6/30/2009

July 4th is this weekend, and that is the tell tale sign for starting high school football. I love it, but not nearly as much as basketball.

6/26/2009

I am finding it difficult to find time currently to write a daily entry. With water therapy an trying to deal with the excessive swelling all over my body, and attempting to get sleep (it is not working well,) I am not experiencing overwhelming time for much of anything. However I went to the St. Michel's parish social. It is always nice to support local eststablishments. Being catholic, its great to help nearby parishes. I usually enjoy the Danger Brothers in late evening at St. Mike's social. But I went with my parents this year so we left early.

6/24/2009

Appointment with the kidney specialist later his morning. Check back, and I will let you know how it goes.

6/23/2009

I have officilly lined up a speech to a church youth group up near Cleveland for December 13, 2009. Marian, from the Caatholic Conference I attended up in Huron, worked for the church and gave them my contact information and recommendation.

6/22/2009

I feel extremely tired, like I am running on empty, but yet I feel good. You see I just rode the1 stationary bike furiously for about 35 minutes. I probably should not have with a blood pressure as high as mine, but that is how I work out; all or nothing. I have not done that in awhile and probably will not do it again for some time, because of my blood pressure problem. However it felt good... almost like the old me, but then I look down and am brought back to reality. My legs look terrible since they are retaining so much darn water!

6/22/2009

My blood test the other day did not turn out as well as my doctor had hoped, so again today I will drive to Glandorf to try again. Maybe I just did not study hard enough the first time... Lol, haha!

6/22/2009

Yesterday was an eye opening at the Leipsic St. Mary's church social. Before hand I played a few hours of solo with my parents and Aunt Joan. We ate supper at the event, and afterward we played another hour or so of cards at Joan's house. I am not at all putting a damper on my time spent at the social. Despite not arriving in time to watch any softball which I do early every year when I go to this particular church social, I found it beneficial networking with many people. I made a possible speaking contact for the high school at Leipsic. And I met with Gary, who may help me write my book. To top everything off I was the big winner in solo.

6/21/2009

Last night was a grand time playing cards with my relatives. The only uninviting aspect of the evening was the fact that huge indentation marks existed on my thighs after I stood up. My kidney malfunction is causing my whole body to retain water. Beginning to outgrow my clothes I am, and my shorts and pants are beginning to not fit well. It is lik I am getting too fat to wear my clothes, but I am not. Water retention is vausing me to swell up. There is nothing that I have control over and worrying about it is a waste of time. I do have a doctor appointment with Dr. Moser on Wednesday, though. He is a kidney specialist, and hopefully he can solve my problem.

6/20/2009

Last night was a fun filled night hanging with the cousins and some of their spouses. At fist we met at the Ottawa park to watch April's game. While there I saw Kim and Emily, too. It was a shock to see them both. Afterwords or group did the traditional thing, and we went to the Bombshelter to have pizza. Delicious it was as usual. I saw many people that I knew and even met this Mary lady, and she was Jack and Kevin's friend. I hardly ever see those guys so I will likely never see Mary again. Oh well... I like meeting new people. Thanks to Brad and Kathy for taking me out!

6/19/2009

Well it is Father's Day weekend, and that mean a number of things...mainly two: 1) Sunday is the Leipsic St. Mary's Parish social. Usually I make it over to that. But more importantly I am going to hang out with my cousin and her husband (Kathy and Brad) tonight, and my cousin Clint may be hanging with us.

6/18/2009

I went to mass this morning with Mom, because it was a mass for my grandmother. Afterwords I went with her o get her hair cut, because afterward we went to go get a blood sample taken. I have a significant headache this afternoon.

6/17/2009

Well... I went to my kidney specialist, Dr. Moser, today, and at first m appoinment almost did not exist. The doctor had been contacted by the doctor from Boston regarding my biopsy results (which is why were there today,) but a printout was not available. The wait was on, and it took awhile but it was scompleted. The doctor sounded optimistic about fixing the problem, but he prescribed steroid usage for five days to clear up some scarring in my kidney. I dont like taking the five day series of pills, becuse they made me break out with acne on my face. I dislike the typically teenage acne problem, but I can handleit for about a week. I have another appointment with Dr.Moser next week, and we will hopefully find out more then.

6/16/2009

Today I will attempt to volunteer at the hospital. My blood pressure is under control now, but I have this very long lasting headache that has occurred two out off the last three days. Hopefully it will be OK today! My doctor appointment is tomorrow which should be interesting to say the least! I am anxious to hear what Dr. Moser has discovered in light of my biopsy results, which should arrive back from Boston today. If the news is good, super... and if it is bad oh well, I'll deal with it.

6/15/2009

Well...it is Monday, and I can tell already that things are going to go much smother than this past weekend (aka the weekend from hell.) You see, I had a terrible headache on Friday through Saturday, and my blood pressure was registering off the charts. I felt nausea the whole time, and on Saturday I did vomit two times. I was a train wreck and there must have been a train whistle going off inside my head, because even a maximum dosage of Tylenol would not halt the throbbing pain in my head. As mentioned earlier the Fourth degree Knights of Columbus was supposed to march at 4:30 mass, and the K of C was throwing a party for Fr. Ron in the parish hall afterwords. The celebration turned out to be large and a lot of fun, but I learned through hearsay for I did not feel up to taking part in the ceremonies. There are two possible causes for my distress. I was getting familiarized with a new medication with possible side effects of nausea and upchucking. But the more likely scenario is that I was just worked up bout my health status. Sunday I felt significantly better, and today I am expecting a normal feeling. But even that is debatable (as me and normalcy do not regularly follow the same path by most people's standards.(LOL-ha:-)
My friend Eric has been moved temporarily to a nursing facility in Shawnee. And Dodd Hall in Columbus (my old stomping grounds) eventually wants him back. c must have improvement, and it is just a mater of time. There is no set rate of improvement, as traumatic brain injuries are different in each person. They are not like broken bones, where it is fairly standard for them to heal in 4-6 weeks. John expressed that him and Marie are becoming mentally beat, and prayers are needed!

6/13/2009

My high blood pressure and poor kidney function, inevitably related, have reached a new plateau as the past two days I have acquired splitting headaches that Tylenol has trouble fixing. Yesterday I had a prescription filled by Dr. Moser's office. He is my new doctor dealing with my kidneys and high blood pressure. I now have an appointment in four days. That would be on Wednesday instead of the following Monday. Hopefully the root of my problem will be discovered and a plan of defensive action is taken. The kidnbey biopsy results will hopefully be back from the doctor in Boston.

6/12/2009

The entire Thomas family is coming here this afternoon. Actually the are not all coming, but they will all be here. That is because my youngest nephew, Nick, has been here since Tuesday. He is only one, and my sister and her family were on vacation so to speak. A one year old eliminates many of the fun things a family can do on vacation.

6/11/2009

I hope that I can still fit into my tuxedo pants and jacket, despite the swelling (water buildup,) because on Saturday, as a fourth degree member we are marching as the Knights of Columbus for Saturday afternoon's mass. Tonight there is a softball game if the field is not too wet. I have a killer headache today.

6/9/2009

My face was swollen up and my left eye lid was having trouble staying open, because of my lack of proper kidney function. Therefore I did not volunteer today at the hospital. Tonight is the K of C meeting.

6/8/2009

The aftermath of my kidney dialysis is remarkably strang. The insides of me feel tampered with!

6/8/2009

Later this morning is my kidney biopsy. I am not really worried about having this done, the people doing it are well practiced in their trait, but the two week layoff before I hear the results is killing me. I just want to get on with fixing the problem. The not knowing the results are some of the hardest times when faced with anything. Take an exam for instance (referring back to school days,) and waiting the weekend for the results is torture. It is almost more troubling than the test itself! Not knowing is the most troubling aspect after any test (medical included,) and it just has to be done.

6/7/2009

It is that time of year for graduation parties, and this year we only have one to go to in our immediate Schroeder clan. Later today/ tonight a party for my cousin Jacob will be had. It is always enjoyable to congregate with my relatives. Jacob graduated from Liberty Benton high school. Last night I went with my parents to visit at my Uncle Mack’s house. The conversations had with any of my Schroeder relatives are always stimulating. I also saw my cousin Luke. On Friday we went to play cards at Mom’s sister’s house, and I had a good opportunity to interact with my cousin Jeff.
I need to speak with some of Eric’s relatives soon. I really need to speak with Amy about going down to see Eric. She probably let that thought slip her mind. That greatly disappoints me, but it can be expected… elderly people are often forgetful. I should probably be thankful if Amy even remembers what I look like (LOL:-).

6/6/2009

I feel extremely exhausted, like I just did a marathon, but I only leisurely strolled about outside for about 40 minutes or so. Something is definitely out of whack with my body. I have a kidney biopsy tomorrow morning. It sounds gruesome, but I am looking forward to it greatly. It is just one step towards finding and fixing the problem with me...

6/5/2009

The Schroeder softball team lost in the narrowest of fashion last night. We were the home team, and we had last at bats. At first there was some discrepancy between the opposing teams scorekeepers as to what inning it was, teams shook hands after only six innings when we were trailing 6-5, but after careful analysis the correct inning was discovered. Another inning was to be played, but neither team pushed a single run across home plate. The game ended with the same score had after they shook hands the first time. The last inning never mattered. It is the only game I've ever witnessed where hands were shook twice in ending fashion, and I have played a lot of ball in my day.

6/4/2009

It is Thursday, and yesterday I saw Dr. Moser, a kidney specialist. He scheduled a kidney biopsy for tomorrow morning, but the hospital called me this morning and changed it to Monday morning. I am so very glad that we were able to see the kidney doctor and get the ball rolling. A biopsy sounds much more severe than it really is. Dr. Moser explained everything to me in detail so there will be no surprises. Thank God for the ability to numb your back. Back in the early days of medicine they would have had to strap my hands down to the table. But now with advances in technology they can insert a rod into my back without putting me to sleep. The only bad part of this biopsy is the though o what will be done. I am excited to get this done, because my kidneys need some attention.

6/3/2009

Well, Dad called the kidney specialist office, and they can now squeeze me in this afternoon at 2:30. Gotta run...

6/2/2009

Yesterday morning was anything an everything but uneventful, and that is taking it lightly. As most of you know I have been experiencing symptoms related to high blood pressure, and Monday early morning a new wrinkle was added to the mix. I woke up at 3:00 A.M., because a choking sensation overwhelmed me. Mom heard me pacing back and forth, and when she awoke I explained my situation as best I could. I also had a terrible headache, and she urged me to take my blood pressure since she was worried. It was like 182/122 or something like that. After I watched a movie on television I managed to get a few hours of sleep. In the morning my parents brought me to the Emergency Room at St. Rita's hospital. That is where I spent the next 10 hours. As it turns out that loose piece of skin that hangs from everybody's throat was way enlarged in my mouth (hence the choking sensation.) Doctors claim it is a reaction to the new medication I started Tuesday of last week. They claim that is why my blood pressure hit the ceiling, but I think my blood pressure is just out of whack. I doubled up my one medication, doctor's orders, but it is still very high. Maybe that is just part of being a Schroeder, or maybe it is the result of getting old. I spoke to my cousin Kathy tonight who is also 30, but 10 months older than I (but she is not ancient like my friend AMY,) and she was telling me all the problems she had when she tuned 30. Its safe to say that Kathy and I are aging, but what does that say about OLD OLD Amy? I wonder too much, and I just need to enjoy life. It will take its twists and turns, but accommodating to them is what marks your life. Kenny Rogers says it best... Every gambler knows that the secret to surviving is knowing what to throw and knowing what to keep, because every hands a winner and every hands a loser. To me life is a game of cards!

6/1/2009

Hospital ER... later