Sunday, June 1, 2014

Earth to Funky?

Are you there, Funky?  Yes, I'm still here.  I've horribly ignored the blog yet again, but with good reason.  I'm tired of all this crap.  Yes, crap.  My MELD goes up, it goes down, I get false alarm calls about possible transplant, I get sick, I get better, I sleep constantly, I can't sleep.  The only thing constant is that I am cold.

We are now at 566 pounds of fluid removed.  Poor Fat Albie can't even walk, he just rolls everywhere now.  (Fat Albie is the person created by the removed fluid).  The PA that does my paracentesis and his wife had a baby while I've been waiting.  She'll probably be in college by the time I get my transplant at this pace.

The good news is that Sioux Falls is almost fully staffed for their liver transplant center--as soon as the third surgeon comes this summer.  I really hope that I can get my transplant in Sioux Falls rather than Milwaukee for both cost and convenience.  The docs are good in both places, and I know them all, but it would be good for mom to be closer to home for the couple of months I'd have to stay in Sioux Falls for recovery after release from the hospital.

Currently I am on my second round of antibiotics for bronchitis.  I had the worst cough I can remember in decades.  Just about gone now.  What else have I done?  In April I did some fundraising for the new roof on the church.  About $2,000 from the craft and vendor fair, plus got a couple of generous pledges.  I made 72 bars of soap, and it was almost gone.  Just four bars left now between what was sold by mail, at the fair and what we kept to use.  Love me some Rosemary Mint soap!  The big sellers where the two batches of Lovespell and the Coconut Orchid.  I'll make more for the church ladies craft fair this fall.

 Citrus Cilantro swirl soap.  Dad thought the green embed looked like a giant
dill pickle in the middle of the soap, but it opened up with the heat of the soap.