July 7, 2008

As usual, I woke up in time to get ready and leave for dialysis. They were running pretty late and I didn't get on my machine until after 3pm. The dietician, Georgia was bringing around our "Monthly Report Cards" to show us how well we are doing with dilaysis efficiency, protein intake, and the rest of our bloodwork results. I found out that fir the first time since the two months following my parathyroidectomy in January, both my calcium and phosphorus were in the normal range! I still have to take my liquid calcium supplement every six hours but I don't have to take as much of it now. Also, my efficiency was a little low and Georgia and I discussed legnthening my treatment time. She laughed and said "In ten years, this is the only time I've heard a patient ask for a longer treatment." I replied, "Well, if I'm not getting enough dialysis, I'm not getting enough dialysis. Right?" She agreed and said, "But still, no one asks about it! Most don't even realize what those numbers mean, but I don't worry about you because you're smart and stay on top of everything."

Suprisingly, for the third treatment in a row, one of the doctors was there doing rounds. Dr D, the head nephrologist (Kidney Specialist) came over with my chart and asked me if he even wanted to see my bloodwork. Guess that tells you how bad it's been lately, huh? I told him that suprisingly my calcium got better (by going up) and my phosphorus did, too (by going down). I told him about the vascular surgeon dropping my needles down one size and the slower bloodflow rate and asked whether my treatments should be longer until I go back to the regular protocol.

He said no at first and then checked my other efficiency numbers. They've slowly declined over the past few months and he changed his mind. He asked me how I felt about 3 1/2 hours and I wrinkled my nose. He said "What did you have in mind?" and I told him "I was thinking an extra 15-30 minutes." So we settled on three hours on the dot, which is an additional 25 minutes.

Then he asked me what was going on with my weight. I told him that I've lost a couple kilograms in the past couple weeks and that I wanted him to drop my target weight from 55.5kg to 54kg, even though I didn't weigh even that when I got to the clinic. Then I jokingly asked him if he just wanted me to write my own orders and give them to him so they can be added to my chart and made official. He laughed and said, "You might as well!"

During the last two hours of my treatment I worked on Mount Coot-tha. Somehow my needleminder, that I use to tell me which way is up on my fabric, got turned and I stitched five squares in the wrong direction. Fortunately I caught it before I completed the design, but it meant I had to frog almost everything I completed so far. The only thing left was the center checkerboard.

I also quickly realized there was a printing error on my chart. And I owe Jo and Dinky Dyes a mea culpa: there is a link on the Dinky Dyes website for Chart Errors. Unfortunately, Debi and I didn't check before we started stitching our squares. For some reason it never occurred to either of us. Well, we both got caught! Me, with Terra Australis. The note under Chart Errors says that Terra Australis and Southern Stars are the same dimensions; I found out the hard way after cutting my fabric for TA 3" to small. It also says that there is a row of stitching missing on the right side of the center motif of The Dreaming. Debi got caught on that one. Since we both know that the quilt squares are mirror images from top to bottom and left to right, she counted the first "leaf" of the center motif and stitched all the others the same way. Too bad she started with one of the leaves that was off! Even though her center motif is a row shorter than it should be, she said that everything is lining up correctly. Hint: check the website for Chart Errors before stitching a design!

Anyway, back to Mount Coot-tha: Yes, there is an error, and no, it wasn't on the website when I looked. When comparing the chart to the model, the squares to the north, east, and west of the center checkerboard are solid instead of the center square of each block being empty. I wrote to Jo and received a very nice response from her, thanking me for letting her know about the printing error. She said that the chart has only been out for three weeks so no one had let them know before.

You'll have to forgive me, but I forgot to take a picture. I'll be sure to have one for you tomorrow, though. I didn't make enough progress to worry about anyway, just the center and five blocks around it.