormc.org/approach/?service=mayo.mn.transplant.combined:kidney.prereq.1&?ljs=en#__

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Much love to you all!