In the big picture, things are definitely better. There's no comparison in Liam's condition now against several weeks ago. Now she's almost back to her old self. She's getting her appetite back, her spirit is good, she jokes, she enjoys the company of people (as oppose to almost everything reversed just a few weeks ago). There's no question in our mind that dialysis brought the big improvement. This is all good and we couldn't be happier. We got our Liami back!!!
Unfortunately, within the big picture there are the smaller pictures.
1. She's still a very sick and vulnerable girl. Anything could happen at any time.
2. While dialysis works well (so far) as a whole, the individual sessions bring tough side effects on her: nausea, pain. She always come back not feeling well. That is the situation so far. Hopefully things will improve in the future. (But again, just to put things in perspective, it's better to not feel well 3 times a week than not feel well ALL THE TIME.)
3. We're watching her digestion closely. Not much to add here as we're still in the assessment period. But we know from the past about her poor motility. Will that change now that the rest of her is a bit better? I guess time will tell.
The Laundry Basket Guide to Jewish Holidays
(I'm apologizing in advance for (a) the lame humor, and (b) the poor translation. I wrote this segment originally in Hebrew. In Hebrew it's almost funny (to my taste, at least). I'm not sure I was able to translate everything in a meaningful and-maybe-funny-too way. Oh well, learn Hebrew, you gentiles.)
Passover came surprisingly early this year (as you might know by now, I'm not a fan of this holiday. I think we would have ended up better staying in Egypt. For one, we would have been Africa's champions by now (football, eh, soccer); Rachel and I remember well the excellent falafel we had on the street in Cairo - full of desert send, dust, and pollution from the unbelievable traffic; plus, Rachel already has some good connection with a no-name pita bakery in downtown Cairo). Suddenly, just a day or two before it came, I heard that it's passover (it's strange how they move such an important holiday without prior notice). Anyhow, on Monday Liam had dialysis so it was uncertain in what condition she'd made it back - see above. We-I-mean-Rachel-who-even-cares-about-my-opinion decided to push it to Tuesday. But on Tuesday there's the European Champions League (football, eh soccer). Yooo-hoo, Rachel....you didn't check the sports calendars (because I'm absolutely sure that she checks the golf tournaments....it's only UEFA matches she's not use to - yet).
And then, as if this is Hanukkah (if I ever learn how to spell it) and not Passover, a true miracle happened: I heard, I mean, I'm pretty sure I heard, an "OK" (which means one of two: either she doesn't care for me any more (DOH!!!) or I was folding laundry so superb in the past several months. Really, there can be no other explanation). Spontaneously, a chant came out of my throat...the same song Jews everywhere sing in Passover to celebrate the told freedom - now we're free, now we're free.
I promised myself I'll have only one glass of wine - instead of the traditional 4 (but ended up drinking 5 - I'm soooo happy to be free). From the bitter herb we had plenty of in the past several month - we don't need another bite. The whole thing lasted less than an hour. And so well fed and "hydrated" I left for the game (in which Manchester United lost). Can there be a better way to celebrate this holiday? (On a serious note, I never liked this holiday anyway. Since childhood I'm trying hard to avoid it. Only when we started celebrating it in our house it became fun. But that is a different story.)
Unfortunately, within the big picture there are the smaller pictures.
1. She's still a very sick and vulnerable girl. Anything could happen at any time.
2. While dialysis works well (so far) as a whole, the individual sessions bring tough side effects on her: nausea, pain. She always come back not feeling well. That is the situation so far. Hopefully things will improve in the future. (But again, just to put things in perspective, it's better to not feel well 3 times a week than not feel well ALL THE TIME.)
3. We're watching her digestion closely. Not much to add here as we're still in the assessment period. But we know from the past about her poor motility. Will that change now that the rest of her is a bit better? I guess time will tell.
The Laundry Basket Guide to Jewish Holidays
(I'm apologizing in advance for (a) the lame humor, and (b) the poor translation. I wrote this segment originally in Hebrew. In Hebrew it's almost funny (to my taste, at least). I'm not sure I was able to translate everything in a meaningful and-maybe-funny-too way. Oh well, learn Hebrew, you gentiles.)
Passover came surprisingly early this year (as you might know by now, I'm not a fan of this holiday. I think we would have ended up better staying in Egypt. For one, we would have been Africa's champions by now (football, eh, soccer); Rachel and I remember well the excellent falafel we had on the street in Cairo - full of desert send, dust, and pollution from the unbelievable traffic; plus, Rachel already has some good connection with a no-name pita bakery in downtown Cairo). Suddenly, just a day or two before it came, I heard that it's passover (it's strange how they move such an important holiday without prior notice). Anyhow, on Monday Liam had dialysis so it was uncertain in what condition she'd made it back - see above. We-I-mean-Rachel-who-even-cares-about-my-opinion decided to push it to Tuesday. But on Tuesday there's the European Champions League (football, eh soccer). Yooo-hoo, Rachel....you didn't check the sports calendars (because I'm absolutely sure that she checks the golf tournaments....it's only UEFA matches she's not use to - yet).
And then, as if this is Hanukkah (if I ever learn how to spell it) and not Passover, a true miracle happened: I heard, I mean, I'm pretty sure I heard, an "OK" (which means one of two: either she doesn't care for me any more (DOH!!!) or I was folding laundry so superb in the past several months. Really, there can be no other explanation). Spontaneously, a chant came out of my throat...the same song Jews everywhere sing in Passover to celebrate the told freedom - now we're free, now we're free.
I promised myself I'll have only one glass of wine - instead of the traditional 4 (but ended up drinking 5 - I'm soooo happy to be free). From the bitter herb we had plenty of in the past several month - we don't need another bite. The whole thing lasted less than an hour. And so well fed and "hydrated" I left for the game (in which Manchester United lost). Can there be a better way to celebrate this holiday? (On a serious note, I never liked this holiday anyway. Since childhood I'm trying hard to avoid it. Only when we started celebrating it in our house it became fun. But that is a different story.)
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