A long overdue update

Well, since my last post things have been insane. Stan has been in an out of the hospital during the last 3 weeks. He was in with the high blood pressure readings. Those got under control, but we think that he picked up a NASTY pneumonia that landed him back in the hospital less than a week from when he was released! He stayed another 3 days! His kidneys were doing some scary things and he wasn't responding to oral antibiotics, so he got a bunch of IV antibiotics and a kidney biopsy. We had the biopsy to 1) tell us how much of his kidneys were damaged beyond repair; 2) tell us exactly what disease we were dealing with (was it the same one he was diagnosed with 15 years ago or had it morphed into something else?) and 3) give us a treatment plan. He came home from the hospital last Friday and (thankfully!) has been feeling well and is back at work.
The biopsy results came in today, and, in the exact words of the doctor, "It was better than I expected". Whooooo hooooo! His kidneys are only 25% scarred, the disease is still membranous nephropathy and the nephrologist thinks that with proper management of his blood pressure, his function will go back to near normal. If not, we 'know' this disease and will probably use the same treatment protocol as 15 years ago - cytoxan (an oral chemotherapy drug) and prednisone (a corticosteroid). It sounds scarier than it is, as Stan's only side effects were moodiness! I'll take that, considering the nephrologist was thinking kidney transplant within 2 years before the biopsy! Now it looks like we'll have LOTS of time before that!!!

I have another patient to report on, Hannah. She had her last appointment with the eye surgeon. Her eye has healed nicely and the lens is exactly where it should be! Our next step is to go to a pediatric opthamologist and get her fitted with glasses (her vision is 20/200 right now). It's another miracle in our lives.

Thank you to all those who prayed, brought dinners or just sat with me!! This came out of nowhere and really derailed me for a little bit. Hopefully, 2008 is behind us and 2009 will be hospital free for the Markuns (unless I get a boob job!!)

More 'excitement'

and I use that term loosely. Stan is currently in the hospital, and has been since Saturday night. Seems he missed a few blood pressure pills and his pressure skyrocketed (believe me, that won't happen again!). He is stable, but his kidneys are doing some odd things that are being looked at a little closer.
Never a dull moment here...