His blood levels are continuing to come into safer zones.  So the doctor is very encouraged, therefore dialysis is still in the holding off stage.  Thank God.  One statement he made was, “Zachary has improved better than I could have ever hoped.”

While the doctor was sharing the blood results he stated, “Zachary’s kidney function is now up to 22%, which is such an improvement over the 8% where we started.  We typically send peoplefor dialysis when the function is around 23-25%.  But since we continue to see improvement we’ll continue to hold off.”
I was a little confused, I was under the impression from talking with my “ex” that from the start they were around 25% function.  Somehow that info transferred wrong probably due to both our stress.  Either way this was new news so I  asked him, “Just to be clear you said his kidneys are now functioning at 22%,  but there were at 8?”
“Yes, that’s right.  That’s on a scale of 1-100.  100 Being excellent.”
“8%?… 8?… Well.  That was…was…well…”
My brain was going into a bit of overload reeling with unspoken thoughts, “8% out of a hundred.  My god that’s nearly 0.  How low can a person go?  Does death set in if you are at 0?  Like with your heart?”  But nothing was coming out.  I was processing, trying to come up clear on this.  What this meant.  What the kidneys did…all without asking what seemed like a ridiculous/obvious question.  Just as I was about to form the question anyway, because I wanted to know the doctor, who must have sensed what I was thinking, said, “Yes, Zac only had hours to possibly days to live.”
“Goodness it seems that his appointment came at the exact moment necessary to save his life,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows as he processed that fact, nodded and said, “It would seem that it did.”
While looking at Zac I stammered, “He seemed so…so…I mean, it would have come as a complete surprise if…  Then I looked over at the doctor in a state of bewilderment.  Did we not know anything was changing because he can’t feel anything from just below his rib cage down that kept him from knowing there was a problem with his kidneys?”
“Renal failure is really a silent alarm…” Then he went on to explain how feeling in the kidneys works and why it goes undetected.  And why people will die suddenly…

Tonight I’m going to say again that I’m so thankful.  Thankful to have Zac today.  He had two drastic situations in his body: his potassium levels were so high  he could have had a heart attack at any minute AND his kidneys were all but shut down.  So I’m thankful.
Thankful For:
1) The Medical Community.  For their tests that caught the problem and intervention of placing an indwelling catheter the Friday morning (after the Wednesday clinic).  Thankful for the other various things that they’ve done since for Zac’s recovery process.
2) For my Naturopath, John Solomon Sandridge, thankful he told me that very night what supplements to put him on and how he must have his diet drastically changed.
It’s hard to imagine what would be if every little thing hadn’t gone exactly as it did…

We still have a very long race to run.  His kidneys have a lot of revitalizing to do.  They removed the indwelling catheter today so his kidneys and bladder will again be called upon, making his cathing vitally crucial.  However he will have a catheter in place during the night while he sleeps so urine flows into a bag so no pressure is building on his kidneys.  Zac’s body can in no way tolerate a single missed cath, anymore than it can him not eating right for every meal or not taking his supplements and meds.  We are still in the move by move, hour by hour recovery process, and we will be here for awhile, doing what we’ve been doing.

The next two weeks are very critical.  The tests at the next appointment will show how his kidneys are handling not having urine released constantly and flowing into a leg bag.  There’s a good bit of medical detail here that I’m going to skip, but that’s the basic information to help you get the gist.

We also had a lengthy dialysis informational appointment today and…well… let’s just say, we don’t want to go there.  Just for starters there is no recovery.  And the process of doing it daily…again…well…

We didn’t have the kidney transplant meeting yet.  That’s was bumped till next time, but the little that was covered with that…well…let’s just say, we don’t want to go there either, it isn’t as easy as, shall we say changing out a part on your car.

The doctor did write the excuse for Zac to only have half days and I’m thankful because Zac has been falling asleep in his afternoon history class and as he says, “And I like that class.”

After said appointment I worked for a family I haven’t seen in awhile and caught up with their mom when she got home.  Then around 7 picked up Grace so we could have a Walmart “shopping excursion”…you know…pick up a few groceries, then: check out the electronics, $5 movies, post-it notes, cute nail files, jewelry, the new Swiffer 360 degree duster…Kept her out longer than I probably should have.  Who knew you could have so much fun in Walmart?

Have a super day, love ya,
Theresa Jane
-oh Tuesday Zac’s principal called and expressed an apology for how a couple of the teachers were at the meeting on Monday

Today Zac was on a “down”.  I noticed the drawn look and washed out color in his face immediately upon picking him up for his Naturopath appointment.  He mentioned how tired he was on the way and I encouraged him to consider going to bed maybe around 9 for awhile rather then his 10:30 ish he is so determined to hold to.

After the appointment I ran a couple small errands and took him home to make him a meal.  I was going to make it for all my kids but Blessing, my oldest, had prepared a sweet potato soup for them already so they didn’t need a meal from me.  That is according to me and their father.  They on the other hand were totally not interested in the beautiful velvety smooth, pumpkin colored soup that warmed the insides and nourished the soul.  Instead they complained and begged for the same option as Zac.  But a deaf ear was applied to that request and soup was ladled into bowls, crackers and bread was placed in the middle of the table, and I prepared a meal for Zac.  If only sweet potatoes weren’t on the always avoid list, I would’ve been able to have him eat it with some bread and viola the night would have wrapped itself up.

I prepared wagon wheel pasta, spinach, zucchini, and green pepper chopped small with a dash of dill and basil, a small amount of chicken chopped into little pieces, all sauteed together with some chicken broth just before pouring over the pasta.

The entire time I prepared this meal I kept looking at Zac and thinking, “He really doesn’t look very good.”  And of course the mother in me that wants to down play what I’m seeing reasoned, maybe he just needs to eat and go to bed extra early.  Get some nutrition and some sleep and he’ll be great in the morning.  Zac gobbled up the meal enjoying every bite, took his supplements, and then about 45 minutes later began to look even worse.  He said he was feeling like he did last week before school.  The day he woke up feeling fine and within 20 minutes was dizzy and wanted to throw up and nearly did.  He went back to bed that day and slept most of the day thereafter.  Within a few minutes of referring to that day, dinner was coming up along with the supplements. Poor baby.  The vomit didn’t give him an easy time of it coming up.

Once he was through he posed no argument to going to bed and went right then.  I get him settled, tucked him in, turned on his meditation CD, hugged and kissed him, and he hugged me back, hugging has sort of been off cast for a couple years since he has become an older “guy” now, turned out his light and left.  With a heavy heart.  These are some painful moments to be divorced and living in another household regardless if I am only five minutes away…

As far as my day.  I worked 9:30 till 4 with the twins I care for on Tuesdays.  Did Zac’a appointment and the whole cooking thing, helped him through his sickness, put him in bed, came home, and hit the computer, to work on our business.  Then turned to my blog.  After this I plan to slid into bed to sleep, to rise early, and head over to my sons home so that when everyone vacates the house I’m there with Zac.  However tomorrow I do have some very important business items to tend to and thankfully Blessing will be around the house for awhile possibly allowing me the time to go and get done what needs done.  We have a doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon as well.  So off to downtown Birmingham once again.  I only hope that this time it doesn’t take over an hour to find a place to park like it did on Monday when they closed off the parking garage to Children’s hospital because it was full, even though every time I circled I saw cars exiting in groups of three and four and I can only assume it was freeing up some spaces.  It was like the city was hosting the Marti Gras, I defied anyone to find a place to park.  I parked blocks away after leaving Zac in the lobby to wait for my return.

Night, love ya,
Theresa Jane

Meditation CD’s are something that I have used for the last four years.  I put them on, go to sleep, and let them play, I also listen in my truck, and when I sit quietly during my day.  I actually started with “night sleep recordings” to assist my learning as an elementary student.  Influenced by a movie that Disney aired, the one with the college student that was studying to be a scientist and did things with monkeys such as put records on for them at night to listen to while they slept.  Then he did the same for himself so that he could learn while he slept–this memory is very vague so forgive any inaccuracies.  Well, I was so convinced to the effectiveness of this method that I started doing the same thing for myself.  I used my tape recorder that I had received that year for Christmas to record my spelling lists, vocabulary definitions, history facts and so forth.  I read them over and over till the tape ran out.  Then when I went to bed I pushed play and go to sleep.  Back then I always wished it could repeat itself.  On test day I would even set my alarm to go off early just so I could play it again before I went to school.  I would, of course reset my alarm.  I continued for years with this practice and have always believed that it is one of the reasons I got good grades.

So my belief in learning and meditating while I sleep is something that I was sold on long before my Naturopath created his first meditation CD for health and healing.  I bought one of the first ones he sold and began listening.  Then a few weeks ago he began an exciting new series of meditation CD’s.  He advanced the meditations to a whole new level.  These are personalized for specific needs and each is customized with the individuals name.  Just in time for Zac’s health issues.  And I am so thankful.  I’m also thankful that Zac asked to borrow the CD I’ve had for health and healing for the last four years.  He on his own wanted me to bring it over for him to use.  And I swear there was no “mother coaching” of the slightest degree to influence him    Now he has his own personalized CD, that he purchased with his own money, to address his health and proper eating.  And Zac was the first to receive this particular CD, which of course he thinks is pretty cool.

Zac had a great day.  He and Dan slept over last night and Zac slept till 12.  He obviously needed it.  When he got up he wanted to eat now!  But I told him he had to have a glass of water first for his kidneys.  He wasn’t happy with me at all.  And wrangled to drink the water and eat immediately.  It was all I could do to get him to wait the 20 minutes for his body to process the water before he ate his fruit and took his supplements so that the water wouldn’t dilute the fruit and supplements and not digest well.  But he did it.  Then throughout the day he ate great and I have to applaud him because for his lighter meal he even ate the Spaghetti Squash simmered with fresh tomatoes, basil, and a little pepper served with a slice of bread, even though he was moaning about it while I prepared it for him.  I watched as he ate bite after bite and played Monopoly with Grace and Caleb, who had come over after they did all the other things they wanted to do today.  He ate the whole thing.  When he was finished I had to ask, “Did you like that Zac?”  “Yeah it was good,” he answered.  So all I can say is, another successful meal. 

That was my day as “mom”, my day as a entrepreneur/business woman consisted of many phone calls back and forth first with John Mark and John Solomon then with John Solomon as we move our business forward and there was some computer work as well…of course. 

Night, love ya,
Theresa Jane
-thank you to all who pray for and keep Zac in your heart with supportive thoughts for his healing

This past Wednesday we had an appointment with a Kidney specialist.  Hours later we exited the building with loads of information to process and a stack of papers for a diet Zac needs to follow.  All the news and the numbers on his blood work was, well, troubling.  All except one number.  The potassium level.  That went from…”Zac should/could have died of a heart attack, to his levels being NORMAL. Within one week.  What happened within that one week?
1)  Zac began taking the supplements that Dr. John Solomon Sandridge, our Naturopathic Spiritual Intuitive, recommended he take from the day we got the news.
2) Dr. John also gave him a treatment for potassium.  Which is a simple procure where an activator is used to click on his acupressure points around his body.  The treatment allows the body to process whatever it is treated for.
3) Friday afternoon the urologist placed a permenant cathered so that urine would drain straight out of his body into a bag strapped to his leg.  This keeps all pressure off the bladder and therefore the  kidneys, which would challenges their function and health.
4) Zac stopped eating anything that was boxed, bagged, canned or frozen.  He is eating 100% healthy foods.   Now this is how he ate his whole life pretty much, until his father and I divorced.  Since then his father uses an (un) healthy portion of processed foods so the diet isn’t that much a challange for me.  The challenge comes from the restrictions he is narrowed to.  Which is challenging but not overwhelming for me to prepare meals.   The problem is from the restricted choices Zac has vegetables and fruits he doesn’t like at all.  So that makes it tougher.   I’m on a see saw with Zac right now…”What about this Zac?”  “No?”  Okay.  How about that?”  By next week I’ll have a menu whipped together for him.

Yesterday was Zac’s birthday.  He turned 15.  He wanted Papa John’s pizza and cheesecake for his celebration meal.  However that couldn’t happen as he is at too much risk for his kidneys.  He compromised, with a good attitude, to have a very healthy meal: pasta, chicken, zucchini, corn, carrots, and only a small piece of cheesecake.  I was so proud of him because he’s been talking about this birthday for months and the meal was very important to him.  But his health has taken first place and he did what was necessary.

After the party I hung around with my kids.  Later that evening I took him to  see Shutter Island.  To the 12:20 a.m. show.  He thought that that was totally great.  He was so jazzed it surprised even me.  You know Zac has so many restrictions in life from being in a chair and now his new health challenges that being out that late, to see a movie was most exciting.  His father thinks it’s ridiculous so that makes it even sweeter for him.  To do something that his father balks.    And now he’s 15 he should be able to do things like this, his friends are, and now so is he.  We got into bed around 4 a.m..  When I left him to go to my bed he said, “This has been a good birthday today.  Even though I wished we could have had pizza I liked the meal you made and I got to have cheesecake, even if it was a small piece.  And I got to go to a midnight showing of a movie.”  I have to say that tears sprung into my eyes as my heart of gratefulness that he really enjoyed his day.  My heart also breathed a silent prayer that we would have many more to celebrate together.

We slept in till 10:30 got up ate a breakfast of fruit.  Then a lunch of healthy foods then off with Grace included to see Wolf Man and Avatar.  The movies were my gifts to him.  He LOVES movies and he has been looking forward to all of them so for him it was a good as the camera his dad got him.

I have had a full weekend to say the least.  Worked all of Friday evening.  On my way home picked up Caleb and Zac to stay overnight.  By the time I got them it was so late that Caleb got in his jammies and climbed into my bed.  In the morning I did a few hours of work  Saturday on the business but since then it has been focused on Zac and my other kids.  Tomorrow will likely be work absorbed on our business.  We start off with a meeting at 10 a.m.  Then I’m off to Zac’s school to clarify and verify that they are doing what he needs done while he’s there.  And my job in the evening.  Full day…

Night, love ya,
Theresa Jane
-who is thankful to all that are keeping Zac in your prayers and thoughts for the return of his health