Daniel Dunning - My Personal Blog

Happy Birthday Joyce!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 15:36:00 +0000

Health Update and Brief Hospital Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 22:06:00 +0000

Kidney News

Well I had another follow-up appointment and the news comtimes tp be very positive. My creatnine levels have stabilized and are continue to move in the right direction. The same is true with my GFR which is approaching normal numbers. I really only indicate these two metrics as they are very indicative of the function of the kidney, but rest assured there are a multitude of tests being performed by my doctors and they continue to be happy with all the results.

Hospital Visit

The other bit of news is that as I currently write this post, I am in the hospital. As stated above, my kidney is doing fine but it appears that the=e has been some excessive drainage from the surgival incidsion. My doctors tell ,me that it is nothing major and not life-threatening in any way, nor will it impact the functionality of the kidney. However, it does need to be addressed -- hence I have been admitted to the hospital to do so.

I had the surgery today and basically what has happened is that the result of the surgery has created a temporary gap between my subcutaneous skin and the muscles of my abdomen. My body has taken to fill this area with fluid, and I have have been dealing with a large amount of drainage as the surgical scar opened up and the proverbial flood gates opened.

To address the issue, they have put a wound pump in my abdomen that will pump out the fluid as it collects and slowly close the opening. This is preferable to surgically forcing the cavity to close, as that approach is likely to trigger a relapse and require me to go through the same process at a later time. The pump is initially more cumbersome but will allow my body to close he gap naturally and more permanently, so that is what we decided to do.

I entered the hospital on Friday April 12 and will be here through the weekend as they monitor my progress and the functionality of the pump.

I know this may come as a shock to many of you, me being in the hospital yet again, but rest assured that this is more preventive care than urgent care, and I did not want to trigger any worry or concern. I feel like I am receiving excellent care, and it sitting in a hospital bed actually gives me time to catch up on a few things like updating this blog and finishing up on my taxers.

I appreciate everyone's concerns and prayers and just know that I am doing everything I can to taker care of myself and my health -- and look forward to the time when issues like this are more of an afterthought.

Update

I finally heard from my surgeon, and the drainage that I was experiencing was related to abdominal muscles that had partially separated. This was good news in that it was only a partial tear and that they were able to idenify the exact cause. They closed the tear, and are continuing to drain the fluid and the expectation is that I will no longer experience this type of drainage and will be able to leave the hospital tomorrow morning (Monday). My only restriction is that I have no straining or abdominal pressure for 5 weeks while the musles heal, but no restricions in terms of moving around, work, etc. Overall, very good news...

Happy Birthday Stacy!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 21:05:00 +0000

Wishing Stacy a Happy Birthday. Its been a little hectic the past few dayss. which I will explain in an upcoming blog post, so I haven't had a chance to update this site/. But wanted to definitely let Stacy know I am thinking of her on he3r special day.

Happy Birthday, Sharon!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:54:00 +0000

Hope you had a wonderful birthday. Continue to count your blessings.

Easter Visit from Susan,Stacy and Kelly

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:51:00 +0000

So my Easter was a little different rhis year, as Susan and Stacy and Sracy's daughter Kelly came down to visit with me for the weekend. It was a really great visit, and I am so grateful to them for taking time to check on me.

I think the visit was initiated by a comment and a concern from Mom that although I had lost some weight, I was still wearing many of the same clothes and that it would be good to find clothes that better fit me. In short, Susan decided to "style" me, which was great. She came down with a bunch of clothes and I have to say, I loved every piece of clothing. There was one piece thar I was a little unsure about, but it turns out it fit my son Karl and he loved it, so it all worked out. Since their visit, I have worn many itermds to work and it has really given me more confidence and I am looking forward to continuing to add to my wardrobe.

In addition, we went to a Habitat for Humanity ReSore in Herndon, and I was able to find a nice sleeper sofa to replace my very uncomfortable couch. I was also able to get four very nice dining room chairs for only $5 each. I am currently holding onto my existing dining set to save for Annick, and once she picks it up, I will find a suitable dining room table to fit my space.

Stacy came down and totally reorganized and cleaned my apartment. I am so grateful. While my apartment was "surface-clean", it was completely unorganized and pretty grimy in the crevices and small spaces. My refrigerator was a mess with old food and condiments, and needed a good cleaning. Stacy absilutely KILLED it and spent hours working on re-organizing the soace and, frankly, getting rid of so many items that I didn't need, didn't know I had, and were just gretting in the way.

My kitchen is now very organized and as a result, I am easily able to use the space as intended. For example, this past weekend I was able to come in and meal-prep for the week very easily. Before Stacy transformed my space, I would have to spend hours cleaning my kitchen just to have room to work and even more time trying to inventory what I needed to shop for, etc. However, I was able to just start cooking quickly, saving me tons of time and money. I am SO HAPPY and appreciatve to her for doing that.

Oh, and by the way she did the same with my bathroom, which is now very nice as well.

On top of all that, my son Karl was able to spend time with his cousin Kelly. Sammy stopped by for a bit but spent most of the weekend at his mother's house. Althiugh all of us including Annick got together for dinner Saturday night after ther UCONN game. I am hoping to set up a Google Meet so that Karl and Sammy and Kelly and Shawn can periodically talk and spend more time with each other -- atleast virtually.

Long post, but at the end of the day I just want to say thank you to Susan, Stacy, and Kelly for their visit. It was great in practical terms of getting my apartment straight, but even more important it was great to spend time with my family and feel more connected to everything going on up North. Here's to hoping that this is just a start to more visits in the future, not just with folks coming down here, but with me making my way up North as I continue my recovery.

Kidney Update

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 01:15:00 +0000

Wanted to give another update. I had another kidney appointment today and the news continues to be good. Some of the rejection medications cause my blood sugar to spike, so they have added Jardiance to my medications, where I already am taking a medication called Januvia. The difference is that Januvia makes you more sensitive to the insulin you produce and in some instances stimulates the production of more insulan. Jardiance, on the other hand binds with the sugar in your system and excretes it through the urine, so it is though that the combination of these medications can help with the high blood sugars.

But again, that was really the only area that was in any way not positive, as you can tell from the attached charts, my kidney is functioning strong.

As a final note, while I have been following up with the transplant organization weekly, I am now moving to every other week. I still need to provide blood samples on a weekly basis, but can do so at the hospital near me saving me alot of time. So things are continuing to look good and improve.

I appreciate all the support and good wishes. I will continue to keep you updated on my progress...

Happy Birthday Susan!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:17:00 +0000

Today is my sister Susan's birthday! Happy Birthday!

UCONN vs Stetson - Postgame Press Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 22:52:00 +0000

UConn First Round Postgame Press Conference - 2024 NCAA Tournament

UCONN vs Stetson - Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 22:46:00 +0000

UConn vs. Stetson - First Round NCAA tournament extended highlights

Interesting story on the culture Dan Hurley has built at UCONN

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 22:35:00 +0000

Found this on Youtube. Pretty good story about Dan Hurley and UCONN.

A deep dive into the UConn Huskies' championship culture

My Prosthetic...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 00:41:00 +0000

So, when Susan, Mom, Micky and Lexi came down to visi with me, they may have noticed that while I generally get around pretty good on my prosthetic leg, there were times it was a little dodgy. Thats because as you use your prostetic more and more, my stump changes shape -- it becomes more streamlined and smaller. As a result, the connection between my leg and the prosthetic -- which is solely based on a tight fit and suction -- had loosened up a bit.

Below Knee Prosthetics

However, I was able to make it into my clinician. Synergy Orthodics and Prosthetics , and they they game me re-fittingn socks ( btw, that is not me in the picture on their website). When your stump has changed only a little, you basically increase the size of the stump by wearing thicker coverings to tighten the fit. After receiving the socks, I am back to normal. Oncew my stump changes to a certain point where additional socks are no longer practical, they will re-manufacture the

If you are interested, here are some sites that talk a bit more about prosthetics that may give insight into some of the issues that I have been facing.

Overview of Limb Prosthetics

Below Knee Prosthetics

What you should know before getting a prosthetic leg

Another Health update...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 19:50:00 +0000

Things are continuing to look good...

I had my most recent follow-up with the Kidney doctors, and they made no bones about the fact that they are extremely happy with my progress. Initially, my kidney was filtering out fluid, but was slow to start filtering out toxins. Well it appears that that process has also kicked in, as my Creatinine Clearance has improved dramatically.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544228/#:~:text=%5B3%5D%20Creatinine%20clearance%20(CrCl,Glomerular%20Filtration%20Rate

Normal levels for a Creatnine Ratio is below 30. You can see by the attached chart that I am approaching that number quickly.

My GFR is also improving. As you can tell this kidney is doing its job.

Hopefully things will continue to improve. I will send another update shortly.

-Dan

Quick note on posting to this site....

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 20:51:00 +0000

Everyone should be able to post to the site if they want to. I simply need to get the preferred email that yiou would like to use, and I will send you a one-time invite and you should be all set. Posting is very easy it really is simply typing into paragraph. If you are interested in creating posts, just send me the email that you would like to use to do so.

Comments should be able to made anonymously.

-Dan

A nice visit from Mom, Susan, Mickey* and Lexi!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000

It was a nice surpise to have Mom, Susan, Micky and Lexi come down on the train to visit with me on Thursday. I knew that a trip was planned but was certain that it would happen later in the month when the Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom. But they arrived on Friday and it was wonderful to connect with everyone. We hung out a little bit on Friday and endded up having dinner at Outback which was close to where they were staying.

Friday

I had to work on Friday, and the Thomas' had arrangeed to visit the African American Museum downtown. I hope to get some pictures from them to post and will implement the comment sections so that they can add some information about what they saw, but from what I understand it was quite interesting and well worth the trip. As is the case in all Smithsonian Museums, one day is simply not enough to see everything.

Once thery returned, Mom and Susan came over to my apartment where Susan made me a pot of chili. I always ask her to do this for me as it is delicious and I can get so many meals out of it, and saves me so much time preparing for dinner. While she cooked (and cleaned -- thank you Susan), Mom and I and Karl watched the Uconn / St. Johns game. That was an exciting matchup which fortunately UCONN was able to pull out.

UCONN ends St. John's Big East Dreams

For dinner, we went to a local restaurant called the Sweetwater Tavern in Sterling. It was really nice and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Sweetwater Tavern, Sterling, VA

Saturday

The train back to New Jersey was leaving at 3pm, so we headed over to the Amphora Deluxe Diner which was very good. We had a short phone conversation with Jake which was also nice, as he was getting his day started in Indiana. After breakfast, everyone loaded up and headed back to New Jersey, but not before we were able to get a couple of pictures taken.

Photos:

Kidney update : Intravenous Infusion

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 19:42:00 +0000

So, today I had to go to the infusion center and receive some intravenous drugs to prevent rejection of the kidney. It went pretty smooth with no issues. I will need to do this probably 2 more times, my next infusion being March 26th. Today was my first day back in the office, and I was a little worried about being winded, but it worked out ok. I think that a key might be to eat breakfast. I think the drugs I have to take in the morning probably should not be taken on an empty stomach. I had something to eat today and had no tiredness or dizziness. Routines must change.

Here is a picture of how the transplant works -- as was a surprise to some folks, they leave the non-functioning kidneys in the body and simply place the new donor kidney in the pelvic area.

From Wikipedia: Kidney Transplantation

Kidney Update and a visit from Sharon

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 19:38:00 +0000

Hello folks. I am thinking that putting my updates here would be an easier way to keep everyone informed of my status and ongoing recovery. Today was a really good day in that I am being officially discharged from dialysis for as long as this kidney holds -- which I hope will be a very long time. All of the numbers seem to be going in the right direction.

Tomorrow, I have a 2-hour infusion of rejection medication starting at 11am. I will have 2 more such sessions over the course of the next month, and then I would be done with the intravenous medications.

It was good having Sharon down to help me get settled.I threw this page up quickly so that I could be more detailed in my status. Over the next day or so after work as I start to catch up I will be making it more blog like so you can post here as well. Thanks for all the support.

Photos:

Welcome to my Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 19:31:00 +0000

Welcome to my blog. This is just an easier way to keep folks updated with all the changes I am experiencing. Also allows for you to participate as this space will evolve over time.