We're home...traveling to Hazard for PD training

Mark was discharged from UK Tuesday evening. As you would imagine, we were really anxious to get home and see Mark Thomas. A good friend offered us two great tickets to see UK play on Tuesday night. Much to my surprise, my husband-a huge UK fan- turned them down saying he would rather see Mark Thomas than John Wall! Yesterday, we traveled to Hazard for our first training session on peritoneal dialysis. We will be going to "PD Boot Camp" for at least 4 more days. We're hoping that the PD catheter will work without complication and that the weather will cooperate and we can travel over the mountain safely. Mark is completing blood work every day to continually monitor the consistency of his blood. He is now on an oral blood thinner. The cardiologists are continuing to monitor the clots in his heart. It is our understanding that the longer blood clots are present in your body the less likely they are to travel. The echocardiogram completed on Tuesday indicated no significant change in the size of the clots. The fact that the clots have not increased in size is great news. If the clots had grown or if new clots were present, Mark may have had to have open heart surgery. The presence of two clots is worrisome to say the least, but we are very thankful to avoid a major surgery. We're praying that the clots will resolve, but understand this may take time. As always, please pray for our family! We appreciate all the love and support from everyone. It has meant so much. We know God has a perfect plan for Mark. We are trying to trust in Him without losing patience or hope! Off to Hazard for now...I'll post more information about Mark's health soon!

Emotional day....may be discharged tomorrow

Not much has changed with Mark's health since our last blog. Mark spent the weekend recovering from the surgery on Thursday. We celebrated my birthday on Friday and were able to visit with Mark Thomas and our family. On Thursday and Friday, Mark had some pretty significant pain in his abdomen from the placement of the peritoneal dialysis catheter. We learned today that the fistula that was created in Mark's forearm during surgery on Thursday is not functioning. The physicians suspect that Mark's clotting issue contributed to the fistula not working. Although we were aware of the potential threat blood clotting issues create for fistulas, we were really hopeful that the surgery would have been successful. It was difficult to hear that the fistula isn't working. It is our understanding that the veins and arteries used in creating fistulas can never be used in another fistula in the future. Thus,the fistula not working means that we lost one "life line" for Mark. As we mentioned in an earlier post, the intent of the surgery on Thursday was to create two types of dialysis accesses so that we would have two options for dialysis. The physicians talked about trying to repair the failed fistula or creating a new one. However, they decided against this...at least for right now. So, the plan is to continue monitoring Mark's blood work to make sure he is safe to go without dialysis at least for a few more days so the incisions around the catheter can heal and so we can be trained on peritoneal dialysis. We may be discharged tomorrow. At that point, we will go to Hazard for a 5 day training on peritoneal dialysis. Before we are discharged, we think that the cardiologists will complete another echocardiogram to gain more information about the clots in Mark's heart. We are uncertain if this will happen today or tomorrow. Today Mark had a mid-line placed in his arm to allow him to receive IV antibiotics when we are discharged. We will be trained on how to administer this drug as well. Please continue to pray for Mark. We are hoping that no problems arise with peritoneal dialysis!