I know, I know, it’s been a minute since I updated y’all! The last time I left you, we were still in Tennessee, but we’re all three back in Texas for a bit. Before we left, we caught up with a few Texas friends here in Nashville. We met with LeAnn, who’d stayed with Amanda back in November when I was back in Texas, and she came by with her husband. They were up visiting their Nashville grandbaby, whom they brought with them; she was not a fan of Tank, who just wanted a new little miniature friend!
Another friend was staying downtown for a bit too. I dropped Amanda off at a lunch date with her while I visited my barber. When I picked Amanda up, our friend had mentioned she had some connections and could get extra tickets to The Listening Room to see a singer-songwriter round. That venue had been on my radar, so it was a quick yes! We went with her the following day to see a show. It was a great show with many mainstream songs I recognized from the songwriters. It’s a place I would like to revisit.
Amanda had an IVIG infusion to help with antibodies. It was a long infusion, and I took the time to get the Yukon’s tires rotated before we left for Texas. I also had an appointment with Vanderbilt plastic surgery, where the dermatologist referred me. I needed a consult before they could remove a couple of troublesome cysts. I have a procedure scheduled in September when I’m back in Nashville.
Tank is getting older each day. His fainting episodes have gotten better since we got him a bed with bolsters for our bed. The bolsters help keep his head up. My thinking was that he was having fluid retention issues, likely from heart disease. So far it has worked well. He does get tired quicker than he used to walking, also a symptom of heart failure. To take him with us to things, we got him a huge pram. It opens from the back so he can climb in easily, has a retractable roof, and even a sunroof! After some wobbly-legged sessions, he got the hang of it. We strolled him around the farmers’ market; he was a star.
We had a quick getaway to Louisville for an overnight trip. I had some things to take care of there, which I’ll share details on later on. It was nice to get out for a bit and have a date night. The week before, we went to a restaurant that is always too busy to get a seat, Buttermilk Ranch in the 12 South area of Nashville. We’ve tried a few times to go, but it’s always busy. After leaving the hospital in the middle of the week and mid-morning, we gave it a shot and got in. We saw Hannah, the bartender I got to know at Hopdoddy. She had quit there after graduating from Belmont and is now working as a hostess at Buttermilk Ranch. She’s the one who came and did Amanda’s nails in the rehab hospital. When we went to Louisville, she ended up dog-sitting for us, too.
Amanda has been having some fluid retention that has been persistent and not wanting to come off. It moves around from her feet and legs to her abdomen and hips. They’ve had her on and off diuretics with no luck. The off times are a bad idea, and she gets loaded up quickly and needs a dose to help keep the fluid at bay. It seems she can pee off what she drinks, but not any of the excess fluid. We were getting a little perturbed since the NP wouldn’t step up the diuretic dose. We know the diuretic game all too well. With our old cardiologist’s blessing, Amanda would dose herself as needed pre-heart transplant. The kidney team deferred to the heart team, and it went back and forth. Finally, at a transplant follow-up with the doctor, not the NP, we received a good plan. I’m not a fan of the NPs running things; I’d rather only see the doctor.
The appointment with the doctor proved to be what we needed. He looked at Amanda and even mentioned he thought she was holding on to 15 pounds of fluid. This was the first time I had seen him; Amanda had already seen him once while I was back in Texas working. I really liked him and am glad we will be seeing him regularly. He got with it and wanted to get Amanda on a heavy dose of diuretics. After starting the new dose, not much improved, so he started her on another medication that is designed to make the diuretic work better. It did just that, and she was able to get a few liters off for a few days in a row.
I spoke with the doctor about eventually not returning every three months for follow-ups. He was ok with us coming up every 6 months, but wanted us to have a nephrologist in Texas on board to do the follow-ups in between. I mentioned how we’d look to see him every 6 months and not the PA. He wanted to make sure I knew they were the same. I begged to differ, but didn’t want to argue with him on our first visit. There is a world of difference between seeing the PA and the MD, mostly in things that are out of the norm. Which Amanda excels in; she is my unicorn! We will be in Nashville every three months until next summer. Then we’ll ease back to every six months, which will likely be the shortest interval we’ll get to. Good thing we like Tennessee!
We had planned to leave on a Thursday after the kidney transplant follow-up with the doctor, but we ended up pushing to leave the next day since we’d leave too late after doubling back to get Tank. It was a good thing we did because it was flooding back home and we wouldn’t have been able to get home with most roads closed into Brackettville. Thankfully, we didn’t get any water damage at our home, but our inherited downtown place did have some roof leaks from the sheer volume of rain and a little flooding inside one of the living rooms, but it wasn’t too bad.
I had been working on my Suburban to get a new radiator in and finally got it ready to go. The night before we were to head home, I went to move it into our reserved spot, and I couldn’t get in. The keyed lock is nonexistent, and the remote wasn’t working. I tried new remote batteries, but nothing. I feared the battery was done since it is almost 4 years old, but there was no way to get in and check, and no time to have a pop-lock guy come. So, I left it to deal with when we returned. I’m praying it’s nothing big since we are planning on driving it back next trip.
That next trip is tomorrow. We fly up Tuesday for some follow-up appointments on Wednesday and a heart biopsy on Thursday. If the Burb only needs a battery and nothing bigger, we’ll be leaving either Friday or Saturday to head back home. Amanda will stay for about a week, then head back up to Tennessee until the end of September, when we’ll transition back home. I already have flights for one trip at the end of August, then I fly back up mid-September to get everything packed up and get Amanda moved home permanently. With our move back on the radar, we are finally on the downhill side of things; light at the end of the tunnel.
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