Whoa, sorry! Big update!

I apologize for not blogging at all these past 3 weeks. I have a great excuse, though. What, no excuses, you say? No! Let me explain...please! :)

Okay, so I found employment! Whew. After being unemployed for 5 weeks, you can imagine how relieved both Rob and I were when this job came through! And it's not just any job, it was my "dream job"! I interviewed for this job back in early March and then didn't hear anything back for 3 weeks. I was so sad, thinking, "oh well, I guess that's not the job God had in His plan for me. God will provide something, just not this one..."

But the call finally came through one day, on the last day of March. 2 days later, I'm eating lunch with my future bosses, and they extend an offer of employment to me. 1 day later, I accept it. And 1 more day after that, I find out my job title - Interim Club Manager at Eno Valley Swim and Racquet Club! Hooray! I'm so excited to be working for such a great Club in Durham!

So I've been busy these past 2 weeks, to say the least! As Club Manager, I am in charge of "getting things done". Is that specific enough for you? :) Okay, how about this: I'm in charge of ensuring that daily Club operations run smoothly, addressing anything from broken tennis nets to keeping the Shack snack bar fully stocked. That, and manage a summer staff of about 15 kids with the help of 2 great Assistant Managers.

Yesterday my project was to find a solution and fix this:



Not pretty, huh? Now I don't know much about tennis, as I am mostly a swim girl, with the majority of my working experience coming from the pool deck. At first I thought, "uh oh, looks like this net is done. I better start researching how much a new net will cost and bring the proposal to the next board meeting." While that thought isn't a bad plan in itself, it still doesn't fix the problem for those who want to continue playing on that court. I would've never thought of this on my own, so I'm thankful for the great recommendation from the tennis chair on the Club's Board! He suggested this temporary fix:



Fishing line can be used for more than just fishin'...who knew? :)

I used 80 pound line found at Wal-Mart for a whole $3.75. Now people can continue to play on the court until a better solution can be found.

As I'm sure you can tell by my language and attitude on this blog, I am LOVING my new job!

Enough about me. Rob is doing okay, just hanging in there and trying to stay positive like he always does. He had his fistula maintenance appointment, a "tune-up" of sorts on his veins in his access arm last week. And he saw his fistula surgeon yesterday who explained the mystery behind the "new access sticking point" and his "old one". But first I have to update you on that...

The old one was having major problems about 3 weeks ago. He kept clotting and couldn't get good sticks in to start his dialysis treatments. So they sent him to Vascular Access Center here in Durham. What should have been a quick in-and-out visit ended up being a 5.5 hour "ok, I'm really worried, what's going on in there?" kind of visit. I even had to call Rob's boss and explain that Rob probably wouldn't be back at work that day. Rob came out of the "tune-up" room and wolfed down the sandwich they had provided him. Then the vascular surgeon came out and described/explained what he saw on the fistulagram.

Here's an image from Rob's fistulagram:



See that little, light gray vein in the bottom of that picture...well, that is where Rob has been sticking himself for the past 2 years in dialysis. See how at the top of that light gray vein, there is a little "bulge"? Well, that's where it clotted off, a long, long time ago. But Rob kept sticking there and doing dialysis, with no problems for 2 years.

See that dark gray vein, the one that makes an almost 90 degree right hand turn? Well, that is what the vascular surgeon decided to call Rob's "new access point". He cleaned it out, using instruments that vascular surgeons use, whatever they are called...Rob said he could feel them moving up his arm and poking around near his shoulder. ACK! UGH! Seriously? Ouch. The vascular surgeon was amazed that Rob's veins essentially "fixed themselves" after the clotting happened on the original route. So now Rob has 2 access points. The "old" one and the "new" one.

Here's a hand-drawn pic of Rob's fistula. As you can see, before attending Duke Medical School, this doc went to art school where I think he was given a B+ in Intro to Medical Drawing:



"Ahhh, now I see!" you are probably saying to yourself right now. The place with the dots is where Rob has been sticking himself for 2 years. The "new" location is to the right of that old one. So they stitched up Rob's buttonholes and Rob's been going through the painful process of making new buttonholes on the new access point. Last night was the second time that Rob was able to stick himself on his new access point. So hopefully soon, he'll be able to use blunt needles and it won't hurt as much as using sharps.

So yesterday's visit to the original surgeon who created Rob's fistula, explained a lot. He said that where Rob had been sticking himself for 2 years was originally his "alternate" route, and the "new spot" that was uncovered by the Vascular Access Center wasn't really a new spot at all - it was his original spot, where Rob should have been sticking himself all along. Oops.

One more picture of Rob's new access point:



Well, that's all for now. Hopefully it won't be another 4 weeks before you are updated again.