Back from the dead

What a week! I guess the exciting part started Tuesday night when I drove Daniel to the ER. He was complaining of back/side aches, figured it was just kidney stones, so to the ER we went! His pain was excruciating so they took him in, starting an IV to get pain meds flowing. Once the pain subsided (a little) they took a scan of his kidney to find out...rut-row...no kidney stones. Instead there was a blockage in his ureter tube (the tube that connects your kidney to your bladder).

We found out that where the ureter tube is SUPPOSE to connect to the kidney, Daniel's is not connected properly and has been that way since birth. Fluid is suppose to flow from the kidney to the bladder with ease but that hasn't been the case for Dan. Since it's been difficult for fluid to drain out of his kidney, fluid found another way out, thus rupturing his kidney causing urine to spill outside of the kidney. Not good.

Surgery is required to repair the kidney. But before they could operate, inflammation and swelling of the kidney needed to go down. To help along this process Dan had a nephrostomy tube and bag placed in his kidney. A nephrostomy tube bypasses the blocked area, allowing urine to leave the body, thus letting the kidney heal and lessen swelling in preparation for surgery. Please see exhibit A :)

Exhibit A

These are pics of Dan's nephrostomy tube coming out of his back....ewwww.

Daniel has been quite the trooper, and the process isn't over yet! He will have the nephrostomy tube for about 10 days while the kidney heals. After which he will go back to the hospital for his second surgery. The urologist will actually go in detaching his ureter tube from his kidney and reattaching it in the correct place so fluid can flow easily to his bladder and not outside the kidney wall like it had been. More to come on that!

So we stayed 3 nights total in the hospital and this is what we've learned: Nurses don't care what time of night it is, they will wake you up at 12, 2 and 4 in the morning to check your vitals. Hospital food is no bueno. Hospital beds are way more comfy than the roll-away beds for guests. You can never play enough solitaire to pass the time. Drugs are ammmaaazzzing. And a sense of humor gets you a long way. 

Thank you EVERYONE for all your calls, texts, wishes well and prayers. We both appreciate it so much! Being away from friends and family isn't easy during tough times like these but we have truly realized how blessed we really are. Stay tuned! 

Wedding Madness!

This weekend I had the chance to go home to Missouri for my best friend Sarah's wedding! It was SO MUCH fun to see old friends and be apart of such a fun occasion. It really made me miss Missouri and wish I lived closer to home for several reasons. Maybe Dan will get the hint...lol. 

Congratulations to Sarah and Derek Randall! High school sweethearts forever :)

CHI-TOWN!

This past weekend we took a quick little trip to the windy city! It's been quite a while since both Dan and I have been to Chicago so it was a lot of fun to go again for the first time TOGETHER! We stayed with Aunt Eilene and Uncle Dennis...thank you SO MUCH for opening your home to us (again), it's always fun to visit with family.

We woke up Saturday morning and went to the Chicago temple, we haven't been to the temple since before Prague so we were grateful that we had the opportunity to go this weekend. 

After the temple, we drove downtown and walked and shopped the miracle mile! I absolutely LOVE downtown Chicago, it's such a neat city and we loved how it's on the water. We were going to go up in the Sears Tower...but it was $15 PER person. We'll do that next time (maybe). 

The main reason we went to Chicago was for, what else, a soccer game! A classmate of Daniel's is an intern for the Chicago Fire and was great enough to get us SWEET tickets at mid field! It's always fun to get out and see some games, plus Dan LOVES it lol.

We had a great time and really appreciated a weekend away from Grand Rapids for a few days. We are already planning another trip to Chi-town in July! So stay tuned...

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Summer Dayz

Well we finally ventured out to the famous Lake Michigan! And get this, it doesn't look like a LAKE at all! It actually looks like an ocean...with no waves, and no sharks...and no people in the water because it's FREEZING! It was a warm 85 degrees outside and an icy 55 degrees in the water. No way would you ever find me in that water! 

We layed out, ate some lunch, walked around, talked with friends of ours and had a great first-time experience :)

I also finally got around to taking some pics of where we live! We actually live on a small pond and since we are on the ground floor, our back-door opens up to the water. We like living on the water for lots of reasons, but our favorite has to be the family that lives across the way. They have this raft with a table and chairs on it and they paddle themselves out on the water at night lol. We call it their "red neck yacht club." It's pretty amusing!

Since I stay at home during the days, it can be hard to keep myself entertained sometimes. BUT I have made some fuzzy friends that like to hang around in our backyard. They used to be so small but you can see in the pics that they are growing up so fast! I would like to take credit for that...I AM the one who feeds them bits of bread lol. They call me crazy goose lady.

More to come on our SUPER exciting summer in Michigan! :)