Well, it has been a while since my last post. Things have not been going well for Rory. His dialysis access (a permcath in his chest) has been failing, and he has been slowly getting sicker and sicker, even while being dialyzed 5 days a week, for 4 hours a day. Last Thursday, they replaced the catheter, but it has not been working at all (well, 15 minutes total isn't really working), it leaks blood around the exit site (where it comes out of his skin), partially worked its way out about 2 inches, and hurts like hell. I ended up taking him to the E.R. We had to get a doctor to give him morphine in the E.R. on Friday, due to the pain. The vascular surgeon on call thinks Rory has a hematoma (a collection of blood) between the skin and the vein that the catheter is threaded into, and that is what is slowly leaking. They also stitched it to his skin, so it won't come out any further. The doctor also wrote him a script for dilaudid, which is basically oral morphine. Home we went...

This morning, he went to dialysis again, and it worked for a few minutes, then the alarms went off (high venous pressures), and kept going off. So, they tried using TPA to declot it (clotting wasn't the problem, but the nephrologist decided that it should be tried anyway). Of course, it didn't work. So, they took him off dialysis. Total dialysis time: 30 minutes, with .5 L fluid removed. Oh, and added MORE TPA to his catheter. His potassium level is high (It was 6.0 Friday night, we assume it is higher today since he ate food Friday night and Saturday morning), so now he is taking SPS (Sodium Polystyrene) to try and lower the potassium levels. Too high, and the heart stops working... not good. And no dialysis tomorrow, since the center is closed. He is supposed to get dialyzed on Monday, but with it not working, it is doubtful that it will work. And since this is a holiday weekend, the vascular surgeon needed to fix this problem is on vacation (Hey, I can't blame him for having a private life, but damnit! This is my husband!), and won't be back until Tuesday. I just hope Rory does ok until then. He continues to bleed slowly from the exit site. Not a lot, but constant.

Now, the shitty part: This may be Rory's last accessible area for a long term dialysis access. No access, no dialysis. No dialysis, death. And no guarantee he will be transplanted. You see, unlike other organs, kidney transplants aren't done just because someone can't be dialyzed. Isn't that shitty.

God, I am stupid... I was going to the dealership to get a problem with my left rear brake fixed, and *I RAN OUT OF GAS*. Yep... me, who hasn't run out of gas in years and years, let the tank go empty. Now, that was my moment of stupidity. Here's a better one...

I call up AAA to get them to bring me some gas. I am told that it will be less than 30 minutes until a driver from Capitol Towing arrives with the gas... after 40 minutes, I call back to find out what is going on. Then I am told that the dispatcher has just assigned it to a driver, and it will be 10-15 more minutes until he gets there. 25 minutes later, he arrives. He does the paperwork, has me sign it, and goes to get the gas. Except that ALL 3 OF HIS GAS CANS ARE EMPTY! He gets in his truck, talks to who I assume is his dispatcher, and then drives his truck past my Jeep and pulls in to tow my Jeep. I asked him what was going on, and he told me "Somebody stole all my gas". From a locked storage area on his tow truck. Riiigggghhhhht. Point-Blank, he forgot to check out his rig when he left the towing yard... Then he says he will take me to a gas station. Not the NEAREST gas station. No. He has to take me to another one, 7 miles down the road. The one that HE wants to go to. I suggest that he could go less than a mile and get the gas and come back. Nope. Not an option. So, I end up being towed to an AM/PM station farther away than I need to be. Finally, I get him to dump 5 gallons of gas in, and I am on my way to another gas station (This one was NOT safe, IMHO)...

Well, Rory's finger (stump) is healing nicely. The PA that saw him today said that it looked just like it should on a non-diabetic! So, I guess my kicking him in the ass to control his sugars is paying off. Last week, there was an area that was clearly not healing, and the doc was talking about "revising" the amputation... a fancy term for a "re-amputation", shortening it further. We thought we'd try to avoid that, so we asked for hyperbaric therapy. They agreed, but sent the request to the wrong department... argh. Fixed, but now the doc is on vacation, and the hyperbaric center has to talk to him before they will do anything. Double argh. Oh well.

The kids are back in school as of today. It is eerily quiet again here at the house. Maybe I will get some gardening done...

I am so mad at Citibank, I want to spit. They do not care about their customers at all. I went to my branch today, to tell them what happened over the weekend. Well, the long and short of this is that they know that I am "inconvenienced" by their mistake, but they will not fix it until it is "processed". It seems that once something leaves the branches hands, and is in the central system, they wash their hands of a problem. It is a lousy policy, that is costing them a customer that has been with the bank that they acquired for several years.

Citibank for anything? NEVER!

I HATE CITIBANK!

I went to go buy some groceries this morning, figuring my family would like to continue eating. But, I found out that BOTH OF MY ACCOUNT debit cards said, "Unauthorized". Unauthorized? For $55.00? When Citibank has my money... These morons at Citibank had "blocked" my account, and refuse to release it, WHILE HOLDING NEARLY $2000 OF MY MONEY! So, I can't buy groceries, pay my utilities, buy gasoline, nothing. The customer service people are no help. "We can't change it. We see the block was removed, but it hasn't been processed yet. You need to wait to call us until after Tuesday." They don't care that I was told this block would be removed by Saturday morning (I guess I just ASSUMED that they would actually do it, when they said so, and that I would have my money then) by the operations manager. They don't care that my power will be shut off Monday night if I don't pay what I agreed to. They don't care that my husband is on life support, and that with the temps here, he will end up in the hospital if we lose our electricity, or that what they have done is just plain WRONG. When I asked them if they had a "Make It Right" policy, the rep told me, "No, we are Citibank." 'Nuff said. Come tomorrow, I am going to my bank, removing every single penny from my accounts, and telling them what they can do with their bank. Avoid Citibank like the plague. They do not care about their customers in any way. Or they would make this right immediately.

I have a new living room! Well, a new used living room. My brother, who has been living here for 2 years now, was GIVEN a couch that is in really good condition. This sucker seats 6 comfortably, has two recliners built in, a corner piece, AND a double bed (pull out sleeper-sofa). It is HUGE. It totally divides the living room from the dining room/office area (Read "I can't go from room A to room B any longer"). But it is a dark green, and really looks good in here. So, I took it from the garage, de-spidering it (nightmare here), and commandeered it for the family's use (Our couches were dying a horrible death). Move a few other pieces around, and voila! A new living room! Now I need to get the t.v. fixed...

On a side note, my knee is pretty much healed up. The spider bite is another matter. Cleaning up a few weeks ago, or getting bit at work, I am not sure. But it necrosed out wonderfully. Healing up, but slow.