We went out for a relaxing dinner on Friday night and found a set of Trivial Pursuit cards on the table. That was just what we needed! After joking about how little we knew about anything, we went home and watched the "Vicar of Dibley," a hilarious comedy about woman priest in a small English village. The Dibley vestry is great (now those of you who have been in a church in which I have served must not think there is any resemblances to vestries past or present!). We again learned that here is nothing like a good belly laugh to put things into perspective and to help the healing process.
On Saturday morning, Sabine had signed us up for the "Depot to Depot Run;" a five mile walk-run between Black Earth and Mazomanie starting at, of course, 8:05 a.m. We walked the five miles at a sub-15 minute pace with our trusty companion, Mocha, on the leash. It was good exercise.
So now, Sabine's arm is healing up and we are back to the dialysis routine at the cottage (which could not be better for both convenience, respite, and cleanliness). We had to increase the dialysis time to about 2 hours and 45 minutes. But it is still easier than the clinic which demanded a time certain and a 70 mile round trip.
We are scheduled to meet with the surgeon again on the 22nd for what we believe will be setting a date for a graft access. This means we will have insert needles into her arm for the venous and arterial connections to the dialysis machine. It will be a little more difficult than the fistula which would be a "button hole" (like a pierced ear) rather than requiring a skin and graft puncture. And all of this is unfortunately put forward some weeks. We hope that surgery will not conflict with Sabine's next chemotherapy cycle.
One thing I am learning about being a care provider is the need to do two things: exercise and take naps. The exercise (now by bike and some walking in the woods) seems important to keep my stress down and the naps to prepare myself for both care-taking and exercise.
I think the same applies to Sabine: when she exercises regularly she maintains the "positiveness" that we all know and love about her.
The following are some pics I took at the Depot to Depot run/walk. We both look a lot better than we did the week before. The one positive, never-changing force in our life is the wonder-dog, Mocha. When we look at her we remember that great prayer, "Lord, please makes us into the kind of people our dog thinks we are!"
Blessings and peace to you all.
