We have a new nurse coordinator

Since 2005 we have had many nurse coordinators at Mayo. We now have Mindy and Barbara.
I appreciate being able to call with a concern about mom's health and always know they have the best answer. Living with a kidney transplant is a challenge. They do not show everything on the news. they make life look so happy after transplant and it is not really. You suffer from medication side effects, mood changes and some days you dont know if you will have your strength. Mom is a trooper. We ride through health changes everyday.

AARP

My mother's story was written in AARP Magazine.
I wish they had included the miracle of her having a kindey transplant at Mayo Clinic as well. Also Kudos to the Gonda 4 Cardiovascular Doctors and Team.
Dr. Sharonne Hayes is simply marvelous, so I am glad they mention her.

Viral Issue?

We are trying to troubleshoot the source of a gastronintestinal issue. We were told with tyope II diabetes will come some stomach gastric pumping issues with age.
But she recently had the flu vaccine and noticed symptoms afterwards. Very few researhers admit to gastroenteritis after the flu vaccine but my personal observation makes me believe that there can be.

Moms foot doing well

I am working on a video presentation to show you the newest healing in the left foot
We have saved another foot from below ankle amputation.

Toe Amputation Almost Healed !

We made the decision to make weekly trips to Mayo, being there every Monday and Tuesday for boot therapy and celleration mist for my mothers toe site. Her toe amputation has almost completely healed. There is just a small pin sized area that needs to fill in. This is indeed a miracle. Another case for deciding not to do a below knee amputation. We make the trip over 750 miles round trip each week and it is worth it.

Dr. Ennis- St. James Hospital Olympia Fields, IL

Since last posting update, mom has had the great toe on her left foot amputated.
The lesson learned here was that she needed to be on IV antibiotics right away, IV enterprenim, early enough in order to have given the toe a chance to be saved. Combined with femoral artery stent to the leg. The MD, who I shall not name, (back home) gave oral antibiotic meds and it did not put a dent in the infection. I feel very bad, because hindsight is 20/20 here. With better resources and information fro the beginning, I feel we could have saved the toe.

Dr. Kavros and Dr. Turner and Mayo Hyperbaric did all they could. The toe left us the weekend prior to Memorial Day. Now, We have an area where the toe has been removed which had been slow to heal. My mother cannot have hyperbaric anymore because her TCP02's are at a level where it will not make difference. it is as good as it is going to get. The toe is going forward with healing by using the expertise of Dr. Kavros, circulator boot, and celleration mist therapy.

I fielded a call from the Celleration company, who pointed out to me that a potential customer/Doctor found out about them from my blog! They asked me if I heard of Dr. William J. Ennis. I had not. It took awhile to get in to see him. I called for the appointment at the beginning of August. He is in demand. We patiently waited until our appointment today.
Meeting Dr. Ennis was time well spent. He has the Celleration mist technology available at his Wound Care Clinic at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields,Illinois.
phone ( 708) 747-4000. Mom will be going to his office for mist therapy once a week in conjunction with continuing her weekly visits at Mayo with Dr. Kavros to help healing of this area. It was comforting to mom to learn that he knew Dr. Kavros very well and they can communicate on helping her with the healing of this area.


We were told By Dr. Kavros that this would would be slow to heal. When you hear this, the idea is not to give up, but do whatever you can to help bring circulation to the area. We did stenting, which gave the opening for more circulation to go down to her foot. We did hyperbaric. We will continue to do celleration mist and boot therapy.
My thoughts are, boot therapy for mom would be good for maintenance long term even after this wound heals.

Did A Book Ever Come To You ?

The past five years of my life has been quite turbulent. Along with being a mom and pursuing my profession, I have taken on the role of full- time caregiver to my mother.

She had an accident that led to End Stage Renal Disease. Her illness amplified her existing adult onset diabetes, a host of cardiac and cardiovascular issues and also she endured numerous hospitalizations after having a kidney transplant. I have spent all of this time practically living out of hospitals. Being a caregiver to your parent is no easy task. In many cases when things go wrong, and then a miracle happens to turn things around, it reinforces your faith in God many times over.

On her recent hospitalization at Mayo Clinic, She was being seen for a small infection in an ingrown toe nail on her left leg. No matter how diligent we were with care. The toe died and we were in the process of facing the amputation of a toe. Some may think it is just a toe. For those who have no idea, most hospitals when things start to happen, would rather take your entire leg below the knee to amputate instead of doing a small ray section amputation. We handpicked specialists who would be conservative with preserving life and limb. This was also her second amputation in a year period of time.

She was emotionally fearful and distraught having to go through this another time.

She was feeling sad and crying while she awaited her appointment in the nephrology department. I had momentarily left her to attend to my daughter and had returned to the waiting room to find a uniquely healthy and practically glowing couple talking to her.

Upon looking at this man and woman, they had such a spiritual presence. You could tell they walked their talk.

The man saw her waiting and offered to keep her company while she was waiting alone in her wheel chair. He quoted the book of John and referenced knowing that he needed to help his neighbor. They developed such a rapport, my mother asked the man to pray for her, that her leg may heal. His angelic wife walked forward and without hesitation, kneeled down in the crowded waiting room, and placed her hands on my mothers leg to pray for Gods healing and direction.

It was such a beautiful prayer, tears could not help but roll down from my eyes. I have often heard evangelists refer to the term of “being on holy ground”, the moment where Moses took of his slippers at the burning bush. You could feel the potency of her prayer as she spoke and I imagined the feeling was pretty close.

She stood and the couple confidently wished her well. They handed us a book

entitled, " One Hearbeat Away, Your Journey Into Eternity",

This book was written by Mark Cahill. I found this to be simply amazing because during my long drive from Illinois to Minnesota, I was listening to a religious broadcast where this very same book was being discussed. I listened to the broadcast intently.

The couple told us that they knew the author and upon reading the book we would receive a very special message that we needed to hear. Upon initially skimming the book, the title in itself you would think would tell the entire story.

We are after all, one heartbeat away between life and death. You would think by judging the cover alone, it is a book that encourages you to think about the fact that our life on this earth will end, and we need to think about after.

I have found this book to be a very interesting read. The author lives and breathes by what he states. He randomly walks up to strangers and asks them questions that get them to think about where we emanate from. He gets into intricate details on his thought process and cites specific sources of how he is not convinced of science’s explanation on how we came to be. He covers the entire spectrum from conventional thought to the King James Version of his path of discovery. The author encourages us to seek the truth as he generously shares how he came into his own light.

I believe this book found me for a reason. It was given as generous act of sharing

light and knowledge for those wishing to align a stronger connection to God.

Mark Cahill has an established track record of changing minds throughout the

world. I highly recommend this book to all, especially those who are indifferent

and confused about God . I hope this review finds you as the book found me.